Диплом "Учитель цифрового века"

4 Form: Topic "Primary Schools in England"

In England school begins at the age of 4 or 5 and children leave school at the age of 16. School begins in September, but it rarely begins on the 1^st of September. The English think that Monday is not a good day to start school. So they start on the first Tuesday of September. The weather is usually fine and warm on that day. The children must look very neat. They don’t take any books with them; they will get exercise-books, pens, pencils, rulers and rubbers later. They go to school with their parents.

English pupils work five days a week. Saturdays and Sundays are their days off. Classes begin at 9. The children have a break at 10.30 (half past ten). At 1 o’clock they have lunch. They play outdoors after classes.

First children go to infant schools. There they spend 3 years. The children don’t always sit at their desks. They sit on the floor or on the carpet, too. And they listen to their teacher. The children learn how to read, count, write. They learn how to spend money and use it. They learn how to get on well with other children. They look at the pictures and draw them, too. They look at the animals (hamsters, rabbits, hares).  They run, jump, sing songs, play games.

Then children go to junior schools. The atmosphere is more formal in junior classes than in infant classes. People sit in rows and follow a regular timetable. Their subjects are English, Maths, History, Nature Study, Geography, Art, Music, Swimming, PE, and Religion. They go to museums and other interesting places with their teachers. And their teachers take them to big cities, too.

Schools in England have names, not numbers (after the place where they are or after famous or important people). In many primary schools children wear uniforms but in some primary schools they don’t. That’s what I wanted to tell you about primary schools in Britain.