What are primary schools like?
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Organisation of schools
Early Years settings vary widely and cater for children aged up to 5. They may be in playgroups, separate nursery schools or in a nursery class in a primary school. From 5, or before, children are expected to be attending primary school.
The primary school years 5-11 are divided into two Key Stages. Key Stage 1 has children in Year 1 (ages 5/6) and Year 2 (ages 6/7). Key Stage 2 has children in Year 3 (ages 7/8), Year 4 (ages 8/9), Year 5 (ages 9/10) and Year 6 (ages 10/11).
Many schools have classes of mixed age groups e.g. twenty Year 4 and twelve Year 5 pupils being taught together. In small schools there may be even more diversity of ages in each class. Class sizes also vary between schools but are generally up to 30 for ages 5 to 7 and may be 30 for older children.