Since September 1998, all primary schools in England have been strongly recommended to devote at least an hour each day to literacy, with a similar daily numeracy sessions

English state-sector and independent secondary schools (2000: 3,500 schools; 3,000,000 pupils)

(for pupils aged eleven to sixteen)

Non-selective comprehensive schools (87% pupils attend these schools)

Specialist schools (about 600)

Grammar schools (164)

Independent schools (7S8)

The first schools of this kind began to appear after World War II. These are mainly mixed schools. These schools are open to all children of all types of ability from a par­ticular area. The future of a child is not decided by the results of a selection pro­cedure at the age of 11. A wide range of subjects is possible. Comprehensive education be­came national policy in 1965 under the Labour govern­ment.

The comprehensive system has also had its critics. Many people felt that there should be more choice available to parents. They disliked the uniformity of education given to teenagers.

Specialist schools offer advanced teaching in languages, technology, sports and arts. New specialisms added to the initiative in 2001 were business and enterprise, science, and engineer­ing.

The government intends that almost half of all secondary schools should specialise by 2006. Specialism encouraged excellence and raised general standards.

Grammar schools take pupils who have passed an 11-plus exam. Only those children who have the best results are admitted to these schools. Grammar schools provide mainly academic course. Grammar schools have better buildings, smaller classes, more highly qualified teachers, and often better playing-fields and sport facilities. They give pupils a much higher level of academic instruction, which can lead to the university.

These schools are not required to follow the national curriculum. They must register with the Department for Education and they are subject to inspections for the purposes of regis­tration.

Independent schools receive no grants from public funds and are owned and managed under special trusts. Most of them offer a similar range of courses to state schools and enter pupils for the same public exam­inations. They fall into two main categories: pre-preparatory, for ages two to seven, and junior or pre­paratory ("prep") schools, for ages seven to eleven or thirteen. The pre­paratory title is used because the last two years in the school are often de­voted to preparation for the Common Entrance examination. A pass is re­quired for admittance to many inde­pendent secondary schools. The aver­age class size for preparatory schools is 15 to 20 pupils per teacher. Fees range from about Ј600 to Ј1,100 per term for ages 2 to 7 and Ј950 to Ј2,500 for day pupils aged 7 to 13 - Ј2.300 to Ј3,500 per term for boarders.