School Years in Britain

The table below describes the most common patterns for schooling in England. In most cases progression from one year group to another is based purely on chronological age, although it is possible in some circumstances for a student to repeat or skip a year. Repetition may be due to a lack of attendance, for example from a long illness, and especially in Years requiring standard tests.

Years 12 and 13, the A-level years are often referred to as "lower sixth form" and "upper sixth form". Some independent schools still refer to years 7 to 11 as "first form" to "fifth form", reflecting earlier usage. This arose from the system in public schools, where all forms were divided into Lower, Upper, and sometimes Middle sections. Year 7 is equivalent to "Upper Third Form", Year 8 would have been known as "Lower Fourth", and so on. Some independent schools still use this way of counting the years.

Taken from Wikipedia's page titled, 'Education in England.'

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