Independent Schools

In G.B. are called “Public Schools”. These schools are not public at all. They are private secondary schools taking boys from the ages 13 to18 years of age. These schools, with a few exceptions, are boy’s boarding schools, that is, they provide accommodation for their pupils. The fees of a public school are very high indeed and only wealthy parents are able to send their children to public school. There are about 200 public schools in England. The four best-known public schools are Eton College(close to Windsor on the Thames) – founded in 1400, Harrow School (London) – 1571, Winchester College (Hampshire) – 1382, Rugby School (Warwickshire) – 1561. Most public schools are very old and are called by the name of the town or village in which they are situated. Every public school has many rules and special customs of its own but the basic characteristics are the same. A typical public school has about 500 boys but some of them have more (Eaton has 1.150 pupils). Thought the teaching is organized centrally for the school as a whole the boys live in separate “houses”, i.e. groups of about 50 and are under the care of the housemaster and his wife. The boys remain in the same house for the whole of their stay at school. The boys attending a public school must wear a special uniform, which consist of a grey shirt with a coloured cap or a straw hat with a coloured ribbon. In some schools each house has own cap and its own tie. These schools are usually well-equipped with scientific laboratories, large sports groups, a good gymnasium and a swimming pool. Much attention is paid to sport. Boys play football and cricket or row on a nearby river or go out running or play some other game on most days on the week.

Uniform

The majority of Britain school children wear a school uniform. Sometimes this is very formal: a shirt, tie, jacket with a school badge on the pocket and dark trousers. Girls also wear ties but a dark skirt instead of trousers even in winter. Each school has its school colour. Some schools send children home if they are not wearing their proper uniform or keep them a after school as a punishment.

Extra-curricular Activities

British schools do a lot of sport, pupils all have one afternoon a week of P.E and school have football, netball, hockey and cricket teams. There are also school choirs, drama club, chess club art clubs and other activities. These are all called extra-curricular because they are not part of the National Curriculum.

Universities and Colleges

Depending on the parents income students may receive grants of money to assist them during their time at university. A popular form of a degree course is four year one. The first two years are spent in University, the third year is spent in job connected with the course and the last year is back in University for studying and the examinations. Every university has its Union, which organized many social functions. The academic award is called a degree and I at Bachelor level. It may be a Bachelor of Arts (B.A), a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) and a Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.). The title is put after a name. Undergraduates are those students who study for a degree of Bachelor. Students with degrees B.A., B.Sc. or B.Ed. are called graduates and can study further to get the degree of Master. They must work on thesis at least for one year. The title they get then are M.A., M.Sc., and M.Ed. The degree of Doctor is given only for a thesis, which originally contributes to human knowledge.

There are 47 universities in G.B. They can be divided into three groups:

a) Oxford and Cambridge or “Oxbridge” – they are oldest and the most famous. Oxford was founded in 12th century and Cambridge in 13th century.
b) Redbrick Universities, which were founded in the 19th century (Durham, London, Manchester). These schools provided some technological training in industrial areas.
c) The new Universities – opened after 1960 (Sussex, York, Kent and others).