Background Information (1) Education in Britain (1) Education in the United Kingdom is compulsory for everyone between the ages of five to sixteen. This is the absolute minimum length of time that students attend educational establishments. Increasingly, children attend nursery schools at the age of three or four, and more Britons every year are staying in education after the age of sixteen. Educational institutions a9鲁 are expanding fast to meet the increased demands There are two parallel school systems in the UK: the state system, where education is provided free, the independent system, where parents normally pay fees. About one in thirteen of British school-age children goes through the independent systemBackground Information(1) Education in Britain(1) ▪ Education in the United Kingdom is compulsory for everyone between the ages of five to sixteen. This is the absolute minimum length of time that students attend educational establishments. Increasingly, children attend nursery schools at the age of three or four, and more Britons every year are staying in education after the age of sixteen. Educational institutions are expanding fast to meet the increased demands. There are two parallel school systems in the UK: the state system, where education is provided free; the independent system, where parents normally pay fees. About one in thirteen of British school-age children goes through the independent system