Going back to school

After the long relaxing summer holidays, September means a return to school. Those long summer days are over, and instead, school children have to get up early and sit in classrooms for most of the day.
In Britain, pupils wear a school uniform. As well as a particular skirt or pair of trousers, with a specific shirt and jumper, they also have a school PE kit (clothes that they wear to play sports at school).
Some children walk to school, and some parents drive their children to school. But others come to school by a school bus – particularly if they live outside the town.
Most children go to state-run primary and secondary schools. Schools are mostly mixed (girls and boys sit in the same classes), although there are some single-sex schools (schools for girls or boys only) and a few schools are private, where parents pay school fees.
Schools try to have clear rules for acceptable behaviour. For example, pupils (school children) have to show respect to their teachers. Often they have to stand up when their teacher comes into the classroom and say "Good morning". If pupils break the rules, they can expect to be sent to the headmaster or headmistress, or to do detention, when they stay behind after the other pupils go home.
Most schools have lessons in the morning and in the afternoon. Pupils can go home for lunch, or have their lunch in school. Some have a packed lunch (where they bring lunch from home, such as sandwiches, fruit etc) and some eat what the school prepares. These "school dinners" vary in quality, and there has recently been a lot of media interest in providing healthy school dinners for pupils.
Pupils can expect to get homework for most subjects, and there are regular tests to check progress. At the end of each of the three school terms, teachers give each pupil a report. Schools also have a parents' evening each year, when the parents can meet the teachers to discuss their child's progress.
School isn't just lessons and homework though. Most schools arrange a sports day once a year, as well as school trips to places of interest