The Ten Weeks, A Note About School Terminology

Although the Island had a wide variety of school systems, their terminology for grades and divisions was fairly consistent from country to country.
As is the case with schools in the U.S., Island schools had twelve regular graded divisions. The first six made up “primary’ school and the last six “secondary” schools, corresponding to U.S. grades 1-6 and 7-12 respectively. Only Verecunda had compulsory kindergarten at the time of The Ten Weeks. Islanders referred to their primary grades in the same way as U.S. public schools, but for the secondary schools they referred to the grades as “forms,” as is customary in many preparatory schools. Thus U.S. seventh grade was “Form I,” eighth “Form II,” and so on through twelfth, “Form VI.”
Secondary schools were further divided into Lower and Upper Division, Lower Division having Forms I-III and Upper Division Forms IV-VI. This division, however, was mostly applied to athletic teams and competition.
The reality was that most Island schools were “comprehensive,” namely that they contained both primary grades and secondary forms in one school. There were exceptions, such as the Cathedral of St. Thomas School in Serelia (a primary school.) It wasn’t until well after The Ten Weeks when schools were split up, and then only in Verecunda.