To wonder if differences between Scotland and rUK are generally known?

[weescotlass]

I see lots of posts about UK and British issues, that seem to refer to England only.

Is it generally understood that Scotland was a separate country pre 1707 and already had its own legal and education system in place, which were retained on the creation of the United Kingdom?

Therefore house buying, school exams, wills, divorce, university degrees, criminal law, policing etc have real distinct differences.

Are people who use the term UK not aware of the differences when refering/advising on something that affects England only?

Genuinely interested and not meaning to cause an argument. I find the differences really interesting, things like inheritance law when people ask about wills, or issues when a buyer pulls out of buying a house. I don't want to comment on new/current controversial legislation!

I'm in South lanarkshire and I know a few secondary schools and they are hamilton grammar, Larkhall academy, Stonelaw high school. They all teach the same stuff.

I'm sure though hutchesons grammar school and hamilton college are private schools.

Also hamilton college is from 5-18.

Hi - The differences I am aware of - in my Academy the head teacher running the school was a Rector, each head of department wore a gown & a mortar board - it was steeped in tradition, the overall Head Teacher in the High school was called a Headmaster/ Mistress, there was no formal attire.
as far as I’m aware - and I may well be wrong - in Scotland schools names are just that - names. They’re all under the control of local authorities, Scottish Government, unlike in England where I believe Academies are not funded by local authorities- but as I say - I’m really just guessing.

My school was X High School but our Headmaster was called the Rector, in the 1980s. He wore a gown but not a mortar board. I remember the gown vividly as we were just the right age to be into Star Wars and it was very Vader! The school was only founded in the early seventies so no ancient traditions.

However a quick look at the website today suggests that the head is now just known as the Head Teacher.

Same with mine…and the rector’s forename rhymed beautifully with the job title 😂

They are names; usually linked to the history of the school. Prior to the 1970s, you sat exams at age 12 to see what school you went to - you either went to a “junior secondary” which only went up to the age of 14, or an “academy” which allowed you to do further study.
Then, when they did away with the qualification exam, all the schools became non selective, but many of them retained their original name. It is currently meaningless but does tell you about the history of the school.
Schools built since then can go with whatever they like really, so in time it will lose meaning - my parents still view grammars/academies as “better” than high schools; because that’s how it was when they were younger, however my generation and younger don’t have the links with the distinction in the name.

Hector?

Except in my town the school that you got into if you did well at age 12 was called “The High School of X”, never the academy. My parents went there.

What you are terming the “junior secondary”, which is where my best friend’s Mum went, was called the “Secondary Modern” colloquially. She talked about it a lot because the same building housed our primary school but no longer took older pupils as everyone was comprehensive by then.

Basically, the names have always been all over the place and mean nothing!

I went to a box standard high school in the 80s we had a Rector(s) who wore gowns and wafted about the school . my dc eventually went to the same school and it was changed to Headteachers.

The one and only😂

I was hoping for hannibal.

Hannibal Rector 🤣

That’s TOO funny 🤣🤣🤣

Yup my old high school had a rector - Auld Frankie loved walking about with his gown flowing behind him. Heads of Dept only wore their gowns on photo day and events

Another difference that I saw on a thread recently was Student Loan payments - Scottish students get paid out monthly and England is three times a year

I can totally accept stating you’re in Scotland if you’re asking a legal question for example but when you get piled upon when you happen to mention in passing the kids are at school on August 20 it’s tiresome

Schools used to be a lot more varied in Scotland than they are now.

1. Private, some of whom did used to get government funding.

2. Direct grant aided, in the 1960s there were 29 but now Jordanhill is the only mainstream one left. It is funded by ScotGov and free from GCC control.

3. state. The grammar/secondary modern equivalent of junior and senior secondaries, often called junior and senior high schools, was abolished in 1965. This system died out much quicker than in England.

Lots of schools that used to be selective state schools or direct grant schools are now private/independent.

This is a good blog post on it.

<a class="break-all" href="http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/2022/11/the-fascinating-story-of-what-happened-to-scotlands-excellent-selective-school-system-.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/2022/11/the-fascinating-story-of-what-happened-to-scotlands-excellent-selective-school-system-.html