WELCOME TO SCHOOL!

Children attend nursery school from ages 3 to 6 but it’s possible to start at two and half. They can play all together, do arts and crafts such as fruits made of coloured rice or plasticine. Children identify their classrooms by the different flowers or fruits which are painted on the doors.

Children attend primary school from ages 6 to 10, but they can start a year before if they sit for an exam. Until 2004, at the end of the fifth year they had to sit for an exam which included an Italian and Maths written test and an oral test on other subjects. Children have to wear a uniform which is usually blue for boys and white for girls. In most schools, students also wear a cockade, the colour of which differs depending on the year they are attending.

Students attend lower secondary school from ages 11 to 13. They study the same subjects they did in primary school with the addition of technology and another foreign language (Spanish, French or German). At the end of the third year students sit for an exam which allows them to continue their education.

Upper secondary school lasts five years from ages 14 to 19. At the end of the fifth year, students have to sit for the leaving exam, called “esame di maturità”, which includes written and oral tests. There are different kinds of upper secondary school:

University is not part of compulsory education and the course lasts according to the degree you choose: a “short” course or a “long” course of studies.

Boulogne, the oldest university in Italy.

FORUM??questions??

FORUM??questions??