US UK comparison

[SF2UK]

Our daughter just started Year 6 at a rural school. We moved from San Francisco where she would have gone into 5th Grade. Yesterday the kids had an assignment which - in her words - was an exact repeat from 3rd Grade... and no homework.

In the US she would have no exposure to languages this year, and no regular PE, and I love how she's learning about biology through jam and bread making, am just trying to get a handle on the different approaches/curricula.

Have you had this experience?

PE is compulsary every year in the UK - a healthy body makes a healthy mind. If it is the same assignment as she did before, I would suggest she should be doing it at a higher level given her greater maturity.

I teach secondary but I could give the same worded assignment on "The water cycle" to primary, year 7 (11 year olds) year 9 (13 year olds), year 11 (15 year olds) and sixth form. What I would expect in response would be very different.

Some schools do not give homework in primary as a policy, if her school is like this ask, and they will be happy to explain. There is a lot of research to back this up.

It is better to learn languages younger, and the UK is bad at languages just like the US. If you had moved in the US you would also be finding similar differences.

I've taught in both countries, specifically teaching in California. California I know has to teach around 3 hours PE every 2 weeks, so I'm not sure if your child went to a public school? In California elementary schools however, it's not required to change into PE clothes as most schools do in the UK.

As for the differences in teaching, I've found the UK system a lot more repetitive, (which is perhaps why your daughter has seen this stuff taught before) but they build on the previous year's teaching to get a better understanding of a subject.

I do like that languages are taught younger here in the UK, but think that they could do better. Wish the US would start teaching languages younger too!

Of the different teaching styles, I've found that the US style of teaching is a lot more flexible/creative than the UK, however the UK is starting to become more flexible and creative in their teaching (this is more linked with elementary/primary school).

Hope your daughter settles in well into her new school and enjoys the UK curriculum. The Year 6 students get to learn about some neat subjects!