winningtrans (X) Jan 25, 2011:

900 middle and high school students . UK version would be "pupils" instead of students.

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Tony M Jan 24, 2011:

pupils Do note, though, that we still usually talk about pupils at school (primary and secondary education) and students at college / university (tertiary education)

Natasha Dupuy Jan 24, 2011:

Ostraya Very interesting little debate! Since we've talked about the Canadians, Americans, Welsh, English, etc. I feel I need to represent Australia for anyone who might stumble upon this post in the future ;) In Australia it would be junior high school (collège) and senior high school (lycée), but secondary school or education would do too!

Mark Hamlen (asker) Jan 24, 2011:

Wow It's all too complicated. This is a marketing text (and basically rubbish). It says 900 collégiens/lycéens came to a certain event. I'm going to say 900 secondary school students came to the event. I was unsure how it would be read by various English speakers. And I imagine high schoolers would be ok, too, in this globalised world with all those American films about high school students gone wild.

Tony M Jan 24, 2011:

@ Wendy I really can't agree with what you say, I'm afraid, Wendy.

The UK and FR systems are not at all exact equivalents, and you certainly can't say that a 'lycée' is the same as a grammar school; for one thing, pupils may move on from the 'collège' to a 'lycée', which would be very rare indeed in the UK.

And in any case, the logic in what you say breaks down, inasmuch as 'grammar school pupils' are of course a subset of all 'secondary school pupils'. Back in my day, there was a distinction between 'grammar' and 'secondary modern' schools, thankfully that was all but stamped out with the introduction of 'comprehensive' schools; but none of these structures exactly equates to the FR system, where for example you may go to different, specific lycées to study specific subject areas — in this respect, a 'lycée' could in some ways be considered as closer to what used to be a 'techncial college' in the UK. But basically, the systems are so different, that only a general term will do, if you want to avoid lengthy explanations.

'secondary education' nicely sums the whole thing up, without being too country-specific.

Wendy Streitparth Jan 24, 2011:

Collégiens are secondary school pupils, lycéens grammar school pupils. Depends if you need to differentiate or can lump them all together as secondary school pupils. In BE.

Mark Hamlen (asker) Jan 24, 2011:

Thanks Funny how such a simple term can be a headache. 6th form would cause major confusion for Americans. High school is OK for the Scots. But secondary school works for just about everybody. How about the Canadians?

cc in nyc Jan 24, 2011:

Oops... I just realize that the BE term is being sought here. Sorry.

Irene McClure Jan 24, 2011:

High school in UK Just an aside - the term "high school" is widely used in Scottish secondary education (see here for one example: http://www.falkirk.falkirk.sch.uk/) , alongside "secondary school" and "academy", all referring to schools teaching students from around age 11 to leaving age (16, 17 or 18). I understand it is not widely used in England or Wales though. I would go for, as you suggest,"secondary school" as the catch-all UK term.

Mark Hamlen (asker) Jan 24, 2011:

How to make it understandable by everybody? In US grammar school is small children. High school doesn't exist as a term in the UK. But the audience is international. Maybe I should use "secondary school" which both will understand. And it is certainly NOT college students....

Bashiqa Jan 24, 2011:

I think cchat's answer is OK but needs the 6th form bit included. Lycée is the equivalent of 6th form. France - Baccalaureat, England - 'A' levels.