13 Things You Need to Know About the British School System

1. Uniforms. 
2. You are not required to go to school if you are over 16 years old.
3. There is no "kindergarten." The age group that we put in kindergarten go to "Year 1."
4. After Year 11 (which corresponds to our sophomore year of high school), students go to the Sixth Form College, which is sort of like a pre-college.  Real college (like to get a degree) is only three years long in Britain.
5. School goes on all year round, with a only month of summer break but tons of random week-long breaks throughout the year.
6. The school you go to is based on merit, not proximity. All the schools are clustered together in one square, and all public schools have competitive admission.
7. GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) are courses similar to AP classes in the U.S.  It is a standardized curriculum with a huge test at the end.  However, all students are required to take GCSE courses.  Exams aren't just one test per class either - they are ongoing assessments througout the class, and can consist of things like lab experiments and field work as well.
8. Every school in Britain is given a rating based on student's exams. 
9. If a school is rated too poorly, the government will take it over, fire all the teachers, remodle the building, change the name of the school, and change the school uniform.  (This is not an exaggeration at all - it happened to a school in my city just this year.)
10. Classes aren't chosen - you are assigned classes to take based on test scores.
11. Everyone takes gym. Every year. No wonder the Brits are so thin!
12. The principle is called the "Head Teacher."  "Houses" are a real thing too - similar to teams in some middle schools in the U.S.
13. Yes, they walk on the left side of the hallway.