Secondary school is an educational institution where the second stage of the three schooling periods, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age takes place. It follows elementary or primary education, and is sometimes followed by university (tertiary) education. The term high school is used particularly in North America and North Western England though the two types of school are far from synonymous.
There are very many different types of secondary school, and the language used varies around the world. Children usually go to secondary school between the ages of 11 and 16 years, and end between the ages of 16 and 18 years, although there is considerable variation from country to country.
The following descriptions and definitions pertain to state-funded education unless otherwise stated.
Read more about Secondary School: Nomenclature
Famous quotes containing the words secondary and/or school:
“The prime purpose of being four is to enjoy being four—of secondary importance is to prepare for being five.”
—Jim Trelease (20th century)
“... the school should be an appendage of the family state, and modeled on its primary principle, which is, to train the ignorant and weak by self-sacrificing labor and love; and to bestow the most on the weakest, the most undeveloped, and the most sinful.”
—Catherine E. Beecher (1800–1878)