Lower School

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Lower School is a term used in some areas of the United Kingdom. Some English Local Education Authorities have introduced Lower Schools since the 1960s. The notion of Lower Schools was mooted by the Plowden Report of 1967 which proposed a change to a three tier model including Lower Schools for children aged between 5 and 8, Middle Schools for 8-12 year-olds, and then Upper or High Schools for 12-16 year-olds.

In practice, two main models were used:

• 5-8 Lower Schools, followed by 8-12 Middle Schools, as suggested by Plowden
• 5-9 Lower Schools, followed by 9-13 Middle Schools, as implemented by the West Riding of Yorkshire in the mid-1960s

although other options were implemented in different authorities.

Following the introduction of the National Curriculum after the Education Reform Act 1988, the new curriculum's splits in Key Stages at age 11 encouraged the majority of Local Education Authorities to return to a two-tier system of Primary and Secondary schools. However, some Lower Schools still exist in various areas, including Staffordshire & Bedfordshire.

In areas where the three-tier model has been replaced, lower schools have been converted to infant or primary schools in many cases, or closed in others. No authority has introduced three-tier education in any area since 1995, although some new lower schools have opened in areas which already have three-tier systems in place.