School Year

[linedancer12]

Can anybody tell me if the school year has ever been January to December. My sister who was born April 1944 and went to school in Nottingham says that when she was at school it was like this. Not September to July as it is now.

[Tilly2]

I can't find any reference to school years beginning in January. (uk)

Perhaps your sister is not remembering clearly.

[ummmm]

Never heard it mentioned.

September to July was because of the summer harvests I believe.

[MallyJ]

Always been this way due to the number of children taken out of school to help with all aspects of the harvest. Hence, also, the length of the summer holidays.

[Buenchico]

There was nothing in the Education Act 1944 (which controlled state education when your sister was at school) to say how the school year should be arranged. So, given that each local authority was free to determine their own holiday arrangements, it would have been legally possible for Nottingham City Council to operate a school year which ran alongside the calendar year.

However, having taken quite a bit of interest in the history of eduction in the UK (and particularly in Nottingham, as that was the source of the Newson studies into child development) I've never been aware of any such arrangement existing in the city.

[Mamyalynne]

It's quite possible your sister remembers staring school in January - lots of schools did (do?) have a January intake.

[linedancer12]

I was at the same school 7 years later and the school year was September to July. I will have to ask my sister to get in touch with some of her friends and check with them.Thanks to everybody who answered.

[tonyav]

staring school in January - lots of schools did (do?) have a January intake.

Yes I was a January starter, was there an Easter intake to ?.

[Mamyalynne]

I think there may have been Tony.

[tonyav]

I also seem to remember that if you reached school leaving age before Easter then you could leave at Easter.

[Jackdaw33]

You started school in the term in which you would reach your 5th birthday. My mother tried to get me into school in September but the head could not accept me because my birthday was in January.If I'd been born any time up to 31st Dec. she would have taken me.

[Tilly2]

Complicated, innit?

[Jackdaw33]

Certainly was complicated. The rules were very strict. I had to change infant schools two terms early because we moved a quarter of a mile and ended up in a different catchment area.

[ummmm]

When mine were little the children starting school at the age of 4 could delay starting until Jan.

My poor little son turned 4 in July and started school in September. He was a tiny child and was barraged by the older girls who just wanted to mother him...

[fiction-factory]

Yes. it's quite possible she started in the infants in January and left school in the winter/spring when she was 15- but for evry single year in between it's unlikely the school year would have run from january to December (when would the long break have been?), unless it wasn't a mainstream school.
I'm not sure why it matters though (unless it's needed for a CV!) but I know the feeling that when you recall something and others seriously doubt your memeory you want to show them you were right

[dollhouse]

I AM THE SISTER IN QUESTION. THIS IS NIL TO DO WITH INFANTS SCHOOL OR STARTING IN JAN. I WOULDNT HAVE EVEN KNOWN ANYONE ELSE'S BIRTHDAY WHEN I WAS 5. ALL IT IS IS THAT ALTHOUGH THE SCHOOL YEAR HAS ALWAYS BEEN SEPT TO AUG THIS IS NOT THE QUESTION. WHEN I WENT TO SENIOR SCHOOL AT 11 EVERYONE IN THE CLASS AND OTHER CLASSES IN THAT YEAR HAD BIRTHDAYS FROM JAN 1 TO DEC 31. MY FRIEND WAS JAN 1. I WAS APRIL 5, THREE OTHER FRIENDS WERE AUGUST 25, OCT 27 AND 30 AND ONE DEC 31. I HAVE S HOOL PHOTOS STILL OF THIS CLASS.MY 3 FRIENDS IN AUG AND OCT WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN THERE IF THE AGE LIMIT WAS AUG. SOMETHING MUST HAVE CHANGED. I AM TRYING TO CONTACT 2 OTHERS IN MY CLASS

[dollhouse]

1956 to 1961

[dollhouse]

Sorry 1955 to 60

[fiction-factory]

>EVERYONE IN THE CLASS AND OTHER CLASSES IN THAT YEAR HAD BIRTHDAYS FROM JAN 1 TO DEC 31

yes they would, but presumably you mean they were all born in the same calendar year (whereas schools now base an intake on birthdays 12t Sep- 31 Aug

I'm not sure how that secondary intake would have been possible unless primary schools were also done on that basis as some would have moved to secondary school before others. Intruiging

[fiction-factory]

>I AM TRYING TO CONTACT 2 OTHERS IN MY CLASS

Good luck. I'm not sure their birthdays will help you trace them though if that's what you mean

[fiction-factory]

So when you started secondary school in September 1955 you were aged 11 (11th birthday April 1955). How old on starting were your friends in the same year with December birthdays?