School and education in Kuboia

The current school and education system in Kuboia came into effect in August 1993. Beforehand, each local council set their own standards.

Education structure
Kuboian children generally start pre-school between the ages of 2 and 4. Children are usually grouped depending on when their date of birth is, with children born in July usually being the oldest and children born in June being the youngest.

Primary education consists of eight years; the first three are generally called Approach Years with the last five being called Novice Years. Secondary education consists of up to six years and are generally refer to as Advanced Years. Children generally start Approach education at ages 4 or 5, Novice education at ages 7 or 8 and Advanced education at ages 12 or 13.

Schools are open for teaching on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Schools may also be open on Wednesdays and Saturdays for non-teaching purposes, such as for polling stations during election days.

Times and periods
Approach and Novice School usually starts at 9:00a.m., with a fifteen minute break in the morning and an hour break during lunch time. Whilst Approach School finishes around 2:30p.m., Novice School has an additional afternoon class for practices such as school assemblies and gym classes, which often run until 4:00p.m. Generally, schools in North and West Kuboia have longer breaks but finish at a later time. A few schools (mostly in North and West Kuboia) have a practice in which they finish later on a Monday and Thursday to allow children to leave at an earlier time on Tuesday and Friday.

Advanced School is often divided into four periods, with a break after the first and second periods. The fourth is generally used for study and gym classes.

Subjects
Approach School classes are centred mostly around group and class-wide work, including counting, spelling and problem solving.

Novice School involves children doing work more independently whilst group work is involved on occasions.

Children in both Novice and Advanced School are expected to learn about communication, numeracy, finance and science. They are also expected to have classes involving personal and social education, as well as a class in which they learn another language (usually French or Dutch).

Uniform
Most Kuboian schools expect both students and teachers to wear uniforms, which usually consists of formal wear in the country.

Exams
Students in their fourth, fifth and sixth years in Advanced School sit exams in between the November and Christmas Holidays. Students in sixth year also sit exams in April after the Easter holidays. After the exam period is over, students can choose to leave school or stay on for another year, though they must leave after their sixth year in Advanced School.

Exams are usually set in four levels; Bronze Certificate, Silver Certificate, Gold Certificate and Platinum Certificate, in order from lowest to highest level, though Bronze Certificate levels do not contain an exam.

Other features
Schools in Kuboia are generally expected to apply for a government-funded scheme that allows them to provide free uniforms, lunches and stationery for children in poorer families.