Can we have ages instead of school years?

[LadyoftheMercians]

I have no idea how old a year 11 child is? And therefore no clue on of they should be allowed a phone in their room overnight.

Inspired by a thread, not necessarily a TAAT

I think it makes a lot of sense. So much of children’s experience is shaped by school. A 15 and 16 year old in year 11 are likely to be at similar levels of maturity based on their lived experiences. A 15 year old in year 10 and a 15 year old in year 11 are less likely to be so in my experience.

P1 is used in Northern Ireland. P stands for primary so P1, P2,P3 and so on up to the last year of primary school P7

In year 7 child just moved to a new school, travel is usually longer and often more complicated e.g village bus, they start getting homework, parents involvement in the school life is different. In year 6 they are staying at the known setting with people they know for quite a while, in the same classroom all day, usually closer to home and parents are more involved.

I still think in 'old money' - first to fifth year in secondary school - because I don't know any children well enough to have taken in the newer system. But if someone says 'year 6' I can work out what they mean by counting the years.

Unless they are at a middle school then their experiences are different.

Although it’s not quite that. Reception is equal to the pre-school year of nursery in Scotland (age 4-5), Year 1 is equal to Primary 1. Found this out when my friends and I had babies the same year and were scattered around the UK. Basically England has reception followed by 6 years of primary whereas Scotland has the reception year at nursery (and calls it nursery rather than reception), followed by 7 years of primary and up to 6 years of high school- though can leave after 4 years of high school if they so wish. My apologies I do not know enough about the Irish system to comment about it.

So year 7 is secondary school and year 6 is primary? Yes, that can make a difference depending on the question but there is also up to a year's difference in age in those in any given school year which can also make a big difference.

For education related questions, school year is obviously more relevant. For most other questions, age is probably more relevant. That's probably why you set so many asking for age when class is given.

The Irish system is not really relevant to the UK but they start primary at either 4 or 5. Most start at 5 now. Then 2 junior years (junior and senior infants), followed by a further 6 years in primary. They then do 5 or 6 years in secondary depending on whether they do transition year or not. They can leave school after 3 years (junior cert) in secondary but it is unusual not to stay on for the leaving cert in 6th year.

It's primary/secondary if you are in the two tier system.
If you are in the (rare) 3 tier school system it's middle school.

Theoretically a Yr6 can be older than a Yr7

Subtract 5.

Scratch that, add 5.

Well you must know what age you were when you were in school. So you start school at 4/5- then just add 11 to that. So 15/16.

It's not that difficult really. If they are UK based it's kind of universally known anyway surely?

When I was at school back in the dark ages we used Standard 1, 2, 3 etc for primary and Form 1, 2, 3 for secondary and it was easy to know what age child was being talked about.

We don't have a compulsory starting age in Ireland other than they must start by age 6. When I was a child 4 was the norm to start. Now most are 5 or nearly 5 starting but some will be nearly 6 so you could have a two year difference. Unlikely, but possible. However, My youngest who started school at 4.5 had two children in his class who were more than a year older than him. One had repeated the year - he changed school and re-did the first year of primary. That was a while back and I reckon if he was starting today, my ds would be one of the youngest in the class at 4.5. As it was, he was the joint youngest boy with only a few girls younger than him.

Not really unless you're familiar with the school system. You'd need to know what age they started both primary and secondary which you may not if you have not gone to school or had children in school in England.

Because Y6 is still primary school, and Y7 is secondary. A huge jump in indepence, learning, maturity and peer pressure.

Yes I know what age I started school so I know the likely age of a child in second year, for example. However, that does not translate to knowing what age a child in Yr6 is likely to be. The whole point of the op's thread is not everyone knows the UK systems.

And from posts on here, it would also seem that some people living in different parts of the UK are not familiar with the system in the other UK countries.

Yes it does, you add the number six to the numbers 4/5.

Which went completely over my head as I had no idea that is the case.

That said, I still think age is relevant given the potential age differences in children starting school. A just 12 year old vs an almost 13 year old starting secondary will be quite different. That is probably why people frequently ask for the age in posts stating there is a big difference in age in those in a given class.

The point is, year 11 where? Year 11 in England is year 12 in Northern Ireland.

That only works if you know the starting ages in a different country to the one you live in/grew up in and you know what the different classes are called. From what i've read on here, some parts of the UK start at Y1, others use R, others P etc., starting age is different in different parts of the UK so no, it doesn't.

Thank you for taking the time to explain this. That’s helpful and I’ll keep it in mind. Always interesting to learn how things work in other places as you never know when it might be useful to know.

Unless they're 16 doing their Alevels.

Or any other child that hasn't had their birthday on 1st September.

I don't think it's different in different parts of the UK is it? All kids start at either four or five? Maybe I'm wrong there?

I get it if you're from a different country entirely but I know the US grade system just because you hear about it so much.