Schooling in Catarika

The Catin school system is one that has been around for a long time. It is based loosely off the English school system with its own unique features.

Young Catins begin Nursery School at the age of 4. Like Kiillaana, the cutoff date for school is August 31st and the first day of school falls from the Monday of the last week of August to the first week of September, depending on the school and the region.

Students in Nursery School are said to be in "Year 0" and attend this program for two years before they graduate to Year 1 at the age of 6 and begin attending Primary School. Nursery School is focused on helping children learn the basics for reading, writing, math, and play.

Primary School holds classes for students in years 1-6. Typically there are 3-6 classrooms per year and the students in them become very close. Holidays observed for vacation time include Harvest Festival, Year's End, Spring Break, and Dian Del Haidie (Day of Gods). In Primary students usually adhere to a uniform unique to the school and year and study the subjects of Maths, Language, Reading, Catin Literature, Writing, Science, Art, Music, PE, History, and Social Studies. Schools typically start at 9:00 and end at 3:00 with morning and afternoon recess of 20-30 minutes and a lunch time of one hour.

Once students turn 12 and enter Year 7, they graduate to Junior High School, which they attend for 3 years. Once here, the system of classes changes. There are typically 3-5 homerooms which the students stay in while various teachers of specific subjects rotate among classrooms. This leads to a strong sense of family among homerooms. Junior High School typically starts at 8:00 and ends at 2:30. Classes are approximately 45 minutes long and students stay in their home rooms for Maths, Science, Catin, and Literature before having an hour long lunch. The afternoon classes are slightly different as they are electives such as band and PE, or quarterly classes such as keyboarding and sewing. Students do not have home rooms for the afternoon. Most Junior High Schools have a uniform of some kind although more freedom is given in dress and appearance.

Senior High School starts when a student becomes 15 years of age and enters the 10th year of schooling. Unlike Junior High School, which is divided into quarters and semesters, Senior High School is divided into trimesters. A student now has the freedom to decide whether to start school in September and end in April or start in May and end in December. Most students prefer the traditional school schedule and start in September but about 1/3 of students choose to start in May and end right after Year's End. The classes of Senior High School are 50 minutes long with a 5-minute break in between, with 45 minutes to an hour for lunch. The classes taught are more specifically geared to certain career fields and classes such as music and sports meet outside of the school schedule. School typically starts at 7:30 and ends between 2:30 and 3:00.

By the time students are in Senior High School, they have had several years of Maths, Science, Language (usually Kevian), History, and Catin. Uniforms are still worn and order is maintained but students are able to express themselves through their activities and clubs. In their 11th year, students have to take and pass certain tests to allow them to graduate. Once graduated, students usually begin College/University right away, whether in Catarika or abroad in places like Kiillaana, Morley Atoll, and Rania.