Difference between High School and Secondary School

[Safirexx]

Hello, new to the UK secondary school system as recently arrived from overseas. I've been wondering why some schools are High Schools and others are Secondary Schools. Grateful for enlightenment.

Same thing, just different terms for the same schools.

Just a quirk of historical naming. It doesn't mean anything these days. High schools are secondary schools.

Secondary Schools usually start at age 11 and finish at 18.

In the US that would be Middle School plus High school.

I thought High school referred to the old three tier system,, first school, middle school and high school. This has been almost phased out throughout England.

Secondary school refers to the current system of a first school them a secondary school.

Yes, sparklingwine I think the name is from that period and is only really used in areas that used to have this system.

My secondary school was called high school in its name. It was just a regular secondary school. I guess it’s called that for historical reasons.

We still have the three tier system. It’s brilliant. And we deffo have a high school rather than a secondary.

In Scotland, you will come across state schools with names that include High School, Academy, Grammar or just plain Secondary.

It's all historical - they are all comprehensive secondary schools.

Yes, my high school was in Scotland.

The term "high school" originated in Scotland in the 16th century. The first school to be named "high school" was the Royal High School in Edinburgh. The Royal High School was used as a model for the first public high school in the US founded in Boston in 1821. That model was replicated in other parts of the country along with the name, which is why the term high school came to be used in the US. It's a direct borrowing from Scottish practice.

I don't know about England, but I think the terms secondary school and high school mean essentially the same thing in Scotland and in the US.

I thought High school referred to the old three tier system,, first school, middle school and high school. This has been almost phased out throughout England.

We still have 3 tiers, of which the top tier is High School (Y9-Y11). 7 or 8 miles away, in the same borough, the High School is Y7-Y13! The mix of the old 3 tier system and more modern 2 tier within the same borough is largely down to the size of the buildings. Every so often they look at making our 3 tier into 2 tier, but the 20 or so first schools would need an extra classroom, and the high school would need to accommodate 2 more year groups. There’s no space or money for this, so it’s always kept, and is well liked locally.

Thank you for all these answers! As a history buff I’ve really enjoyed getting the historical context. I’m still confused though! I live in one borough (SE London) but very very close to the border of the neighbouring borough. In my borough, a local school which was called X Secondary School converted to an Academy and is now called Y High School. Just across the border, there’s a new Academy which only goes up to Y8 so far which has always been called Z High School. My local primary school (Reception - Y6) feeds into both schools.

I understand they are all offering GCSEs and A-Levels at the end of the day but wondered what went into the authorities deciding whether to have “Secondary” or “High” in the name.

To make things more confusing, High School was sometimes used in the mid 20th century to refer to schools for girls who had passed the 11+ or similar, and in my hometown there is now a private girls school named [city name] Girls' High School. My secondary school was the product of a merger between [Location] High School (a girls' grammar) and [City] Modern (a boys' school). The merged school was simply called [Location] School.

Early primaries were called Elementary School and you stayed until 13/14 if you didn’t pass the 11+ (and were working class). They taught basics. You might then go to a technical college - separate classes for girls and boys where you could learn a skill from cooking/childcare or for the boys, woodwork or farming. Some were specialist colleges for just domestic stuff etc.

Clever/better off children might have a chance to go to grammar at 11 but that would depend if their parents were able to buy the uniform and do without their wages for 6 years.

High schools and secondary schools are the same. In my area lots of people use ‘comp’ for Comprehensive too, meaning the same.

If you are in SE London I am guessing you are in or on the edge of a Grammar system.

High School means something different in a Grammar area.

All schools are secondary schools. It’s the phase of education.

Within secondary education you have Comprehensive Schools (which take the full spectrum of ability, and most sub- divide within the school by teaching those who learn at different speeds in different sets), of you have Grammar Schools and High Schools. Grammar schools are selective and admit on passing the 11+ exam or take those with the highest scores. The High Schools in tne same area take those who did not pass the exam for Grammar and those who chose not to take it.

Sometimes schools in grammar areas are called comprehensives, but they are not actually fully comprehensive as the top performing students are in tne Grammar.

Just to make things more confusing, some schools kept the grammar in their name after becoming comprehensive, so schools like Ilkley or Harrogate Grammar are not selective.

Strangely there are a few independent girls schools in SE London that are primary + secondary called high schools - Blackheath High School as an example.

In my part of the UK - Scotland - it's just a name. Most schools here are known as High Schools as part of their title.

To confuse matters, there are also many Scottish state secondary/high schools known as Academy. This does not mean "academy" in the sense in England in that they're devolved from the Local Authority control - it's just a name. There's also a school near where I grew up called Musselburgh Grammar - Scotland doesn't have a grammar school system any more and hasn't for decades, but the school never changed its name.

My daughter is at a Grammar which is called a High School and the boys is called a Grammar and the others are academies, just to add that into the mix !

I'm in Scotland too. I went to an Academy, but all the schools in my current area have 'High' at the end of their name. They're all comprehensives.

Just to add another name to the mix op (sorry!). We have a 3 tier system in our county (outside London). There are lower (R-y4), middle (y5-8) and Upper schools (y9-13). I had a child in each type last school year.

"Same thing, just different terms for the same schools."

This ^^. Although our local authority likes to give them the poncy name of Advanced Learning Centres. We have a two tier system in place.

In our local authority the schools have different names:

XX Grammar Advanced Learning Centre
XX College
XX Community College
XX Catholic and CE/VA
XX Academy
The XX Advanced Learning Centre

They are all comprehensive schools. The "grammar" school was founded over 600 years ago but has kept the same name, but has been a comprehensive for many years. We don't live in a grammar school area, so very few 10/11 year olds take the 11+

Only XX Grammar ALC has a 6th form, so most students go to 6th form college after the age of 16.

You guess right so this actually makes things a lot clearer, thanks!

Don't take any information from the name of the school, as you can see from this thread there is a range of names and descriptions for various historical reasons.

The important thing is to look at the age range the school covers. So 11-16 or 11-18 are secondary stage. 11-16 is from Year 7 to Year 11 (GCSE exam year). Children then would go to a different school or college for 16-18 education (A level exams). Schools that are 11-18 mean the children can continue in the same school up until the end of Year 13.

Then, whether the school is selective or comprehensive. Most secondary schools are comprehensive, however some Local Authorities (LAs) still have selective schools referred to as Grammar schools (whether or not they have that description in their name!). These schools are state schools but you have to pass an exam (11 plus) in order to be eligible. Everyone else goes to a comprehensive school.

Then, as @bigmouthstrikesagain explains, some areas still have lower/middle/upper schools instead of primary/secondary.

The description "Academy" usually refers to how the school is funded rather than anything about the stage of the school.