I'm not sure if this has been done before, but I've noticed more and more roleplays being set in England ran by admins who aren't from England and don't understand the school system we use here.
DISCLAIMER: This is done with pretty much no research but with 12 years of experience and a headteacher as a mother.
Now, as you will notice, I have said English School System, and not British. This is because I know there are different systems in the different countries of Great Britain. This guide covers the system in England, and I think Wales, but I'm not entirely sure on that one.
Age 2-4:
Most children start going to Nursery or Pre-School at around age two. Nursery is usually part time (or can be full time if the parents are working full time). It usually consists of mostly playing, but does also teach children the beginning of core skills such as reading, writing and counting. Nursery is not compulsory.
Nursery is also known as Foundation Stage 1
There are two types of school: Combined and Separated. Combined (Or Primary) Schools have children from the age of 4-11. Separated schools separate the children into Infants and Juniors. Most separated schools are pretty much the same school separated onto two different campuses. Going to the Infant School guarantees you will have a place at the Junior School
Age 4-7
The first year of compulsory schooling in England begins the September after your 4th birthday. This first year is primarily called Reception. It is mainly an extension of Nursery with more of a focus on learning. Reception is Foundation Stage 2.
The September after your 5th birthday you become a Year One. This is more like school as you know it, less playing than in Reception.
The September after your 6th Birthday you become a Year Two. (See where this is going?)
Collectively, Year One and Two create Key Stage One.
After this stage, if you go to a separated school you would become a junior and go the the junior campus.
Age 7-11
As above, you have Year Groups that the children are separated into. This is Key Stage 2 and contains Years 3-6
Once you finish Year 6, your primary education is over. Now you get to move onto Secondary School! Yay. You'll probably go to your local secondary, or you may go to a grammar school (more on that later).
Age 11-16
When you join secondaryschool in the September after your 11th Birthday, you are a Year 7. You are the bottom of the food chain and everyone hates you. Secondary School is very different from Primary School. In primary school, you are taught every lesson by the same teacher. In Secondary School you're taught by a different teacher for every subject. Also, Secondary Schools are a lot larger than primary schools. For frame of reference, my Primary School had 280 students in it, and my Secondary School had 2000. There were more people in my Year Group at Secondary than there were in all of my Primary School.
Years go on, you get older, Nothing much really happens in Year 8 apart from everyone getting really cocky and hitting puberty. Years 7-9 are also known as Key Stage 3.
When you're in Year 9, you need to choose your GCSE options. Ever since Year 7 you've been taking a fuck load of lessons and at Year 10 you get to cut everything down to 3/4 ones you really like and would like a qualification in. (You have to take English, Maths, Science and some others depending on your school. I had to take ICT, Religious Studies and PE) These are the general options you get:
Art
Business Studies
Design Technology
Drama
Geography
History
Modern Foreign Languages (French/Spanish/German)
Music
PE
Catering
Textiles
Dance
Also, some schools offer the option for the high achieving science students to take extra science as a GCSE called Triple Science.
Also, the core subjects you have to take more than one actual qualification in. In English you have to take English Language and English Literature. In Science you have to take Core Science and Additional Science.
Now that you've chosen your GCSE subjects, you move up to Year 10 in the September after your 14th birthday. Year 10 and 11 are really focused on your GCSEs. To put it in perspective, your GCSEs are the equivalent to OWLs in the Harry Potter Universe.
You finally take your GCSEs in May/June of the year you turn 16. Due to recent government changes, all courses are now linear, meaning you have to take all your exams at the end of year 11. Which can be a lot. I took 20 exams in the space of 6 weeks for my GCSEs, and one girl I knew had 25. So, it's very stressful. However, one upside of taking your GCSEs is you get study leave, meaning you only have to go into school for your exams. Study Leave generally starts in early May. Once your exams are over, you have prom (not as big as in America, it's more of a goodbye party) and then you get an extra month of Summer Holidays (as English Schools finish in late July mostly). Year 10 and 11 are also known as Key Stage 4.
You get your GCSE results in August and then they will show you where you can carry on. (Keep your fingers crossed for my results please). GCSEs are graded from A*-G and then there's a U. All grades given as A*-G are technically passes but literally everyone and everywhere only counts A*-C as an actual pass. A 'U' is a complete fail, it stands for ungraded which basically means it's really bad. YOU DO NOT WANT US. Also, while taking your GCSEs there will be two tiers of exams you take, Higher and Foundation. Higher is a more difficult paper, meaning you can get the higher grades. If you take the foundation paper, you cannot get higher than a C. Even if you get 100% on the paper, it will only be a C.
During Year 11, you will have made your arrangements for where you'll be going after the summer. Legally, you do not have to go to school any more, but recent laws say you must be in some form of education, meaning you can go to Sixth Form, College or have an Apprenticeship, until you are 18 years old.
EDIT: I would like to add that PE is compulsory up until age 16 for two hours a week and so is RS for one hour. (Unless you're like me and took RS GCSE in Year 10, then you don't need to take it any longer)
Age 16-18
After getting your GCSEs, you can either go to Sixth Form, College, or get an apprenticeship.
Sixth Form:
Is attached to a school, you may choose to stay at your school's sixth form or go to a different school. At Sixth Form, you take A-Levels. You only take 3 or 4 of these and they should be your absolute favourite subjects. You take your AS Levels in Year 12 (age 17) and your A2 Levels in Year 13 (Age 18).
College:
College is an independent sixth form, not attached to a school, you get more freedom at a college than at a sixth form. Colleges also give you the option to take BTECs instead of A-Levels. BTECs are equivalents to A-Levels, however you cannot go to University with BTECs. BTECs are more vocational courses with things such as Engineering, Health and Beauty, Child Care.
Apprenticeship:
You go and work for someone and learn the skills you need for your ideal line of work.
Different Types of School
Comprehensive: Free, state run school. You get in by living in a certain area.
Private School: You have to pay, like a lot. Doesn't necessarily mean better education
Public School: A really, really old Private School. Think Eton and Harrow.
Pupil Referral Unit: Where you go if you get kicked out of every other school in the area. For students with behavioural disorders.
Grammar School: A secondary School for the top 10% cleverest children. Abolished in most areas, but do exist in six counties around the UK. They are Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Devonshire, Kent and Manchester. To get into a Grammar School you must pass a test called the 11+, which you take at age 11, which is mainly logical thinking and verbal reasoning exercises. Has become rather defunct nowadays what with lots of children being tutored to pass it from a young age. Most Grammar Schools are single sex, although there are a few which are co-ed. (When my mum taught year one she told me she had a boy in her class who was having 11+ tutoring twice a week at age 6)
Uniform
Pretty much every school in England has a school uniform. The typical one is a school blazer with the school tie and school jumper with a white shirt and black skirt, trousers and shoes. You show up to school not in uniform? You get put in internal suspension. It's a lot stricter than in American Schools.