TWELFTH GRADE

'Twelfth grade' (called 'Grade 12' in some regions, also known as ''senior year'' in the U.S.) is the final year of required education in the United States and many other nations.
Outside of the United States, the final secondary school year takes different terms. It is simply referred to as the twelfth grade (or 'grade 12' in English Canada), in Ireland, it is known as 6th year, in Singapore it is known as Junior College 1 or 2 and in Australia it is known as Year 12. In New Zealand, it is also known as Year 13, while in Northern Ireland, it is known as Year 14, or Upper Sixth.

Contents

United States

Traditions associated with the senior year

UK

Canada

Latin America

Germany

United States

The twelfth grade is the twelfth school year after kindergarten. Students are usually 16 to 18 years old. Twelfth grade is the last year of compulsory secondary education, or "high school" in the U.S.
Members of this grade level are commonly struck by "senioritis".

Traditions associated with the senior year

At the end of this school year, there is traditionally a graduation event with the seniors who have completed all of the required work.
In some schools seniors receive their class ring at the beginning of their senior year.
In most schools seniors sit for expensive, formal senior portraits at the beginning of the school year, which are given special treatment in the yearbook.
There is customarily a formal school dance for this year's students, called senior prom. Some schools hold a prom for both juniors and seniors, while others segregate the two grades into separate dances.
Senior cut day is a day students designate as a day on which the seniors fail to attend school en-masse. This event/tradition is generally strongly discouraged by school administrations and teachers.

UK

In the United Kingdom outside Northern Ireland, "Year 13" (or "Upper Sixth") is the second and last year of A-Level certifications, which are completed at the end of "Year 13" (or "Upper Sixth") Students are usually 16-17 in Year 12 and 17-18 in Year 13. In Northern Ireland this takes place in Years 13 and 14. In both cases, these two years are entirely optional, but generally required for entry into higher education. In Scotland, sufficiently good marks in Year 12 may be adequate. There exist specific sixth form colleges dedicated to these years of education, sometimes known as "further education" to distinguish it from both secondary education, which is compulsory, and higher education, which implies university studies.

Canada

Prior to 2003, Ontario schools followed with an optional "Grade 13", which comprised the Ontario Academic Credit, a prerequisite for university acceptance in the province. In a collegiate institute, the majority of students would graduate from Grade 13, rather than Grade 12. Students of the grade were known as "Grade 13's" or "13's", never as "seniors" (an American term not used in Ontario).
In Quebec, there is no formal compulsory 12th year, as secondary education completes with eleventh grade. This can be followed with optional CEGEP vocational/college preparatory program.

Latin America

In Latin America except in Argentina, Chile and some Mexican regions, there is no grade 12; secondary education terminates with 11th grade. In Chile the grade 12th is called "4to (Cuarto) Medio".[1]

Germany

In Germany, students wishing to take the ''Abitur'' usually had to attend a thirteenth grade, but most states are shortening the gymnasium (the university-bound secondary school system in Germany) from nine to eight years.