sixth form
nounEtymology Earlier educational naming conventions in public schools termed every two years of education "forms" (itself sometimes said to be from form (“bench”), where students of certain ages would sit together, though disputed, or alternatively from form (“established method of expression or practice”)), where Years 12 and 13 (i.e. ages 16 to 18) was the "sixth" and final form. State schools adopted the term "sixth form" and retained it when the rest of the form structure was dropped.
1
Education The final two years of secondary education, during which students of about 16 to 18 years of age prepare for their A-level examinations or equivalent qualifications.
UK except Scotland
- Nathaniel: Maister, there is nobody to teach in the sixth form. Maister: What a thing is this? N: He is sick in bed. M: How do you know? N: One of the scholars in his house told me so.1653, Corderius, Colloquia scholastica Anglo-Latina, […] 1653, page 220:
2
a sixth form college.
- Derived terms
- sixth-former
- Related terms
- lower sixth, upper sixth, sixth form college, college