A type of secondary school in the UK, for children aged from 11/12 to 16/18. Comprehensives are public and non-fee-paying, and many of them were formed from
secondary modern schools after the phasing out of the
11-plus exam in the early 80s, which sent children to different schools depending on
ability.
Comprehensive schools have something of a bad reputation as they are often very large, and there has been much debate over whether lumping all children together, regardless of ability, is a good idea. However, most of them are internally
streamed according to ability, and some have excellent teaching records.