American reacts to the Australian Education System 

Also, the Australian system does not use words like freshman and sophomore. All students in high school up to and including year 10 are normally called juniors, with year 11 and 12 known as seniors. When talking about a specific year, we normally just call them by their number such as year eight.

As a student, and then as a parent, I love school uniforms. They make life easier all round.

No hat no play.. and every school has a uniform requirement.

The main difference is that in geography we learn there is more than 1 country in the world .

Shoes: Schools actually recommend a particular brand, usually Clarks (an Aussie company) or something similar, and they often have very stringent style requirements to prevent it from becoming a competitive thing. The brands aren't expensive and they're insanely durable.

I loved the idea of uniforms for all. It saved money and students didn't have a choice on what to wear to school - made life easy for parents.

School football isn’t really a thing here, like college sports in the US. School sports are more about team spirit, individual achievements and fitness.

As an Australian student, watching this video is really funny...

The whole idea of uniforms in our state or public schools was introduced so that everyone looked the same, because at the time the income ranges of people in the schools was wide. This prevented the possibility of kids being made fun of fopr not being as well clothed as others. Also it allowed everyone to see which school a child attended so if you were some lil rat bag outside of school they could identify which school you attended. When my kids started school they were born in the early 1980"s the public school system in most states started to introduce the idea of the no wide brimed hat no play outside rule because of the risks of sunburn and of course skin cancer. My grand kids that are in school in Qld tell me that they even go so far as require fair skinned kids to also wear sunscreen when outside now also.

I still wear a pair of designated Aussie school shoes that I bought second hand from a charity op shop for $2.50 more than 10 years ago. I replace the inner lining with sheep skin soles from time to time and they are the most comfortable, well gripping, indestructible all day shoes I have ever had in all my 74 years of life.

And thankfully, no need for active shooter drills in schools. We have fire and lockdown drills. Unlike the US, teachers are paid a salary for the whole year so no need for second jobs like many in the States.

A notable difference is that we do not have those yellow school buses. Older kids will take public transport if too far to walk.

We have summer break at Christmas. Then we start the new school year. As far as I know, it's like that everywhere in the southern hemisphere.

So you guys start your school year in the middle of the year. That seems so strange to an Australian.

G'day Ryan, one school they forgot about, the School of the air, l did all primary school year over the radio and in the kitchen of our farm house, then packed off to boarding School in Broken Hill NSW from 12 years old untill l was 18 years, also l did Kindergarten with my horse🐎🐎 at home, better than school. Cheers mate, Neil 🤠.

Having been a high school student in the US and now a teacher in Australia, our holidays are awesome! This is currently the first week of our term 3 holidays and I’m loving it! It works out to be between 12 to 13 weeks of holidays per year. The education department has now stated children will start at 4 years old to alleviate child care issues and parental costs in public schools. To be a teacher here you need a 4 year degree plus continual annual training with a minimum number of hours training required each year to keep your registration. Plus $700 every 5 years for your registration.

Many countries see the academic year and the calender year agree. It is not only Australia, but others such as: New Zealand, South Africa, Brazil, Kenya, Singapore, Chile, Malaysia, Argentina, etc.

Maybe the fewer vacation (school holidays) days in the US is to prepare them for the lack of worker's rights.

I’m guessing you interpreted that wrong - it’s not that some USA states let you drop out of school at 8, but don’t have to start till 8. So the compulsory range starts between 5-8 and ends at 16-19.

Having a uniform doesn’t prevent bullying. We had a terrible case recently in Sydney where a 12-year old girl at an all girls Catholic school took her own life, partly because of bullying. One thing to note is that retention during high school has gone up a lot over the decades. When I was at high school in the 80s, only about one in 3 came back for Years 11 and 12. Curriculum has changed a lot since then and now includes vocational options.

Primary school teacher here. 10 weeks on, two weeks off. 5 to 6 weeks off in Summer depending on where the Easter break falls during the year. I'm currently catching up on 10 weeks worth of gardening. In Tasmania we finish closer to Christmas and start back early February.

Parents complain often about the cost of uniforms. But when u add up he amount of clothing a child goes thru when worn 7 days a week, it adds up to more than just supplying a uniform. Most, if not all, schools have a clothing pool for 2nd hand uniforms, which many parents use, especially in Primary as kids wear them down fast. Shoes, either a lace up or velcro buckled closed shoe or joggers. Kids do joggers on sports and PE days, the other days are ur normal school shoes. Sandals or open toed shoes are banned. Hats, either wide brimmed or legionaires style. Legionaires covers the back of the neck stopping melanomas forming when u dont have sunscreen on. High school or secondary is much the same without the no hat no play rule. I started high school in 1978, alot has changed since then, girls no longer sit wth baby oil soaked into their legs getting a tan during recess and lunch breaks.

Yes shoes, hat, blazer jumpers all uniform.

Kids get bullied at school because of their shoes? I’ve seen that in movies but had no idea it happened in real life. Thank goodness for Aussie school shoes lol. I always had a uniform, primary and high school, never bothered me, never even thought about it, was just the norm. And u never had to worry about ‘what am I wearing today’. A great part of high school was catching the train to and from high school lol, just added a fun atmosphere before and after school chatting to your school friends on the train. Oh and we learned stuff at school, forgot about that bit lol.

Im on holidays at present 😊. I work in an Education Support school with kids that have learning difficulties. We share facilities with a mainstream High School and students can integrate between both schools depending on strengths and weaknesses

terms make it so much better, you only have about 2mth for a term and 2 terms per semester, 2 semesters a year

The school year here makes a lot of sense. It starts at the end of January, or thereabouts, which is the end of the second month of summer. In my State, the year is divided into quarters; there is a longer break in the beginning of July (which is mid-winter) and the much longer summer break which is December, and so includes Christmas. Shorter breaks to cover Easter and then late September for mid-spring. When I went to school (in the Dark Ages) we had 3 terms, but apparently having the quarters is a better system (or so we were told).

G'day Ryan, my daughter is a teacher at a primary school. She says that the kids are tired and ready for the two week break at the end of each semester. All public schools are owned and run by the State Governments and not by any Local Government.

As an Australian student, I think uniforms are great.... except for the fact that pants cost $60 and the rest of the uniform ranges from $40 - $70

please check out salaries for teachers in Australia VERSUS salaries for teachers in USA and at different levels for those teachers

I had a Native American man teaching Australian students Chinese in the late 80s at my high school. It was hilarious, once we couldn’t understand what he was saying in Chinese so he said it in English, and we still didn’t understand, he was jumping up and down, pointing, repeating “The rof! The rof!” Oh, he meant the rooooof 😂😂😂 Still can’t do more than count and say gday in Chinese 😂

Something you might be surprised about - but the high school football team that the US has has no real comparison in AUS. Most teenagers who play football usually do it at a sports club rather than associated with the school they attend (though this may not be the same in every state). My high school did have soccer and rugby teams, but they were something the entire school gets behind, cheerleaders walking around, there were no school event days dedicated to the sports teams etc. Also, we have started to add middle school into the mix these days.

Hi Ryan, I went through school of the 70s, my how things have changed since those days. Today both boys and girls use the same uniform (unisex) and hats are part of that for the summer period. My complete school days our uniform was tartan designed full dresses and blouse, later on it was skirt and blouse, senior high you wore a blazer with school name on it, and yes shoes were part of the uniform

Geez Ryan, you do remember that our seasons are the reverse of the northern hemisphere, right? 😆 That's why our kids have their main break in Dec-Jan. Also, breaks throughout the year differ between states, and between public & private schools.

School uniforms are a great idea. It takes away the have v have not social divide to an extent. The uniforms are reasonably affordable and many schools run uniform shops, often staffed by volunteer parents. As well as selling new uniforms, they often have 2nd hand uniforms that are cheap, to help struggling families. There are variations to uniforms in each school, and private/religious schools usually have fancier/more expensive uniform requirements.

10:42 It IS AFL - Aussie Football League.

We start in January as it is the end of school summer holidays just as it is in August for US kids. One of my friends married an American and her kids went to a Jewish school in Georgia. If it wasn't shoes kids would find something else to pick on. I liked uniforms. Didn't have to worry about what to wear and in the long run much less expensive.

this is a much better video than the last one you saw

Ryan, the reason why it seems like we get extra holidays during the year is because we only have 6 weeks over summer. Compare that to 2-3 months in the US. Personally I think it's a good idea, to have "less" over summer so we get 2 weeks three times during the year.

I remember talking to an American friend and saying, "and obviously that's just a TV thing -" and they had to explain that yes, what you wore to high school mattered just as much in reality...

I think the "uniforms prevent bullying thing" is a bit silly. I went to a public school in Australia with no uniform and never experienced or heard of any bullying due to people's choice of clothing. Neither the strict christian girl who never showed her shoulder, knees or cleavage, the girl who clearly thrifted nor the guys who clearly didn't care much got comments about their clothing. And I, who went through a goth faze, didn't get a single comment either. It depends way more on the culture of the school and the individual students. If there's someone who'll happily bully people about their clothing, if everyone is in uniforms they'll just find something else to bully others about instead, no? It may reduce a specific type of bullying, but it definitely doesn't stop bullies from being bullies. Enforcing uniforms to stop bullying is putting the responsibility on every single student instead of the individuals who need to be called out to change their behavior and the teachers who should step in to protect victims. No uniform also has benefits such as having you learn what clothes and style you're comfortable in, how to get dressed and ready as an adult when there probably won't be a uniform to lean on and getting exposed to and becoming more accepting of different styles. Also the clothes you buy will be able to be used outside of school hours and if you've finished your growth spurt they may even serve you into adulthood.

We’re currently in the second week of the third holidays (returning to school next Monday in Victoria). It’s great having x3 2 week breaks since it means that the length of recovery time is extended retrospectively for students to be more willing to return to school. It’s a good timing system.

In the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) primary school goes from K to 6, high school from 7 to 10, and secondary college 11 and 12. It's really silly, and problematic, that each state and territory has different systems - people who move between systems can have real problems since curricula sometimes vary substantially,.

Usually you can wear whatever shoes you want in public shoes. Most don't enforce the black leather shoes. Probably best if they are branded, to avoid being bullied. Same with your backpack. Unless you want the nickname Povo. Private Schools enforce black school shoes, and some even have their own backpack.

at my school, we have both normal uniform and also pe uniform, obv the pe uniform is way more comfortable than the actual uniform but the school tries to enforce it so much. I've seen people get in trouble for wearing black socks over white soccers, undergarments (undershirts, etc) being the wrong colour or wearing the wrong coloured trackies.

I go to an all-girls catholic private high school here in Australia and for our formal uniform, we have to wear uniform dress, black leather shoes, but for our sports uniform, we can wear any type of sports shoe. and on top of that, we cannot have unnatural hair colours (blue, purple, green), we cannot wear excessive amounts of jewellery (only a plain chain necklace or one with a cross, no bracelets, bold earrings etc.) But the good thing is that at the end of term 4, we finish in week 8 while other public schools have 10 weeks.

8 year old school drop outs , well that explains alot

I went to a Catholic High School here in Aus... our Uniforms were strict, School Brand Shirt, School Brand Jumper, School Brand Blazer (Optional), Graduation Year Jumper (Optional for Year 12s), School Brand Pants/Shorts/Skirt (Girls had to wear Skirts), School Brand Tie School Brand Socks, and Black Dress Shoes, Any Officer Pins you had (I was a Communion Officer in year 12)... then there was the P.E Uniform, School Brand P.E Socks, School Brand P.E Shorts, School Brand P.E Shirt in your Houses Colour (I was in Marcellin which was Yellow). You also had to be clean Shaven and Long Hair had to be tied up.

It is actually AFL, although it used to be VFL when it was only played in it's originating state of Victoria.

As an Australian I literally can’t understand taking the extra effort for making kids move up a grade in the middle of year. Like why can’t they just change it so they do it at the beginning? Makes it a lot more organised.

3:57 there are 4 terms a year, 2 terms per semester. At the end of every term, 2 weeks break. Except for summer we get 6 weeks starting a week or two before christmas 😀

you always went back to a stinking hot week of weather from the summer holidays, a lot of schools had their compulsory swimming lessons in the first few weeks back at school that was very much appreciated!!!

Yes we started in January

Roughly the same thing in NZ. Starts early February and ends in mid December. Four terms and kids start at 5 in Year 1. There is preschool at 4 (kindergarten). Primary School finishes at 12 years old at Year 8. College starts at Year 9 until Year 13. Then Uni.

School holidays here in Perth at the Moment.

I live in Australia and technically I’m in middle school but that’s just because my school divided it into middle school upper school and senior school so it was easier to make rules and there are 2 years in each section (7 and 8 middle 9 and 10 upper and 11 and 12 senior) but we are all on the same campus with the same teachers

Something i was mortified to learn that the whole uniforms in schools thing is now less about everyone being the same & representative of the school etc AND more about making money for the school. Usually the only place you can purchase the "uniforms" is from the school's own uniform shop. Which is usually run by volunteers for profit. I know this to be tru as i was one of those volunteers for almost 20yrs at four very different schools. The money usually goes towards purchasing something "extra" for the school that isn't paid for in other ways.

Just watched your iconic Australian moments vid, a classic one is “Democracy manifest”. A guy getting arrested and having a hilarious monologue as it happens

South Australia first year of Primary school is called Reception not Kindy, Kindy is actually about a year before Reception and Childcare is from baby to Kindy. Kindy and childcare are optional not manditory

High school teacher. Taught in both NT and QLD. NT has the best breaks having 6 weeks over Christmas, 4 weeks in June/July, 1 week Easter and September. It is arranged this way due to the remote locations allowing for flights to visit family. It is AFL (Australian Football League or Aussie rules for short), but we also do NRL (National Rugby League). AFL is big in NT while NRL is big in QLD. NT generally doesn't have uniforms while pretty much every QLD school does. Hope this helps :)

Free public school here in Australia, please show me where these schools are…… we buy uniforms….. we buy ALL BOOKS ETC………. We pay SCHOOL FEES…..and pay for anything else they think of! FREE MY ARSE.

In Tasmania: Start school at 4 years old, with kindergarten, then you have prep. Grades 1-6 are called primary school, and generally kindergarten, prep, and grades 1-6 are at one school. Then there's grades 7-10, which are called high school, which are generally separate from primary school, and finally years 11 and 12, which are called college. So, years kindergarten - 6 = primary, 7 - 10 = high school, 11 & 12 - college. Primary schools and high schools generally have uniforms, and high school has two; a sports and a formal. College doesn't have a uniform. Formal uniforms generally require formal shoes, however these have become more relaxed as of recent years. School starts in the first week of February, and is ten weeks long. There's three days off as well whenever easter is, and if it falls in the holidays they extend said holiday be a day or so. The next term then begins, goes for ten weeks as well, then another two week break, before a final ten week term, ending about the 21st of December. This information is for public schools, if there's anything I missed I will happily add it to this comment.

I know you've often expressed that your the lookout for Aussie content to watch. So I thought I'd reccomend the show Mr. Inbetween. Aussie T.V and Movies are not usually that impressive in my opinion but this show is a notable exception and might be one of the best shows I have ever watched.

My home state of New South Wales converted from three-term to four-term school years in 1987. The two-week inter-term breaks occur over Easter (the exact time of which can vary a bit for religious historical reasons), in mid-July, and in late September/early October. The summer break from mid-December to late January lasts between five and six weeks. Ideally, the four terms' durations are all of ten weeks, but sometimes they do vary (Easter is the culprit) up or down by a week. One reason that I've often heard given for having different break times in different states is to smooth out periods of peak demand for the travel and tourist industries.

In Western Australia when I was younger we started school on the year we turned 6 and the first year was called Grade 1 and we had 7 years in primary school and 5 years in High School so we attended school for 12 years not 13. We began our first year of University when we were 17 turning 18. We also went through an era of not having to wear uniforms. My first primary school had a uniform (1969--1971) but my second didn't (1972-1975) and at my high school we had a uniform that was mandatory when I was in year 8 (the first year of High school) but after that it became optional and we mostly didn't wear uniform but later in that school in the 80's uniforms came back into vogue and are to this day. Also many students left High School at the end of year 10 when they were 15 to go into the work force and only a smaller number did year 11 and 12. Another difference was we had 7 weeks Christmas holidays and only 3 terms with two weeks holidays after first and second terms. Later after my time 4 terms were introduced. The University Christmas holidays were about 3 months I think.

I didn't have school uniforms. We did have school colours, which we were expected to wear. The school sold clothes in those colours with the school logo on them. Most people just got those because it was easier.

The cut iff date for when you start school is a recent change in my state of QLD, when I went to school it was based on what year you were born. They then just made it confusing by putting a cut-off date halfway through the year.

Australian rules football is what AFL is outside of AFL and also the Brisbane Lions won the AFL championship grand final

ACT (Canberra) has a three tier system - years 7-10 are High School then 11/12 are College. Single sex schools are increasingly rare.

In Queensland and Northern Territory, kids start at 4, turning 5. This is compulsory. In New South Wales, you just have to be starting by the time you turn 6 (before the 31st of June). Preshool is not compulsory, but is encouraged. In NT, pre-school is called transition. In QLD, Preschool is called 3-year-old kindergarten and 4-year-old kindergarten. Public schools are largely free in Australia, but there are voluntary contributions in which you are "highly encouraged" to pay (read: some schools will go so far as to send an invoice and will constantly remind you that you have not paid the voluntary contribution until you pay and sometimes exclude kids from certain activities until they have been paid). This could be anything up to $500 per student. You then have to buy all books, textbooks and stationery as well as all uniforms. Source: I have 3 kids. 2 started school in QLD, 1 did transition/pre-school in NT and started school in NSW.

The summer break is based on Christmas. Everything happens in December! Exams finish/ student reports go home/ classes for the netty year are allocated, and there are events such as school Christmas Carols/ concerts/ Prep,orientation day for the next year, and the same for the Year sixes going to High School. We have prep information nights/ parent and community helpers morning tea, and class Christmas parties, and end of year treats for classes - a beach day or excursion. Then there is moving It’s and the Yeah Six Graduation night which is a big deal. In addition, other workplaces break up for the year, with many Closed until mid January. Then we have to squeeze in New Years Eve and summer holidays. We really don’t get the full benefit of summer at all. Children go back to school during early February which is the hottest month of the year then when you get back to school we have things like a picnic not for parents you have you children starting and often it is really really hot we now have air conditioning in most schools but once upon a time we didn’t and we would be working in 40° heat in classrooms with tin roofs from time to time some teachers have tried just to think of a restructure of the year so the total would go back maybe in March or just after EasterBut it hasn’t been able to work out that way because the cross everything revolves around Christmas and it’s part of the culture now so there are no summer camps or catch up schooling at all it’s all very rushed and to top it all off at the end of January kids have to go and get the new uniforms and got rock up to school next week such a pity compared to America we have you your three months then you slide into autumn or is our autumn is actually quite hot

as an Aussie watching this video I ahd no idea that Americans only have a couple of days for holidays for the entire year they do school- like what abt burn outs and everything? dang

(Australian) When I was much younger I'd always wanted no uniform, but once I hit highschool, and especially once I had to worry about ATAR and such, I was so grateful that I didn't have to worry about clothing and staying stylish and all, especially since it was such a rush to get up and out of the house already without that on top of it.

Also a big saying is no hat no play no fun today for primary schools

12:20 Shoes are usually not part of the public school and the uniform has to be purchased by families so kids still know which kids are in hand-me-downs or second hand so the judgements are still there and bullying about family financial status and situation still happens.

We're half way in to the two week holidays before term 4 at the moment here in south Australia

I went to a WA public school in a moderately good socio-economic area, graduated 11 years ago. We had a school uniform which was similar for boys and girls, designed to be mix-and match so you had a degree of choice. The core elements were shorts, pants or skirt (for girls), polo shirt (or blouse for girls), dress (also for girls), and a jumper or jacket. Blazers and ties were available but because we were a public school not private, apart from representing the school at chess or other non-sports nobody bothered. There was a second-hand store available which only accepted the decent stuff so hand-me-downs within families was more common. Shoes had guidelines but no specific brands or colours, they just had to be enclosed and presentable so most people (11-15 years ago) either wore Cons (Converse All-Stars/Chuck Taylors), Vans, Volleys or regular running shoes cos you don't usually bother changing shoes for sport class. I don't remember anyone getting bullied over their shoes, it was more their looks, singular thing they did or something on social media.

In australia, there isn't a "summer break" for school as you know it. Down here it's refered to as Christmas holidays and is usually 6 weeks, can be up to 7 weeks. Often school finishes anywhere from the 12 of December up to the 24th of December, depending on the state. The Christmas holiday period will also differ between the public system, semi private and full private schools in each state. (Semi private schools receive some government funding that offsets their yearly fees. Full private school, usually don't). All our seasons commence on the first of a month. Calender summer begins on the 1st of December. Although, day time summer temperatures can begin as early as late August to mid September and continue well into April, sometimes through into May. This is especially the case west if the divide, where summer like day time temperatures can span 6 to 9 months of the year. It's dependent on whether australia is in "La Niña" or "El Niño". The latter is hotter. Australia's seasons by calender are as follows Summer:- December 1st Autumn:- March 1st Winter:-June 1st Spring:-September 1st Real life seasons(day time)? Summer:- 18 to 26 weeks Autumn:- 6 weeks Winter:- 6 weeks Spring:- 3 to 8 weeks

As someone from New Zealand where we have a very similar system for breaks, it's insane for me to learn that you guys get so little breaks during the year. I don't think I could cope without the 2 week breaks in between terms.

Private schools normally have longer holidays, the more you pay, the less you go.

I remember being in primary and our class making this rhyme: No hat no play, no school today, so pack your bags, and run away. 😅

Wearing a school uniform helped my younger sibling in a sense. She got an 80% scholarship offer to a private school so my parents let her go there. A lot of the kids were pretty snobbish, and my parents could barely afford the uniform so bought second hand ones. Despite being second hand they were perfectly fine on my sister and while the kids poked fun at her for other things such as not being able to attend certain events or having updated technology or trendy items and stuff, it was never directed to her clothes or appearance because she was the same as everyone else. I can't imagine how much more difficult it would've been as a teenager, getting flamed for your own clothes, your own style etc on top of the other things. My sister was able to brave "being the poor kid" because she knew that was outside of her control. But if her style choices were added onto that, I think it would've rocked her confidence. Would've added another needless layer of pain, slef-doubt and insecurity. Uniforms help reduce that class-comparison to a degree

Uniforms are brilliant for feeling included and personal pride, many schools have a second hand uniform shop as part of their admin and a strong welfare system! There are also the Matriculation Colleges and TAFE from age 16! One of my niece's went from a Montisorri Primary to a Private Girls to a School of Arts to Catholic University - mostly based on her interests! High schools and Universities do have ameteur sports teams, but most kids will also play with community teams! 🤔

There are huge differences. Look up canteens. I hate private and faith schools with a passion. Yes shoes are part of the uniform. In primary school even my underwear was part of my uniform cause “girls” wore dresses and skirts even for sport.

Never thought any where was different to Australia. When I went to school, mid last century, we had 4 terms of I think 10 weeks. 6 weeks off just before Christmas to end of Jan , 2 weeks at Easter, and 2 other breaks of 2 weeks. In 11 years of school I learned basic maths and little more. Addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. A little spelling etc, but not much. I have made it to retirement, and now getting back my tax I paid for 50 years.

In NZ, kids start on their 5th birthday. So kids will start throughout the year, and the New entrants class grows as the year goes on. When it gets big enough, a new NE class is started.

As a Private school student in Victoria my school's fees go up to $45,000 per year and for boarders it's an extra 30,000 on top. we also get much longer break times typicaly and extra week in easter or september, and most private schools will start their Christams/Summer break at the begining of december.

In Australia, we have about ten week terms, then about 2.5 week holidays (most of the time) then at the end of the year, a break between 5-9ish weeks (depending on your school). A lot of private schools bigger breaks start early December, usually between the 1st and the 7th, and end between January 28 and Feb 2nd.

Apprentices in trades eg plumbing start working but also part time study at 15? Some seemed younger than that, so shy when they turned with Dad to enrol at TAFE (Technical and Further Education = vocational education)

Summer is December, January, February. School normally starts early February. The schools get term breaks and a semester (mid year break). As well as public holidays. Also, you may not know that if you are working, we all get four weeks annual holidays which can be broken up if we wish. Education is supposed to be free but fees like that usually apply to private schools. There are strong anti bullying procedures in most schools. It still happens but it is very much frowned on.

Uniforms are a great way to make sure no one is bullied for how they dress are what they do or don't have especially cause when I went to public high school i was good friends with kids who lived in 2 bedroom apartments with 5 people in the household and kids who had three houses and went travelling around the world every holiday. But you could never tell what end the spectrum of wealth they one on from what cloths they would were. they only way you really know is if they were wearing expensive jewelry (but it could be fake) and what they wore on mufti days.

Just FYI the reason that US schools have such a long summer break and that the school year starts in autumn (fall) is because "back in the day" the children were expected to help with harvest in rural areas and so wouldn't attend then regardless.

I went to a Steiner school through out my whole school years it was ok but now I’m actually really wanting to learn abroad and it’s kinda hard for me because lots of Steiner schools such a mine don’t give you the requirements you will need for going to school abroad like college or something like that which sucks.

And those private schools are subsidised by the taxpayer with many getting more government funding than public schools. Also some schools in Canberra start at pre school.

I always hated the uniforms when I was a kid, but now that I have kids uniform is way better because of doing the washing and getting ready lol. So much simpler and cheaper.

Clarks and Bata Scouts were the go to school shoes when I was a kid. My parents used to make me brush polish them every day - Kiwi shoe polish with an applicator brush and a separate polishing brush. And yes, this was in public schools in NSW. Different times.

if you are a private school student in queensland (such as myself) you start at the end of january and finish at the end of november. you get around 8 weeks off at christmas time, 2 weeks at easter, 3 weeks in the middle of the year (called the june-july holidays, as they go from end of june till the start of july) and 2 weeks in september. i am in year 11 and term 4 has just commenced for me, i have also have just started my year 12 studies as the ATAR system starts year 12 work in term 4 yr 11

Public schools don't really have seated cafeteria and plated meals, they usually just have a tiny canteen window with very basic snacks. Eat in the yard, most kids take lunch boxes.

Majority of public schools in Australia has uniforms, and in my primary school, we had like free dress day which is a day when you can wear anything you want instead of the uniform, honestly a pretty cool concepy

as an australian i dont see any shoe bullying. thats weird? idk most bullying i would say is based on physical appearance and actions