1.
School rules
2.
School subjects
3.
After school activities
4.
School Facilities
5.
School Punishment
6.
A typical English school
A.
Chiswick School is a secondary school in London. It has about 1.250 pupils between the ages of 11 and 19. Like in most British schools, all the pupils study the same subjects in the first three years. Then they work for their GCSE exams – usually taking about nine subjects. Everyone takes English, Maths and Science, but there is quite a wide choice of other subjects. After the exams, some pupils leave and get jobs; others go on to do their A levels at other schools or further education college; some stay on in school.
B.
There are six tennis courts, a gym, two squash courts and a large games field, where boys and girls play football and hockey. Pupils can also row on the nearby River Thames. There are also three main computer centres, and most subjects (such as Chemistry and Languages) have their own computers. All pupils study Information Technology. The school has a large library and a Learning Resources Centre with photocopying facilities, computer scanners and printers.
C.
When the classes are over, Chiswick students are busy too. There is judo, dance, cooking and chess provided by the school at lunch time and in the afternoon. There are music and photography clubs. There is a theatre group which puts on a play at the end of each year. The teachers and the parents encourage as many pupils as possible to take part in numerous clubs. In the holidays, the school organizes trips such as camping in Wales or skiing in Switzerland.
D.
There is one basic law in the school: to respect others and their property and behave in a normal, sensible way, with due consideration for the health and safety of all. In really serious cases, it is possible to exclude pupils for a period of time from school, or to expel them permanently. As in most schools in Britain, pupils have to wear a uniform. There is some resistance to wearing school uniform, but generally teachers and parents agree that the uniform is good for discipline.
E.
If, as a pupil, you misbehave there is a system known as WRO – Warning, Report, Out. First you get a warning from your teacher, you have to carry a form around with you and the teacher signs it after each lesson – to show that you were present and behave well. If you do anything wrong at this stage, you are out; you have to go to the hall to join any other pupils in trouble. In the hall, you all work in silence under the supervision of a teacher.