How does the UK public education system work?

[jfrost]

The thread title makes the question seem more general than what I'd like to know. Maybe someone here can help me.

I give English classes to this university professor and she's starting a post-doc in England this September. Since she's taking her family along, she needs to find a school for her 12-year old son. Thus, I'm trying to help her out, since her English is not amazing.

I googled a little bit and it seems like, at his age, he's going to Middle School. Still, I don't know which schools she should look into, or even if he has a choice in schools.

The thing is, she's probably gonna live in Cambridge.

I know from watching Friday Night Lights ( ) that in the US the school you go depends on the location of your house and so on. Is it similar in the UK? Will she have to choose a school? If so, where can we find information about this sort of thing?

I managed to find a huge list with schools in Cambridge. That was a little intimidating.

So, any tips?

[Curlypaul]

Schools around here are either split into 3 levels (infants, middle and secondary) but most now are split into 2 (primary and secondary). At 12 I think he would be starting a secondary school.

Schools are indeed allocated by location, you will by default be given a place at the nearest school to your house, but you can request a place at a different school if you prefer. The government publish league tables that compare schools performance to help you decide which is the better school.

http://www.education.gov.uk/ is the official web page which should have all of the info that you need.

btw, for some reason, here 'Public' school refers to a school that you have to pay large amounts of money to attend. 'State' schools are the ones that are actually open to the public.

Good luck, I can imagine that this is a daunting task

[jfrost]

Schools around here are either split into 3 levels (infants, middle and secondary) but most now are split into 2 (primary and secondary). At 12 I think he would be starting a secondary school.

Schools are indeed allocated by location, you will by default be given a place at the nearest school to your house, but you can request a place at a different school if you prefer. The government publish league tables that compare schools performance to help you decide which is the better school.

http://www.education.gov.uk/ is the official web page which should have all of the info that you need.

Got it, thanks.

I'll tell her to first settle where she'll be living and then check out the rankings of the schools nearby.

btw, for some reason, here 'Public' school refers to a school that you have to pay large amounts of money to attend. 'State' schools are the ones that are actually open to the public.

Yeah, that confused the hell out of me. Thanks for the clarification.

Good luck, I can imagine that this is a daunting task

Well, you made it easier. Where we live, people who get first in line put their children in any given school they want (and the middle class pays for private schools anyway). It's a lovely system, but we are wholly unprepared to deal with these things elsewhere.