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Glossary entry

English term or phrase:

first grade

English answer:

Year One (at primary school)

Added to glossary by British Diana
Mar 1, 2011 05:10
13 yrs ago
14 viewers *
English term

first grade

Non-PRO Not for points English Other Education / Pedagogy
Yet another question for UK speakers. I've never been able to make sense of the British school system, and sources I've read seem to give conflicting information. What is the British equivalent of first grade (that is, the first year of school, which a child usually enters at the age of about six)? Or of other grades, for that matter? I've heard of forms before, but they don't seem to really correspond to US grades, and I'm not sure if the term is still in use. In US schools, there are twelve grades, called first grade through twelfth grade (logically enough). Children usually enter first grade at the age of five or six, and finish twelfth grade at the age of 17 or 18. What about in the UK?
Responses
4 +7 Year One
5 P1 = primary school grade 1
Change log

Mar 9, 2011 06:59: British Diana Created KOG entry

Discussion

British Diana Mar 1, 2011:
Well in my junior school there were four forms per year group .I must admit it was a fee-paying school AND a long time ago, which is why I would now go for Year One (starting at age 5) right up to Year 13
B D Finch Mar 1, 2011:
Form Form was originally used for grammar school year groups, but can apply to any secondary school. Not used for primary school year groups.
British Diana Mar 1, 2011:
I think you would have to put in a "support request" (right at the bottom of the page). There are PRO points for PRO questions and ordinary points for non-pro questions.
Deborah Kolosova (asker) Mar 1, 2011:
I'd think that anyone who went to school in the UK would be able to tell me what the first year of school is called there. But if there's a way to switch it to being for points and if no one objects, I would have no problem with that.
British Diana Mar 1, 2011:
Form=bench In my New Oxford Dictionary one of the meanings of Form is "a class or a year in school , usually given a specifying number: the fifth form".
My guess is that it harks back to the days of the village school where all children were taught together in one room. The six-year olds would sit on one form, the seven year olds on another, the eight year olds on yet another and so on. So the year-group came to be known as a "form".
This refers to the other meaning of form: "a long bench without a back"
BTW I'm not sure how many Native Speakers without any kind of linguistic training or interest would be able to answer your "non-pro" questions.
Deborah Kolosova (asker) Mar 1, 2011:
By the way, just what are forms, anyway? What do they correspond to, and where, if anywhere, are they still used?
Deborah Kolosova (asker) Mar 1, 2011:
It's just because these aren't really PRO level questions; anyone in the UK would know the answer, even if they're not a translator. In general, I agree that points make it more fun, but I kind of thought the rule was that if it was something any native speaker would know, it shouldn't be PRO level.
British Diana Mar 1, 2011:
@Deborah Is there any particular reason why you don't want to give points? It makes it more fun, somehow, and personally I am just three points away from the magic threshold of 500 PRO points...
Ambrose Li Mar 1, 2011:
Please ignore me then. Sorry.
British Diana Mar 1, 2011:
@Ambrose
Are you referring to the U.K. here? if so, I beg to differ.
Ambrose Li Mar 1, 2011:
Forms Forms correspond roughly to grades in high school. F1–F6 are, at least “theoretically”, roughly grades 7–12.

Responses

+7
1 hr
Selected

Year One

This is what I think it is called in the U.K. I've never hear a British person saying "grade" in this connection

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Note added at 1 hr (2011-03-01 06:35:33 GMT)
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http://www.learnenglish.de/culture/educationculture.htm


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Note added at 1 hr (2011-03-01 06:35:59 GMT)
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http://www.learnenglish.de/culture/educationculture.htm
Peer comment(s):
agree Jack Doughty : Or "first year" (e.g. www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/ireland/article6169899... ) //It's dated 26th April 2009, so I suppose it was.
18 mins
Thanks, Jack. So this was before the Times started charging for its online articles?
agree Donna Stevens : In England, they talk about Year Groups- You start Year 1 at the age of 5-6 http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/questions/ed...
55 mins
Exactly, thanks Donna!
agree Phong Le
4 hrs
Thanks, Phong Le!
agree B D Finch : Or (informally) "1st year", though that could also be 1st year of secondary school.
6 hrs
Thanks, that's why Year One is more suitable
agree Maria Chmelarova : Year 1, age 5 to 6
7 hrs
Thanks, Maria!
agree Lisa Miles : yes, we called it first year, second year etc, up to lower sixth and upper sixth!
7 hrs
Yes, Lisa, although what you are referring to was probably starting again in the first year of secondary school, which they don't do any more.
agree Thayenga : Though I'm not a British native speaker, I have heard this term before from British friends. :)
1 day 3 hrs
Thanks, Thayenga!
Something went wrong...
Comment: "Thanks!"
2 mins

P1 = primary school grade 1

:)

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Note added at 3 minutes (2011-03-01 05:14:00 GMT)
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and I''m absolutely sure :) (as I've been there, yonks ago but there we go lol)

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Note added at 5 minutes (2011-03-01 05:16:03 GMT)
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"P" = primary

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Note added at 9 minutes (2011-03-01 05:19:20 GMT)
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lived in the States for 6 years too but I can assure you that the first year of school in the UK IS P1

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Note added at 11 minutes (2011-03-01 05:21:28 GMT)
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you do P1 at 5 normally (6 would be latish)

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Note added at 12 minutes (2011-03-01 05:22:55 GMT)
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unless the system has changed drastically in the meantime this is ok :)
Peer comment(s):
neutral Donna Stevens : P is used in Scotland for Year Groups on the primary school level- S for secondary school
2 hrs
neutral B D Finch : Never heard that expression used in England, so perhaps it only applies to Scotland.
7 hrs
Something went wrong...
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