PRIMARY SCHOOL

A 'primary school' is an institution where children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as primary or elementary education. Primary school is the preferred term in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth Nations, and in most publications of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).^[1] In some countries, and especially in North America, the term elementary school is preferred. Children generally attend primary school from around the age of four or five until the age of eleven or twelve.

Contents

United Kingdom

United States

See also

References

United Kingdom

In the UK schools providing primary education in the state sector are known as primary schools. They generally cater for children aged from four to eleven. Primary schools are often subdivided into infant schools for children from four to seven and junior schools for ages seven to 11.
In the private sector fee-paying schools which provide primary education are known as preparatory schools, and they often cater for children up to the age of thirteen. As their name suggests, preparatory schools are designed to prepare pupils for entrance examinations for fee-paying independent schools.

United States

Main articles: Education in the United States

In the United States the term primary school is used in a general way to describe the primary grades, usually meaning kindergarten (ages five to six) to second grade (ages seven to eight), but sometimes extending to third grade (ages eight to nine). The term is also sometimes used to describe a school which provides the first three or four years of elementary or primary education. Very few schools in the US actually use the term primary school as part of their school name and such schools are generally private schools, serving very young children.

See also

★ Educational stages

★ Elementary school

★

References

1. Primary school. In ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Retrieved on 12 June 2007, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://search.eb.com/eb/article-9061377