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"High school" redirects here. For other uses, see High school (disambiguation).
"Senior High" redirects here. For the TV series, see Senior High (TV series).
A secondary school or high school is an institution that provides secondary education and
also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide
both lower secondary education (ages 11 to 14) and upper secondary education (ages 14 to
18), i.e., both levels 2 and 3 of the ISCED scale, but these can also be provided in separate
schools.
 Little Rock Central High School in Little Rock,
Arkansas, U.S.
In the United States, most local secondary education systems have separate middle
schools and high schools. In the United Kingdom, most state schools and privately funded
schools accommodate pupils between the ages of 11–16 or 11–18; some UK private
schools, i.e. public schools, admit pupils between the ages of 13 and 18.[1][2][3]
Secondary schools follow on from primary schools and prepare for vocational or tertiary
education. In high and middle income countries, attendance is usually compulsory for
students at least until age 16. The organisations, buildings, and terminology are more or
less unique in each country.[4][5]
Levels of educationedit
In the ISCED 2014 education scale,[6] levels 2 and 3 correspond to secondary education
which are as follows:
Lower secondary education
First stage of secondary education building on primary education, typically with a
more subject-oriented curriculum. Students are generally around 11–16 years old.[6]
Upper secondary education
Second stage of secondary education and final stage of formal education for
students typically aged 16–18, preparing for tertiary/adult education or providing
skills relevant to employment, usually with an increased range of subject options
and streams.[6]

Terminology: descriptions of cohortsedit

Learn more
This section needs additional citations
for verification. (January 2024)

Within the English-speaking world, there are three widely used systems to describe the age
of the child. The first is the 'equivalent ages'; then countries that base their education
systems on the 'English model' use one of two methods to identify the year group, while
countries that base their systems on the 'American K–12 model' refer to their year groups as
'grades'. The Irish model is structured similarly to the English model, but differs
significantly in terms of labels. This terminology extends into the research literature. Below
is a comparison of some countries:[7][unreliable source]

Secondary cohorts

Equivalent age

Termin
Location
ology 11 13 16 17
12– 14– 15–
– – – –
13 15 16
12 14 17 18

Year 7 8 9 10 11 12

Australia
Groupin Junior high Senior high
g school school

[a]

Seconda
1 2 3 4 5 6
ry/form
Hong Kong
Groupin Junior Senior
g secondary secondary

Grade 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

S
S S S
SM M
Indonesia D M M
P P SMP SMA
Nickna K A A
Kel K Kela Kelas
me el Ke Ke
as el s 9 10
as las las
7 as
6 11 12
8

Ireland Other Junior Cycle Trans Senior

name ition
 Year Cycle

6t
2n 5t
h 1st 6th
Class & d 3rd 4th h
Cl Yea Ye
year Ye Year Year Ye
as r ar
ar ar
s

Lo
we Up
r per
T
Fi Sec Four Si Si
Form hi Fifth
rst ond th xt xth
rd
h (6
(6 A)
B)
Jamaica

Year 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Sixth
Groupin Lower Upper Form
g School School Progra
mme

Unit Englan Lo
ed d / Wale we Up
T
Kin s Fi Sec Four r per
Form hi Fifth
gdo rst ond th Si Si
rd
m xt xth
h

Year 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
 Scotlan
S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6
d

Norther
n 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
Ireland

Grade 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Fres Soph Ju Se
Nickna
hma omor ni nio
United States me
n e or r

Groupin Middle
High School
g School

ISCED level[7][unreliable source] 2 3

Legal frameworkedit

Students at First High School in Argos, Peloponnese,

Greece
Schools exist within a strict legal framework, where they may be answerable to the church,
the state through local authorities and their stakeholders. In England (but necessarily in
other parts of the United Kingdom) there are six general types of state-funded schools
running in parallel to the private sector. The state takes an interest in safeguarding issues in
all schools. All state-funded schools in England are legally required to have a website
where they must publish details of their governance, finance, curriculum intent and staff
and pupil protection policies to comply with The School Information (England)
(Amendment) Regulations 2012 and 2016. Ofsted monitors these.[8][9]
Theoretical frameworkedit

Pozsonyi Királyi Katolikus Gimnázium, a high school

in Bratislava, Slovakia
School building design does not happen in isolation. The building or school campus needs
to accommodate:

 Curriculum content
 Teaching methods
 Costs
 Education within the political framework
 Use of school building (also in the community setting)
 Constraints imposed by the site
 Design philosophy

Each country will have a different education system and priorities.[10] Schools need to
accommodate students, staff, storage, mechanical and electrical systems, support staff,
ancillary staff and administration. The number of rooms required can be determined from
the predicted roll of the school and the area needed.
According to standards used in the United Kingdom, a general classroom for 30 students
needs to be 55 m2, or more generously 62 m2. A general art room for 30 students needs to be
83 m2, but 104 m2 for 3D textile work. A drama studio or a specialist science laboratory for
30 needs to be 90 m2. Examples are given on how this can be configured for a 1,200 place
secondary (practical specialism).[11] and 1,850 place secondary school.[12]
Building design specificationsedit

The first taxpayer-funded public school in the United

States was in Dedham, Massachusetts. The red-brick

building of the Kallavesi High School in Kuopio, Finland
The building providing the education has to fulfill the needs of: students, teachers, non-
teaching support staff, administrators and the community. It has to meet general
government building guidelines, health requirements, minimal functional requirements for
classrooms, toilets and showers, electricity and services, preparation and storage of
textbooks and basic teaching aids.[13] An optimum secondary school will meet the minimum
conditions and will have:

 adequately-sized classrooms;
 specialized teaching spaces;
 a staff preparation room;
 an administration block;
 multipurpose classrooms;
 a general purpose school hall;
 laboratories for science, technology, mathematics and life sciences, as may be
required;
 adequate equipment;
 a library or library stocks that are regularly renewed; and
 computer rooms or media centres.[13]

Also, a secondary school may have a canteen, serving a set of foods to students, and storage
where the equipment of a school is kept.
Government accountants having read the advice then publish minimum guidelines on
schools. These enable environmental modelling and establishing building costs. Future
design plans are audited to ensure that these standards are met but not exceeded.
Government ministries continue to press for the 'minimum' space and cost standards to be
reduced.
The UK government published this downwardly revised space formula in 2014. It said the
floor area should be 1050 m2 (+ 350 m2 if there is a sixth form) + 6.3 m2/pupil place for 11-
to 16-year-olds + 7 m2/pupil place for post-16s. The external finishes were to be
downgraded to meet a build cost of £1113/m2.[14]
By countryedit
For a more comprehensive list, see List of secondary education systems by country.

Carl-von-Ossietzky-Gymnasium, located in

Görschstraße, Berlin-Pankow Hugo Treffner

Gymnasium in Tartu, Estonia Rangpur Cadet College is

one of the Cadet colleges in Bangladesh, which is quite well known for its
quality Secondary and Intermediate education, along with a well-disciplined boarding
system. Stiftsgymnasium Melk, a Roman
Catholic Benedictine-run gymnasium located in Melk, Austria. The gymnasium, located
within and run by the Melk Abbey monastery, was built around the 12th century and has
been a public high school in its present-day format since 1707.

Staples High School in Westport, Connecticut

Chorlton Park Secondary School in Manchester, England

A secondary school locally may be called a high school (abbreviated as HS or H.S.), can
also be called senior high school. In some countries there are two phases to secondary
education (ISCED 2) and (ISCED 3), here the junior high school, intermediate school,
lower secondary school, or middle school occurs between the primary school (ISCED 1)
and high school.
Names for secondary schools by country

 Argentina: secundaria or polimodal, escuela secundaria

 Australia: high school, secondary college
 Austria: Gymnasium (Ober- & Unterstufe), Hauptschule, Höhere
Bundeslehranstalt (HBLA), Höhere Technische Lehranstalt (HTL)
 Azerbaijan: orta məktəb
 Bangladesh: Maddhomik Biddalay or Secondary School (grades 6-10)
 Bahamas, The: junior high (grades 7–9), senior high (grades 10–12)
 Belgium: secundair onderwijs/école secondaire, humaniora/humanités
 Bolivia: educación primaria superior (grades 6–8) and educación secundaria,
(grades 9–12)
 Bosnia and Herzegovina: srednja škola (literally middle
school), gimnazija (gymnasium)
 Brazil: ensino médio (officially), segundo grau (formerly)
 Brunei: mostly sekolah menengah (English translation: secondary school), a
few maktab (English translation: college)
 Bulgaria: cредно образование (grades 8–12)
 Canada: High school, junior high or middle school, secondary school, école
secondaire, collegiate institute, polyvalente
 Chile: enseñanza media

 China: zhong xue (中学; literally, middle school), consisting of chu zhong (初中; 初
级中学; literally low-level middle school) from grades 7 to 9 and gao zhong (高
中; 高级中学; literally high-level middle school) from grades 10 to 12
 Colombia: bachillerato, segunda enseñanza (literally second learning)
 Croatia: srednja škola (literally middle school), gimnazija (gymnasium)
 Cyprus: Γυμνάσιο (gymnasium), Ενιαίο Λύκειο (Lyceum)
 Czech Republic: střední škola (literally middle
school), gymnázium (gymnasium), střední odborné učiliště
 Denmark: gymnasium
 Dominican Republic: nivel medio, bachillerato
 Egypt: Thanawya Amma (‫)ثانوية عامة‬, (public secondary certificate)
 Estonia: upper secondary school, gymnasium, Lyceum
 Fiji: high school, college
 Finland: lukio (Finn.) gymnasium (Swed.)
 France: collège (junior), lycée (senior)
 Germany: Gymnasium, Gesamtschule, Realschule, Hauptschule, Fachoberschule
 Greece: Γυμνάσιο (three years) (gymnasium), Γενικό Λύκειο (three years) (~1996,
2006~present), Ενιαίο Λύκειο (three years), (1997~2006) (lyceum)

 Hong Kong: Secondary school (中學 zung1 hok6)

 Hungary: gimnázium (grammar school), középiskola (comprehensive school, lit.
"middle-school"), szakközépiskola (vocational secondary school, lit. "specified
middle-school")
 Iceland: framhaldsskóli (menntaskóli, iðnskóli, fjölbrautaskóli) from 11-13 Grade.
After elementary school (grades 1 through 10), students have the option of entering
a framhaldsskóli (lit. continuation school), which will take at least three years.
 India: secondary school or high school (grades 8–10), higher secondary school or
senior secondary school or intermediate college or pre-university college (grades
11–12)
 Indonesia: sekolah menengah atas (SMA) (lit. "upper middle school"), sekolah
menengah pertama (SMP) (lit. "first middle school"), sekolah menengah
kejuruan (SMK) (vocational school, lit. "middle vocational school")
 Ireland: Meánscoil or Secondary School
 Iran: Madrese Rahnamaie (‫)مدرسه راهنمایی‬, (public secondary certificate)
 Israel: Bet Sefer Tichon (‫( )בית ספר תיכון‬literally middle school, but in reality grades
9-12)
 Italy: scuola secondaria di primo grado (three years) + scuola secondaria di
secondo grado (five years): Liceo, Istituto Tecnico and Istituto professionale
 Jamaica: High School (public school 7–13), colleges (grand-aided schools 7–13)

 Japan: chūgakkō (中学校; literally middle school), kōtōgakkō (高等学校;

literally high school), chūtōkyōikugakkō (中等教育学校; Secondary School) – In
the pre-Meiji educational system, the equivalent was called "chūsei"
 Latvia: vidusskola (literally middle school)
 Liechtenstein: gymnasium
 Lithuania: vidurinė mokykla (literally middle
school), gimnazija (gymnasium), licėjus (lyceum)

 Macau: Escola secundária (中學 zung1 hok6): schools with secondary sections
have Ensino secundário (中學教育 zung1 hok6 gaau3 juk6)
 Malaysia: secondary school or sekolah menengah, sometimes high school is used
 Malta: skola sekondarja or secondary school
 Mexico: educación secundaria y preparatoria
 Mongolia: бүрэн дунд сургууль
 Morocco: In Arabic: Junior : Madrasa I'dadia Ta'hilia" ( ‫مدرسة إعدادية‬
‫ تأهيلية‬/ preparative qualificative school) ; Senior : Madrasa I'dadia Thanawia" (
‫ مدرسة إعدادية ثانوية‬/ preparative secondary school) - In French: lycée
 Netherlands: middelbare school or voortgezet onderwijs
 New Zealand: high school, college or secondary school
 Nigeria: Secondary school, Junior or senior secondary school
 Norway: videregående skole
 Pakistan: secondary school, higher secondary school
 Paraguay: educación media
 Peru: educación secundaria or escuela secundaria
 Philippines: mataas na paaralan; can be divided into "junior high school" (grades
7–10) and "senior high school" (grades 11–12)
 Poland:
o generally: szkoła średnia or szkoła ponadpodstawowa (szkoła
ponadgimnazjalna during the existence of gimnazjum middle schools)
o specifically: liceum ogólnokształcące (comprehensive secondary school,
grades 9–12), technikum (technical secondary school, grades 9-13)
 Portugal: 2º Ciclo do Ensino Básico (5th and 6th grades), 3º Ciclo do Ensino
Básico (7th to 9th grades), and Ensino Secundário, Liceu (10th to 12th grades)
 Romania: gimnaziu (grades 5–8), liceu (grades 9–12)
 Russia: средняя школа (literally middle school); grades 5–9 junior middle
school (compulsory), grades 10–11 senior middle school (voluntary)
 Serbia: gymnasium (four years), professional schools (four years), vocational
schools (three or four years)
 Slovakia : gymnázium (i.e. gymnasium, also translated as grammar school or high
school)
 Slovenia: gimnazija (gymnasium), srednja šola (literally middle school)
 South Africa: High School or Hoërskool

 South Korea: 중고등학교 (中高等學校・Chung'godŭnghakkyo), 중등교육

(Chungdŭng'gyoyuk; literally middle education), comprising 중학교 (Chunghakkyo;
the Lower secondary school, years 7–9, though referred to as "middle school grades
1–3") and 고등학교 (Kodŭnghakkyo; the Upper secondary school, years 10–12,
though referred to as "high school grades 1–3")
 Spain: educación secundaria, composed of two cycles: E.S.O. (Educación
Secundaria Obligatoria, compulsory secondary education, four years, 7th to 10th
grade) and bachillerato (non-compulsory secondary education, to years, 11th and
12th grade); formerly (for those born until 31 December 1983), primary education
comprised up to the 8th grade and the secondary education was composed of two
non-compulsory cycles: B.U.P. (Bachillerato Unificado Polivalente, three years, 9th
 to 11th grade) and C.O.U. (Curso de Orientación Universitaria, one year, 12th
grade)
 Sri Lanka: junior secondary school, senior secondary school
 Sweden: gymnasium
 Switzerland: gymnasium, secondary school, collège or lycée

 Taiwan: Junior High School (國民中學), Senior High School (高級中

學), Vocational High School (高級職業中學), Military School (軍校),
and Complete High School (完全中學).
 Thailand: matthayommasueksa (มัธยมศึกษา; lit. "Secondary education")
 Trinidad and Tobago: Secondary School, Forms 1 to 5 (five years) or Forms 1-6
(seven years)
 Turkey: Lise
 Ukraine: grades 5–9 gymnasium (compulsory), grades 10–12 lyceum (voluntary)
 United Kingdom
o England and Wales: secondary school (may be referred to as high school)
o Northern Ireland: secondary school or grammar school
o Scotland: high school or academy
 United States: High school (North America) (usually grades 9–12 but sometimes
10–12, it is also called senior high school) is always considered secondary
education; junior high school or intermediate school or middle school (6–8, 7–8, 6–
9, 7–9, or other variations) are sometimes considered secondary education.
 Uruguay: Liceo or Secundaria (three years of compulsory education: Ciclo Básico;
and three years of specialization: Bachillerato Diversificado, into: Humanities (Law
or Economics), Biology (Medicine or Agronomy), Science (Engineering or
Architecture), and Art
 Venezuela: bachillerato
 Vietnam: Trung học cơ sở (abbreviated THCS, lit. "basic middle school", equivalent
to junior high school in the U.S.); trung học phổ thông (abbr. THPT, lit. "general
middle school", equivalent to senior high school in the U.S.)

Notesedit
1. ^ Year 6 / Primary 6 is not a part of secondary school
See alsoedit
 Kindergarten
 List of schools by country
 Secondary education
 Tertiary education
 Tech ed

Portals:

 Education
 Schools

Referencesedit
1. ^ "The British Education System". The Headmasters' and Headmistresses'
Conference. Archived from the original on April 25, 2019. Retrieved January
28, 2022. Most pupils begin their secondary education at the age of 11 (Year 7), but in
some HMC schools pupils join the school at 13+ (Year 9).
2. ^ "Entry to Eton". Eton College. Archived from the original on December 14, 2021.
Retrieved January 28, 2022. ... Eton College, a boarding school for boys aged between 13
and 18.
3. ^ "Admissions". Harrow School. Archived from the original on January 28, 2022.
Retrieved January 28, 2022. Each year, the School admits about 160 boys into Year 9, in
the September following their 13th birthday...
4. ^ "International Standard Classification of EducationI S C E D 1997". www.unesco.org. 11
April 2013. Archived from the original on 2017-03-19. Retrieved 2017-03-12.
5. ^ Iwamoto, Wataru (2005). "Towards a Convergence of Knowledge Acquisition and Skills
Development" (PDF). uis.unesco.org. UNESCO. Archived from the original (PDF) on
2017-05-25. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
6. ^ Jump up to:a b c "International Standard Classification of Education ISCED
2011" (PDF). UNESCO UIS. UNESCO Institute for Statistics. 2012.
p. 38. Archived (PDF) from the original on November 26, 2020. Retrieved November
30, 2020.
7. ^ Jump up to:a b Ward, Ken. "British and American Systems
(Grades)". trans4mind.com. Archived from the original on 31 March 2017. Retrieved 30
March 2017.
8. ^ "What academies, free schools and colleges should publish
online". GOV.UK. Archived from the original on 9 October 2020. Retrieved 6
October 2020.
 9. ^ "What maintained schools must publish online". GOV.UK. Archived from the original on
9 October 2020. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
10. ^ Liew Kok-Pun, Michael (1981). "Design of secondary schools:Singapore a case
study" (PDF). Educational Building reports. Voume 17. UNESCO. p. 37. Archived from the
original (PDF) on 2017-04-04. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
11. ^ "Baseline designs: 1,200 place secondary (practical specialism) -
GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. GOV.UK. Archived from the original on 5 April 2017. Retrieved 4
April 2017.
12. ^ "Baseline design: 1,850 place secondary school - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk.
gov.uk. Archived from the original on 5 April 2017. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
13. ^ Jump up to:a b "Guidelines relating to planning for public school infrastructure".
Department of Basic Education, Republic of South Africa. 2012. Archived from the original
on 7 September 2015. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
14. ^ "Baseline designs for schools: guidance - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Education Funding
Agency. 11 March 2014. Archived from the original on 4 April 2017. Retrieved 3
April 2017.

External linksedit

Wikimedia Commons has media related to High schools and secondary schools.

 Australian CensusAtSchool (Australia)

 Canadian Education Statistics Council (CESC) (United States)
 Office for National Statistics (ONS) (United Kingdom)
 BB103_Area_Guidelines_for_Mainstream_Schools (2014) UK Archived 2017-05-
25 at the Wayback Machine
 National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) (United States)
 OECD Standardised designs (2011)

Last edited 18 days ago by Wikideas1

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