first grade

13:07 Mar 1, 2011 

Well in my junior school there were four forms per year group .I must admit it was a fee-paying school AND a long time ago, which is why I would now go for Year One (starting at age 5) right up to Year 13

12:38 Mar 1, 2011 

Form was originally used for grammar school year groups, but can apply to any secondary school. Not used for primary school year groups.

11:28 Mar 1, 2011 

I think you would have to put in a "support request" (right at the bottom of the page). There are PRO points for PRO questions and ordinary points for non-pro questions.

10:26 Mar 1, 2011 

I'd think that anyone who went to school in the UK would be able to tell me what the first year of school is called there. But if there's a way to switch it to being for points and if no one objects, I would have no problem with that.

09:08 Mar 1, 2011 

In my New Oxford Dictionary one of the meanings of Form is "a class or a year in school , usually given a specifying number: the fifth form".
My guess is that it harks back to the days of the village school where all children were taught together in one room. The six-year olds would sit on one form, the seven year olds on another, the eight year olds on yet another and so on. So the year-group came to be known as a "form".
This refers to the other meaning of form: "a long bench without a back"
BTW I'm not sure how many Native Speakers without any kind of linguistic training or interest would be able to answer your "non-pro" questions.

08:45 Mar 1, 2011 

By the way, just what are forms, anyway? What do they correspond to, and where, if anywhere, are they still used?

08:43 Mar 1, 2011 

It's just because these aren't really PRO level questions; anyone in the UK would know the answer, even if they're not a translator. In general, I agree that points make it more fun, but I kind of thought the rule was that if it was something any native speaker would know, it shouldn't be PRO level.

08:39 Mar 1, 2011 

Is there any particular reason why you don't want to give points? It makes it more fun, somehow, and personally I am just three points away from the magic threshold of 500 PRO points...

07:47 Mar 1, 2011 

Please ignore me then. Sorry.

07:38 Mar 1, 2011 

@Ambrose
Are you referring to the U.K. here? if so, I beg to differ.

05:44 Mar 1, 2011 

Forms correspond roughly to grades in high school. F1–F6 are, at least “theoretically”, roughly grades 7–12.