Comprehensive school

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A comprehensive school is a secondary school for pupils aged 11–16 or 11–18 that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude. This is as opposed to a selective school, where admission is based on criteria such as academic performance. The term is commonly used in relation to England and Wales, where comprehensive schools were introduced as state schools on an experimental basis in the 1940s and became more widespread from 1965. About 90% of English secondary school pupils attend such schools (academy schools, community schools, faith schools, foundation schools, free schools, studio schools, university technical colleges, state boarding schools, City Technology Colleges, etc). Specialist schools may however select up to 10% of their intake for aptitude in their specialism. A school may have a few specialisms, like arts (media, performing arts, visual arts), business and enterprise, engineering, humanities, languages, mathematics, computing, music, science...

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