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grade


prefix before school year, seems to be replaced by "year" in lots of places now: Grade 10

Contributor's comments: Growing up in Victoria in the 1980s, primary schools had Grades 1 to 6 and secondary schools Years 7 to 12.

Contributor's comments: In my high school years in Queensland, 1965-1969, 'grade' was standard usage for all five years, 8 to 12. Prior to 1964, however, Grade 8 had been the final year of primary school, (rather than the first year of high school), and the high school years were named after the public examinations at the end of years 10 and 12: sub-Junior (Grade 9), Junior, sub-Senior, Senior (Grade 12). Teachers and other adults continued to use those names interchangeably with the Grade number: 'So you're in sub-Senior [Grade 11] now?'

Contributor's comments: Did/does the NSW system use 'class' for the upper six years of schooling? In her otherwise magnificent biography of Charmian Clift, Nadia Wheatley writes of her subject in (e.g.) 'third class', and I'm not sure what that means.

Contributor's comments: In Sydney in the 70s we used "class" for the six years after kindergarten. Thus in "third class" you would be approximately 8 years old. When you went to highschool you began in "Year 7" or "Seventh Form". We didn't use "grade".