The school system

After talking with several Welsh students I think I understand the way it works. So the begin school at age 3 or 4 where they learn letter formation, how to read sentences, numbers etc. This type of school is primary school until about age 11 or 12, then they move to secondary school, but before that happens they take a test. This test determines what type of learner they are. There are two groups: the academic ones, or the hands-on. A friend told me the purpose of this was for the higher achievers to not be held down, and the ones who like to do hands-on work to not become bored. So in secondary school which is ages 12-14 I think, they learn in what they tested as, but if they aren't comfortable there, they can retest and join a different group. So after secondary school, they take another test I believe which determines if they go to college or like a tech school. This process begins at age 14-16, which means they have to know what they want to do already! After college, they can go to the university and only have one area of study, for the next 3 or 4 years. However, the first year is only counting toward one third of their academic career, so they only need to above a C. Also, they don't have GPA's like our system. They do factor in grades, but someone told me since everything with their grades counts as a different percentage they aren't able to tell where they are until they graduate.