A lot of kids are moving into high school soon and don’t know what it’s going to be like .I am going into high school myself and believe me, it’s not going to be as bad as you think! (maybe)
Here are some facts about schools I found whilst surfing through the Internet…
The first school
The first schools were set up by the ancient Greeks and the Chinese, a very, very long time ago. There have been various sorts of schools in England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales for many centuries.
But – unbelievably – it wasn’t until the Education Act of 1944 that secondary education was free for all pupils in England and Wales. Ask your grandad. Or your granny. Or your teacher. They might remember it.
Schools around the world come in all sorts and shapes and sizes but most of them will have classrooms, a playground, a hall, a library, and a canteen where you can have delicious, or disgusting, school dinners.
On a place called Caldey Island, which is off the Pembrokeshire coast – go on, go and get an atlas – the local school has opened and closed several times during its long history, because the number of children on the island rises and falls.
The biggest school
It is generally agreed that the biggest school in the world – the school with the most pupils – is the City Montessori school in Lucknow, in India.
The school was set up by a Mr and Mrs Gandhi in 1959. It has more than 32,000 pupils. Can you believe it? Thirty-two thousand! That’s bigger than a lot of universities! In fact, that’s bigger than a lot of towns.
The biggest schools in Great Britain and Ireland have around 2,000 pupils. So City Montessori school is 16 times as big as most schools here!
The smallest school
The smallest school in the UK is Holy Island Church of England First School. It usually has fewer than half a dozen children.
In Australia there is the famous School of the Air, where pupils in remote areas learn by listening to special radios
The best school
The best school in the world is probably Springfield Elementary or Bikini Bottom Elementary. But, of course, these aren’t real – they are fictional schools in The Simpsons and SpongeBob SquarePants.
The best school in reality might be Chelmsford county high school for girls (the pupils get great exam results there).
(But are there other ways, other better ways, to judge what a great school is? How do you think we should judge what is the best school? The nicest teachers? The biggest classrooms? The best lunches?)
The worst school
Perhaps you think your school is the worst school in the world?
Well, you’d be wrong. Because there have been many, many worse schools than your school, however bad it may be. Honestly.
In Victorian schools a big room would often be divided up into classrooms using curtains: imagine all the noise!
And the windows were built high up in the walls, to stop children
daydreaming. And in some schools there were as many as 100 children in a class!
How long has your school been around? When was it built? Can you find out?
So everybody who is going into a new school, don’t worry. I’m sure your teacher/s will be happy to help. You could ask questions to settle your worries.
Here are some examples…
How much homework do I get on a daily basis?
Who can I go too if I forget my pencil case? – The answer is usually “Your teacher should have some utensils.”
What will happen if I feel sick?
How much time are we allowed to get to each lesson?
It may help if you write the answers down on a piece of paper and keep the paper safe for when you need the answers.
Hope this all helps!
Have a good year!
