school

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Sheree

Dedicated Member
I'm quite ignorant about the British school system.......what are A levels or O levels?
What about "standard 4" ? ~Sheree~
 
My memory is quite vague on it Susan but I seem to remember being in Standard 4 at infant/ junior school. I did once have a school report from there but it seems to have gone so I cant confirm it. ??? :-\
 
I'll rely on your memory Dick, but didn't have it when I was at school. ;D
 
In my very distant view from across the pond, I have heard that they have dropped the O Levels and A Levels but I'm unsure what has replaced them. I, too, am totally clueless about the British system. But I have sort of gathered that O Levels and A Levels (and recently their replacement) indicates a completion of high school or its equivalent. In the States, a certain number of credits must be earned which usually takes four years. The fact that these credits have been earned is indicated by the awarding of a diploma in a graduation ceremony. In the UK, it seems (as I've seen many times) that [someone] got their A Levels or O Levels in [a subject] so they left school. Maybe it's better that they don't actually have a graduation ceremony as graduations have become very chaotic with sudden cheers or catcalls erupting as a certain person's name is called and entire groups rising up and departing as soon as their graduate has received his/her diploma.
 
Thank you, Susan, it IS very helpful and I'll probably return to it again just for some refreshing.
I remember Glenda saying, "My Barry has A levels." And someone referred to Foggy as the
"big lilly in standard 4" ( I think). So I was curious. ~Sheree~
 
Adanor said:
In my very distant view from across the pond, I have heard that they have dropped the O Levels and A Levels but I'm unsure what has replaced them. I, too, am totally clueless about the British system. But I have sort of gathered that O Levels and A Levels (and recently their replacement) indicates a completion of high school or its equivalent. In the States, a certain number of credits must be earned which usually takes four years. The fact that these credits have been earned is indicated by the awarding of a diploma in a graduation ceremony. In the UK, it seems (as I've seen many times) that [someone] got their A Levels or O Levels in [a subject] so they left school. Maybe it's better that they don't actually have a graduation ceremony as graduations have become very chaotic with sudden cheers or catcalls erupting as a certain person's name is called and entire groups rising up and departing as soon as their graduate has received his/her diploma.
Click to expand...


We'll probably follow suit at some point, we now seem to be having Prom's in school so we may have Graduation Ceremony's next.
 
Adanor said:
In my very distant view from across the pond, I have heard that they have dropped the O Levels and A Levels but I'm unsure what has replaced them.
Click to expand...

Not sure where we are with this discussion but note that O levels (Ordinary Level General Certificate of Education) have been scrapped but A Levels are retained. O levels were replaced with General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE). Not relevant to LOTSW, note that Scotland has a separate system of education. Here it is Standard grades and Highers. Where applicable students go to University a year earlier and do a four year course (as opposed to the English University three years).
 
I think the GCSE's are in the process of being scrapped and "O" levels are being reintroduced under the premise that they are more academically challenging and removing the coursework element that dominated much of the GCSE at this level.
 
Big U is right about A and O levels (A was Advanced, O was Ordinary) but I have a hunch that standard 4 did not refer to an exam but the class you were in at the time.

My mother tells me that in Elementary Schools you went through a series of standards from age 5 up to 14 when you could leave. The leaving age was later raised to 15 (Education Act 1936 although not immediately implemented) and when I was a teacher it was raised again to 16 in 1972 (known then as ROSLA).
 
When left secondary school it just sort of fizzled out - taken A levels and realised that it was all over so went in on 6th June for a last look round and then down to pub and some of us met up for a Chinese meal in the evening. Think it was called the Good Luck Restaurant.

No final assembly or anything. We had already returned any text books we had and as we had been on exams we had stopped registering in the morning.
 
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