Justcol

This has no effect on me as my kids are now grown up but I've often wondered why NZ has so many different types of school.
There are Primary schools, intermediates, Normal and high schools. Now I know what Primary and High schools are but what
is the point / purpose of an intermediate and what the heck is a Normal school

bourbon-biscuit

Intermediate is for kids in yrs 7-8, but rural primaries tend to include intermediate age kids.

Normal schools are just schools that universities are associated with for teacher training, ditto 'model' country schools.

How is that confusing?

sr71

Intermediate is just a middle school - England has some.

bourbon-biscuit

Nope. Middle school is middle school- intermediate plus first two years of high (Cambridge has one, for example) and there are only a handful of them here. Most intermediates here are exclusively yrs 7+8, middle is yrs 7-10. In cambridge kids stay at the middle for years 9+10 if they perhaps might not be quite ready for high school, so in practice almost all kids go to middle school here for the intermediate years only.

P18PPS

it is the same as some areas of the UK - leicestershire has a number of primary/middle/upper schools - same kind of thing... not a new thing at all

Bo-Jangles

I always chuckle when I see Normal School, it seems so politically incorrect. Those poor kids could be harmed for life by being made to feel inferior to people who go to special schools.

Justcol

sorry but I never came across middle schools in the uk.
I just assumed it was primary until age 11 then high school.
So, some kids can go straight to high school but some can stay
on at intermediate for what would be the first 2 years of high school
then join the high school in the 3rd year (dont know the years numbers)

bourbon-biscuit

Ha ha, BJ- when I first moved here and saw the title Normal School I thought it was a special school at the mercy of a pacific version of 'PC gone mad'

bourbon-biscuit

No, they can't stay on at an intermediate school, but they can stay on at a middle school. A middle school caters for the intermediate years (7+8) and the first two years of high, pre-NCEA (9+10).

P18PPS

if you are married to your cousin then you go to a special school, however if you are married to your sibling then you are weird and go to a wierdo school. If you are married to your immediate family then this is just freaky and you have to go to jail.

do not pass go etc etc etc

hope this clarifies the situation

jmh

I went to intermediate school mainly because it was the main feeder school for the local High School. I asked my mum, who has spent her entire career in the NZ education system, what Intermediate schools are for or why they introduced them and she had no idea! Having been in the system myself I can't see any benefit in separating kids out for two years. However the only other option was the rural primary which went to form 2 then, and educational standards were quite low by comparison.

Bo-Jangles

I thought Intermediate was meant to be a creative period, whilst you find yourself and decide what you want to do when you get to proper school and enter into more serious study.

j19fmm

Apparently only 7 in the whole country. There are very few left in UK either.
Middle school always appealed to me as it was a less intense way to start higher ed.

bourbon-biscuit

No, no- that's a BA

Trish M

My daughter Eva will be going to an Intermediate school when we arrive in Auckland. I personally see it as a positive thing. It will prepare her better for High school hopefully.