Please, whatever country you're from (I'll include mine as well!) can you remember that year NAMES for students don't mean anything outside your country? Things like "first grade" or "freshman", or even terms like "high school" or "college", don't mean anything outwith the national context. Saying what AGE you're talking about is a lot more useful (although even then it's not necessarily too much help - my son will start formal school at age 4, but I believe in Germany it wouldn't be until age 7, so talking about requirements for a 5 year old might be odd).
Tibs
Good point. I remember how mystified I was going from 2nd grade into the 1st form at the Junior English School (Rome, Italy). Given I don't think we're talking very many school systems here, it might be easier to just learn the differences, and internally translate from jargon to jargon. Here's the US system: P Preschool K Kindergarden Grade Age (average) 1 6 2 7 3 8 Elementary School 4 9 5 10 6 11 7 12 Middle School (or Junior High) 8 13 9 14 Freshman 10 15 Sophomore High School 11 16 Junior 12 17 Senior 13 18 Freshman 14 19 Sophomore College 15 20 Junior 16 21 Senior Some variations exist. Your mileage may vary. Kirby