Year groups, Academia etc.

The Goring senior school was for boys of 13-18 years old. Thus there were 5 year groups:

First years (aged 13-14)
Second years (aged 14-15)
Third years (aged 15-16), sometimes known as fifth form - doing O-levels / GCSEs
Fourth years (aged 16-17), known as Lower Sixth Form
Fifth years (aged 17-18), known as Upper sixth form - doing A-Levels

Academically the system was as follows:

• The pupil came in as first year and followed all subjects on the curriculum, including less "essential" subjects such as Music, Design, Computer studies, PE.
• At the end of the year he was to choose (with the help of appropriate advice from teachers,, tutors, parents etc.) the subjects he was to study for O-level / GCSE. There were certain compulsory subjects - English, Maths, 1 x modern language, 2 of the 3 sciences, Religious Studies.
• Most boys studied 10 Subjects. The scholars might do 11 or even 12 (by taking on Greek, ancient history, hebrew etc.). The "less academic" might take on 9 (eg miss out Latin and do extra English). I think I recall the system correctly.
• Those subjects that were obligatory (eg Maths) could be taken 1 year early (at the end of the second year), enabling the "scholar" to taken on extra O-Levels / GCSEs or to do an advanced module of the same subject somewhere between the O and A Level.

The above was my case. I was a scholar, having gained an academic scholarship to the school.

At the end of the third year was the moment to choose the A levels one was to study. The Pupil had to study 3 A levels at the time. This represented a vast reduction in subjects versus the previous years - so much thought and consultation was supposed to go into the choice. This was also the moment when the "career choice" seemed to come into things. Thus if the pupil wanted to become a doctor one day it was advised to take three science subjects usually.

More to follow on academia