A key stage is a stage of the

state education A state school, public school, or government school is a primary school, primary or secondary school that educates all students without charge. They are funded in whole or in part by taxation and operated by the government of the state. State-f ...

system in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

, the

Isle of Man The Isle of Man ( , also ), or Mann ( ), is a self-governing British Crown Dependency in the Irish Sea, between Great Britain and Ireland. As head of state, Charles III holds the title Lord of Mann and is represented by a Lieutenant Govern ...

and the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar setting the educational knowledge expected of students at various ages. The term is also used in some other autonomous territories such as

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

, and countries such as

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

(some states), although the ages at which each key stage applies differ between countries. Key Stages in England are often abbreviated as KS (ex. KS1). Each key stage consists of a certain range of school years so there is no key stage for higher education. In Wales, the new curriculum replaces key stages with "progression steps" at ages 5, 8, 11, 14 and 16, "relating to broad expectations of a child’s progress".

Stages

, the stages are as follows: The national curriculum sets out targets to be achieved in various subject areas at each of the Key Stages. The Key Stages were first defined in the Education Reform Act 1988 to accompany the first introduction of the national curriculum. The precise definition of each of the main 4 key stages is age-related, incorporating all pupils of a particular age at the beginning of each academic year. The key stages were designed to fit with the most prevalent structures which had already grown up in the education system over the previous 100 years of development. Prior to the four main key stages, pupils attend a Foundation Stage, the latter part of which is compulsory. Key Stage 1 fits broadly with the first stage of

primary education Primary education is the first stage of Education, formal education, coming after preschool/kindergarten and before secondary education. Primary education takes place in ''primary schools'', ''elementary schools'', or first schools and middle s ...

, often known as infant schools. This break had existed for some time, being acknowledged in the 1931 Hadow Report as 'axiomatic' by as early as 1870. Key Stage 2 fits the later stage of primary education, often known as

junior school A junior school is a type of school which provides primary education to children, often in the age range from 8 and 13, following attendance at an infant school, which covers the age range 5–7. Since both infant and junior schools provide pri ...

s. Again, described by Sir William Henry Hadow, this took pupils up to the standardised break at age 11. Secondary education was split between Key Stage 3 & Key Stage 4 at age 14, to align with long-existing two-year examination courses at

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a range of subjects taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, having been introduced in September 1986 and its first exams taken in 1988. State schools ...

level. Key Stage 5 is the final Key Stage and refers to education for students beyond secondary school aged 16 to 18 participating in sixth form or college.

References

{{Education in England School terminology Educational stages