2.14 Age structure
Paragraph 2.10 shows the normal age range
at each stage of the school structure. However, the actual
distribution of pupils by age does not conform to this pattern for
a number of reasons: for example, it is still permissible for a child
to enrol in a primary school up to 8 years and remain to complete his
primary course until the age of 14. Such late enrolment was formerly
common but is now rare; however, all primary pupils are permitted
to repeat one year if necessary and as a result, a considerable
number of children in the 12-14 age group are still in primary
schools. This figure is declining and the 1980 Green Paper on
Primary Education and Pre-primary Services contains proposals to
regularise the age structure further. (The number of pupils over
11 years of age in primary schools represented 8.3% of total primary
enrolment as at September 1980, compared with 9.4% in 1979, 10.8%
in 1978 and 13.2% in 1977.) The overall position as at September
1980 was as shown overleaf (figures for September 1979 in brackets):
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