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Main article Primary education

An elementary school is an institution where children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as elementary or primary education. Elementary school is the preferred term in many countries and especially in North America. Primary school is the preferred term in the United Kingdom, India, Australia and New Zealand and in most publications of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).^[1]

Main article Education in the United Kingdom

Elementary school was formerly the name given to publicly funded schools in England which provided a basic standard of education for working class children aged from five to 14, the then school leaving age. They were also known as industrial schools.

Elementary schools were set up to enable working class children to receive manual training and elementary instruction. They provided a restricted curriculum with the emphasis on reading, writing and arithmetic (the three Rs). The schools operated on a 'monitorial' system, whereby one teacher supervised a large class with the assistance of a team of monitors, who were quite often older pupils. Elementary school teachers were paid by results. Their pupils were expected to achieve precise standards in reading, writing and arithmetic such as reading a short paragraph in a newspaper, writing from dictation, and working out sums and fractions.^[2]

Before 1944 around 80 per cent of the school population attended elementary schools through to the age of 14. The remainder transferred either to secondary school or junior technical school at age 11. The school system was changed with the introduction of the Education Act 1944. Education was restructured into three progressive stages which were known as primary education, secondary education and further education.^[3]

In the UK schools providing primary education are now known as primary schools. They generally cater for children aged from four to eleven. Primary schools are often subdivided into infant schools for children from four to seven and junior schools for ages seven to 11. In the (diminishing) minority of areas where there is a "three-tier" system, children go to "first school" until about 9, then middle school until about 13, then high school; in these places, the term "primary school" is not usually used.

Main article Education in the United States

In the USA elementary schools teach up to grades 5, 6 or 8 and usually also have a kindergarten. Elementary schools in the US are also known as grade schools or grammar schools. The minimum age at the start of elementary schooling varies widely between states with some students starting kindergarten as young as 4½ years and others as old as 6 years.

Main article Education in India

In India, elementary school includes primary school years ranging from class I to class IV, ideally between the age group of 5-10 years. Ideally, children join school at the age of 4-6 depending on different states directly coming from kindergarten or nursery schools.

• Educational stages
• Primary school
• List of elementary and primary schools by country
• Elementary Education Act 1870

1. ^ Primary school. In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved on 12 June 2007, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://search.eb.com/eb/article-9061377
2. ^ Derek Gillard. Education in England: A brief history. Chapter 2: 1800-1900 Towards a state system. Retrieved on 15 June 2007.
3. ^ Peter Anthony Newsam, 'Elementary school', Microsoft Encarta 2004 edition (CD-Rom), 1993-2003.