Comprehensive School is a term used in England for a school that is non-selective, but takes any student (except any with severe specials needs that cannot be supported in the school) living in the catchment area. The term was used especially at the time whn most schools were not comprehensive, and there was a move towards comprehensivisation: "they provide an education for all children in their immediate neighbourhood (or catchment area), and may be considered as schools serving all elements of a local community. This was a major change in the organisation of the maintained secondary sector, which, when established in 1944, originally set out a system of grammar schools for the more able minority and secondary modern schools (and some 'technical' schools) for the majority who did not demonstrate high intellectual attainment at age 11" (Taber, 2012, p.102)
[Please be aware that a word may have different nuances, or even a different meaning, according to context.]« Back to Index
