Do you ever feel that schools have a language all of their own, with key stage this and SAT that? If you do you are not alone. If you left school before 1990, the chances are that things have changed quite a lot - certainly from the way you remember them. Schools are now funded differently, class names have changed, a new curriculum has been brought in and even the management system is different. So when did it change and why?

Read on and let us try to take some of the mystery out of the system.

The changes really began in 1988 - with the passing of a new Education Reform Act. This Act gave head teachers and school governors responsibility for their budgets and sparked changes in a number of key areas:

Curriculum - Before 1988 there was no standard curriculum in England and Wales. Certainly pupils followed a set syllabus for examinations - but in the years up to examinations, what was taught in schools could vary enormously from county to county. We now have a National Curriculum - that outlines what subjects should be taught and esures that teachers give children the opportunity to gain skills and knowledge in each subject area.

Assessment - Although teachers have always monitored children's progress - when the seven and eleven plus exams ended. O levels and A levels became the only standardised forms of assessment in schools. In order to ensure that progress is monitored, and can be compared nationally, SATs were introduced. At first, SATs (standardised assessment tests) were carried out at the end of the infants, at the end of juniors and at the end of the third year of secondary school. Each school's results were published - and school league tables were born.

Organisation - In the old days we had infants, juniors and secondary pupils. We still have - but some of the class names have changed. The chart below gives a brief guide.