ABSTRACT
Children usually start school, at six on the Continent; at that age the law will in theory intervene if the child is not sent regularly to school. A curious feature of the Italian system is that a clever six-year-old can start his education in the second form among the seven-year-olds, thus achieving a head start over the average child. Education General Basica (EGB) centres in the state system are known as colegios nacionales de EGB but it should be remembered that Spain has many non-state schools; these are integrated into the EGB system but retain their own structures, names and independent identities. The ultimate absurdity was attained by one Portuguese primary school. It was a fairly small school, with only enough pupils in each year-group to make up one single mixed class; but the principle of segregating the sexes was so inflexible that each room contained a group of pupils of the same sex but of two different age-groups.
