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Education in England is overseen by the United Kingdom's Department for Education. Local government authorities are responsible for implementing policy for public education and state-funded schools at a local level.
England also has a tradition of independent schools and home education: legally, parents may choose to educate their children by any permitted means. State-funded schools may be selective grammar schools or non-selective comprehensive schools. Comprehensive schools are further subdivided by funding into free schools, other academies, any remaining Local Authority schools and others. More freedom is given to free schools, including most religious schools, and other academies in terms of curriculum. All are subject to assessment and inspection by Ofsted.
The state-funded education system is divided into Key Stages based upon age: Early Years Foundation Stage ; primary education , subdivided into Key Stage 1 Infants and Key Stage 2 Juniors ; secondary education , subdivided into Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 ; Key Stage 5 is post-16 education ; and tertiary education.
At the end of Year 11 students typically take General Certificate of Secondary Education exams or other Level 1 or Level 2 qualifications. For students who do not pursue academic qualifications until the end of Year 13, these qualifications are roughly equivalent to the completion of high school in many other countries, or high school graduation in the United States and Canada.