Education System in London

Today we met with Malcolm. He gave us a quick overview of the education system with a nice timeline of events surrounding education in London. We also learned about the key stages within the school system. I took so many notes it would be impossible to write them down on here. But, in short, they really focus on getting the children checked out medically many times in their younger years, lots of hearing and sight screenings. Parents really strive to get their children into the right schools and that starts around age three with getting into the right nursery school. After nursery school, they go to what is called Key Stage 1 which is ages five and six or years one and two. At this level, they learn sounds and letters and do maths (yes, "maths" with the 's'. It caught me off guard at first). After that, the years progress upward (3, 4, 5, 6) and what the students learn gets more and more involved. The London school system is very focused on tests more than America does which was a shock. At age nine, students start to take tests in major subjects. From age 11 to 16, there is a huge jump into secondary schools. They get more complicated and the push to get into the right school and get the right test grades is even bigger. I couldn't imagine putting that much stress into my students, I thought American students had it badly, but it's nothing compared to what the students in London have to go through. The students can also leave school at age 16 and choose a career path or they can stay in school for another two years and focus on what they want to go to university for. I really don't agree with that, I think that students should be able to be as innocent and young for as long as they can. Pushing them into the work force at age 16 seems drastic; although they are trying to get more students interested in going to university.

After having lunch we went with Malcolm over to Mile End to visit the Ragged School Museum which was created by John Bernardo which provided free education to the poor children. On the way there, Malcolm pointed out a group of teenage boys hanging out in the park and he noted that they were the students who decided to leave school at 16.

 Malcolm! 

 Museum tourguide

The museum was very cool, but I wish we could have seen a reenactment of what the museum does for visiting schools. We were a little late getting back to ISH for our night speaker and ended up missing her. So we had a little down time and then off to have our group dinner at the Green Man Pub across the street. The was a nice pub with a good staff and the manager was a very funny man. After our delicious dinner we took the tube to Trafalgar Square. Immediately after exiting the station you see the breathtaking beauty of Trafalgar Square at night. It had beautiful colored fountains and amazing statues (they really like their lions in London). You could see the embassies of many different countries surrounding the square. Then we walked to Leisterton Square where I got my first gelato (strawberry cheesecake). When we were leaving we saw a big crowd in front of a theater and found out that it was the European Premiere of the movie Kick Ass! But the crowd was too big that we didn't get to see Brad Pitt or Nicholas Cage.

View of Big Ben

Can't be in London without taking this picture!