New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the southwest Pacific Ocean. It lies about 1,600 km southeast of Australia and about 1,600 km southwest of California. New Zealand belongs to a large island group called Polynesia. The country is situated on two main islands and several small islands. The main islands are the North Island and the South Island.
The capital of the country is Wellington. The largest city of the country is Auckland. The official language of the country is English. Most aborigines speak English and their own language, Maori.
The country belonged to the British empire. Now it is an independent country. New Zealand is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. New Zealand is a constitutional monarchy. The British Monarch, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, is the monarch of New Zealand. But she has no power. The real power in the country belongs to the legislation, the prime minister and the Cabinet. But the nation has no written constitution.
Maoris were the first people who settled in New Zealand. They were brown skinned. They came from Polynesian islands located northeast of New Zealand. The country was discovered by Europeans in 1642. But they didn't start to settle in the islands until the late 1700's. Today, most New Zealanders are descendants of the early European settlers. About 12 per cent of the country's population are Maoris.
New Zealand has one of the highest standards of living in the world. About 70 per cent of New Zealand people have their own houses. Almost every family has a car. New Zealand is one of the world's developed countries. The main industries of the country are agriculture, manufacturing and service industries.
Education education The Educational System in England
The educational system in England is very complicated. It embraces two educational purposes: first it gives a general education to all children, and second, it selects the most able and gives them a more advanced education.
In most schools boys and girls learn together. In the first stage, which is called primary education, all children are educated according to the same programme. As they grow older, differences in ability and attainment become very marked, so it is considered necessary to offer different programmes.
There are three stages of education: primary, or elementary, education, secondary education and further (higher) education.
Primary education (from 5 years of age to 11 years of age). A primary school is subdivided into an infant school for children aged 5 to 7 and a junior school for children aged 7 to 11. In small country places both the infant department and the junior department may be combined under the roof of one school.
Secondary education (from 11 years of age to 16 years of age). Until recently, there were three main types of secondary schools: grammar schools, technical schools and modern schools. Children were sent to one of these three types of schools according to their abilities. These three types of schools still exist, but their number is decreasing. They are being replaced by the so-called comprehensive schools. The comprehensive schools are the most modern development in secondary schools. The main advantages of the comprehensive schools are that these schools are open to children of all types of ability from the age of 11; they are large schools which give a much wider range of subjects than smaller schools, so that teenagers can choose a course of studies according to their individual inclinations and abilities.
The comprehensive school gives the following range of subjects, from which children can choose: English, French, German, Latin, history, geography, art, music, woodwork, metalwork, needlework, commercial subjects, mathematics, general science, religious instruction, physical education.