To want to reiterate that 'yes' it's August and 'yes' Scottish schools are back

[MammyV]

Honestly on every post on here which mentions a child being in school at the moment, someone, at least one poster states 'are you abroad or something' or 'why are your kids in school it's only august?'
Please please understand that most Scottish schools commence back after summer from around the 15th August, we are not abroad, we are in the Uk (at the moment anyway) and I am fully aware of the English/Welsh holidays as its blasted a cross the BBC enough, just irritates me with some of the comments
(Will get off my Scottish high horse now)
Thanks xxx

I can only repeat what she said happened! Someone must have been having a bad day when she called

My dd got the offer to do an HNC along side her Highers. It would enable her to go directly into the 2nd year of the uni course.

Around 80 of her year group have left after 4th year. We have the Edinburgh guarantee which aims to get every child in to further education/work/apprenticeship when they leave school than just signing on and doing nothing.

Dd1 did an Hnc alongside her Highers in got her into her 2nd Year degree our school had a project like the Edinburgh guarantee it helped dd2 who has Sen get into college

Yeah it was luna conservotoire sounds really poncy

Linnet it doesn't map exactly. Reception is when "school" starts, uniform etc but they tend to be 6months younger than p1 and it's play based learning, not sitting at desks or formal learning yet. It's more like a cross between nursery and p1 based on these threads.

I can only repeat what she said happened! Someone must have been having a bad day when she called

Most likely, very rude of them to hang up.

My dd's music teacher is in his 40's so he would have been there about 20 years ago, might have been different then too.

In my DCs' American elementary school lunch sittings were 40 minutes long, divided into 20 for eating and 20 outdoors.

High school lunch was 48 minutes. The campus was closed except for final year students with a grade point average above a certain level so students remained in the building.

Actually, contrary to what I poster upthread, in my DCs' high school the three lunch periods were 10:44 - 11:32, 11:37 - 12:25 or 12:30 - 1:18. Some students were arriving in school and eating lunch 2 hours and 45ish minutes later.

We have middle schools for 6th, 7th and 8th grades here, followed by high school for 9th to 12th grade and three more years for SN students, who stay until age 21 doing vocational courses if they are able for them, along with job placement experience.

My DCs' elementary was a RC parish school that went all the way from PK-3 (optional, along with PK-4) to 8th grade, with all students under the same roof but separated into three floors - ground floor PK and KDG rooms plus lunchroom/auditorium and gym, first floor grades 1-4, staffroom and offices, and second floor grades 5-8 along with science lab and the art and music rooms.

Parents can defer entry here in my particular school district, and many teachers recommend it.

What is graduation in the US about maths if you dont graduate you dont get into college?

When you graduate you get your high school diploma MrsJayy. You can't get into college without it, no, unless you have a GED (general equivalency diploma). If you didn't graduate or (in the case of my brother) dropped out early, you can take your GED, which as far as I know is a test that determines you know the things you would have learned in high school.

I am loving this thread by the way.

We have had students transfer to the states and by crivens has it been tough at times. We don't do GPA or class ratings and trying to explain CfE to a teacher in a school in New Jersey was challenging.

Without wishing to sound like a stalker "treacle" the town where the high is a grammar is ballyclare. I also studied at queens c 20 years ago so I may have been stalking you for a while...

Graduation happens when you pass the minimum number of classes. In my local high school the minimum requirements are:
8 semesters (4 years) of English;
6 semesters of maths, 2 of which must be algebra and 2 of geometry, with two others;
4 semesters of science, 2 of which must be a lab science;
4 semesters of history, 2 in 'World History', 2 in American History;
1 semester of MFL/culture;
*1 semester of Fine/Performing Arts
1 semester of Applied Arts
( some courses fulfill both requirements)
1 semester of Computer Proficiency (Microsoft Office and keyboarding);
1 semester of Driver's Ed - you must pass your driving test either in school or in the DMV;
1 semester of Consumer Education;
1 semester of Health (sex ed and general health and wellbeing);
7 semesters of PE;
7 electives (like wheel throwing, astronomy, etc).
43 credits/classes/semesters in total.

Some of these are state mandates and some are local requirements. This is the bare minimum, and the level you choose of each class doesn't matter.

In reality, students hoping to go to university will do (and this is again a bare minimum):
4 years (8 semesters) of English
4 years of Maths
3 years of History/Social Science
3 years of Laboratory Science
2 years of a World Language

Students hoping to go to any selective university would have 4 years of history/soc science, 4 years of lab science (usually meaning one lab subject is repeated, but at Advanced Placement level) and 4 years of MFL (or Latin).

Yet another wrinkle - students hoping to be accepted in highly selective universities will take all honours level classes and Advanced Placement classes (if you pass an AP exam with the equivalent of an A or B you can often skip 100-level/basic level university courses in your first year of university and take more courses you are interested in or proceed to taking your major courses faster.)

The high school graduation ceremony itself is usually a formal affair, with caps and gowns worn by graduates in many schools. The principal and teachers and counsellors who attend wear their academic robes. Some schools (I suspect a minority) wear some sort of traditional formal clothing.

My local HS has a tradition of girls wearing long white dresses and boys wearing a black suit with red tie. The girls are given a bunch of red roses and the boys get a boutonniere when they line up to process into either the stadium or the field house (if thunderstorms are forecast). Tis all very nice, there are speeches and a little ceremonial, and each graduate's name is called and a parchment handed over when they process to the podium and shake hands with various dignitaries. Families sit in the hot sun in the football stadium for about three hours as all 850+ names are called, or worse, they swelter in the field house, but it's all for a good cause.

People have parties to celebrate.

There is frequently an 8th grade graduation event along similar lines.

Agedrelative I knew that anyone local would know exactly what town I was talking about . It confused me for years!

Can I ask what sort of work is done in Kindergarten?

I used to think it was more like our pre-school but more recently I have been thinking that it includes learning to read & write the same as Scottish P1 & English Reception.

Kindergarten (age 5-6) is the year when children are first exposed to letters and numbers in a formal way. There is a lot of play.

Kindergarten Common Core standards

Many children will emerge from Kindergarten able to read, add, subtract. Many will start to do that in First Grade.

First Grade Common Core

In addition, social-emotional development is very much focused on - classroom etiquette, self care (changing out of jackets, boots, mittens/putting all of that on at the end of the day), care for classroom items, responsibility (students are given classroom jobs in a rota), interpersonal problem solving, co-operation, etc.

7 electives (like wheel throwing, astronomy, etc)

Tell me more - American high schools teach kids to throw wheels???

(The sum total of my American High School knowledge is watching all of Glee).

In my state, children begin to learn to read in kindergarten. There are state kindergarten curriculum standards for Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies, and Physical Education

Thankyou those sound very similar to what goes on in our P1 & P2 years.

A bit of useless info for anyone who wants it. The reason why kids in the UK start school at 5, is because of the Compulsory Education Act of 1873. The aim was to get 5 years of school education before leaving for work at the age of 10!!!

Scotland used to have August intake March - August. January intake September - February. Meaning most children would be 5 or almost 5 starting school. That changed around 1975, using the February cut of so average of 5 years starting school. The right to defer came in the early 80's. Any child from Sep - Feb can be deferred although councils are only obliged to fund nursery for Jan-Feb babies. Most will fund Sep-Dec if nursery can provide good reason.

England used to have 3 intakes starting the term a child turned 5. They have changed to single intake but their laws haven't quite caught up with the fact that starting the year the turn 5 means the summer babies are just 4 starting school.

Thank you for explaining the system cheerfulyank & Mathsanxiety always wondered my knowledge of US school system is TV

Mathanxiety

1 semester of Driver's Ed - you must pass your driving test either in school or in the DMV

You have to learn to drive to graduate from High School? How does it work? do the parents pay towards the driving lessons?

Although I can see pros to learning young (I chose not to learn to drive until I was in my 20's) and I understand that depending on where you live in the States a car is sometimes essential(where I live I can walk everywhere and there is fairly good public transport so it wasn't vital that I learned) but to have your education hinge on learning to drive is certainly different.

What is wheel throwing?

There is a driver's ed fee on top of the annual (nominal) registration fee and $300 book deposit. The driver's ed fee covers the cost of a learner's permit issued by the state, the state-issued learner driver handbook, and any other paperwork required by the state. Basically the school assembles all the necessary paperwork that parents and learner drivers would have to do if they were to go through a private driving school.

Then instead of one semester of PE, students in the 10th grade (sophomore year/second year of high school) who will be turning 16 that year do a complete driving course either in the first semester (usually nice weather to begin with but turning bad, and also dark earlier) or the second (freezing weather and wintry gloom to begin with but lovely and much brighter out at the end).

They first have to pass an eye exam and if necessary get corrective lenses, then pass a written exam based on the state handbook. If they fail that they go back to PE and will have to do private driving lessons and take their chances with the DMV written and driving test after private lessons and driving practice.

If they pass the written test they proceed to driving in the school fleet of driver's ed cars with some periods spent in the driving simulator lab and in the classroom, in the time they would normally be in PE. There are three students and one instructor in each car every day so not everyone can drive in each class period. Driving in the vicinity of the school is a hairy experience in the first month of each new semester when the students are creeping around trying not to wreck the school cars, or sometimes driving past stop signs, driving up over the curb, taking really wild turns, stalling, etc.

In the simulator and the classroom, failure to pay attention, 'bad attitude', missing classes, failure to get answers right in class and failure in the simulator will result in a driver's ed fail and placement in a PE class. There is very little that you can do in the car that will get you failed apart from complete recklessness in defiance of instructions. Everything else is considered to be part of the learning experience. DD3 drove a school car into a snow drift while making a right turn too tightly and everyone in the car missed the next class period while digging the car out. (The municipal snow ploughs tend to pile the snow up at intersections thanks to their ploughing pattern and it was a very snowy winter when she first started her driving course).

Students are supposed to have a minimum number of hours of actual instruction in a car, so absence on days you are supposed to be in a car will really hurt you - you can actually fail if you are absent more than once for an in-car lesson in my local school and you don't make up your absence (you can book a class before or after school).

Students are supposed to practice in the family vehicle too, and keep a log, with comments from the licenced driver who drives with them.

If you pass the driving test administered on the last day of your in-car schedule you practice for nine months in your family vehicle and then you and a licenced driver go to your local DMV, present your school-issued certificate, proof of ID, proof of address, and a log of your post-test driving hours (50 hours are required currently) signed by a licenced driver, and you may then be subject to a spot check by DMV or you may just get your eyesight rechecked in a machine and get your photo taken for your spanking new driver's licence that you will renew when you are 21.

DS got spot checked and passed.

Driving is considered an essential life skill in the US no matter where you live. I am in a close-in suburb of a huge city and there is decent public transport, biking lanes on the major streets, people tend to walk or ride bikes a lot, but still driving is considered essential. You never know where you might end up. Plus you might get a PT job at 16 and need some way to get there without spending a few hours on different buses.

In terms of a learning experience, driver's ed can be a really good thing because it offers immediate consequences for 'attitude' and almost no recourse to appeal in school. You can be booted out of the course and can take your chances with the DMV if you are disruptive. Most teens really, really want that licence, and it's amazing how much effort they are prepared to put into getting it.

Wheel throwing is a pottery class

*There are five PE periods per week for everyone, so you drive about every sixth PE/driver's ed class. You will only rarely have a week without an in-car class.

There was no UK law about compulsory education in 1873. There may have been a law in England, but in Scotland it was the Education (Scotland) Act 1872. I don't think there has ever been a UK wide education law; the laws about education have always been different in England and Scotland because we do things differently here. Which is the point of the OP.

Oh,and the Education (Scotland) Act 1872 made education compulsory between the ages of 5 and 12, although half time education (working in the morning, school in the afternoon) was an option for ages 10 to 12. The majority of children weren't half timers so for the majority education was full time from ages 5 to 12 from1872 on.