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Schools in Japan by grade学年別の学校一覧

The School Education Act sets elementary school at six years, junior high at three, and full-time high school at three. Part-time and correspondence high school are three years or longer. The ministry guidebook for foreign children says the grade follows age.

Elementary year 1小学1年

Elementary school is six years (School Education Act, Article 32). Where a municipality runs more than one elementary school, its board of education names the school in the enrollment notice (Enforcement Order, Article 5). The ministry guidebook for foreign children says children born from 2 April through 1 April of the next year share a grade.

Elementary year 2小学2年

The ministry's March 2017 reading-allocation table lists the kanji for each elementary year. The kanji tool is that table.

Elementary year 3小学3年

Waseda Academy's grade-4 outline says its grade-4 course begins in February, while the child is still in year 3. That page is one juku's calendar.

Elementary year 4小学4年

The same Waseda Academy outline prints the week for its own grade-4 S course. Another juku prints a different week.

Elementary year 5小学5年

Nichinoken's judgment-test page describes a deviation score (偏差値, hensachi) for the children who sat that mock exam. The score is theirs.

Elementary year 6小学6年

Elementary school ends after six years (School Education Act, Article 32). Below are the 43 Tokyo and Kanagawa junior highs with a returnee, international or English exam for April 2027. Rows follow the Japanese name.

Junior highs in our data, Japanese name order, April 2027 entry

43 schools in Tokyo and Kanagawa with a returnee, international or English exam. Rows follow the Japanese name. Each school's page quotes that school's own 募集要項 (boshū yōkō, admissions guide).

Junior high year 1中学1年

Junior high is three years (School Education Act, Article 47). Where a municipality runs more than one junior high, its board of education names the school in the enrollment notice (Enforcement Order, Article 5).

Junior high year 2中学2年

The National Institute for Educational Policy Research handbook of June 2019, written with the ministry, describes the junior-high subject grade (評定, hyōtei). Families call the set of those grades 内申 (naishin).

Junior high year 3中学3年

Tokyo's metropolitan board of education published the 2027 high-school selection outline. It covers the recommendation round and the general exam.

High school year 1高校1年

Full-time high school is three years. Part-time and correspondence courses are three years or longer (School Education Act, Article 56).

High school year 2高校2年

The ministry's guidelines for April 2027 university entry, dated 27 May 2026, describe the common test (大学入学共通テスト, daigaku nyūgaku kyōtsū tesuto) and each university's own exam.

High school year 3高校3年

April 2027 entry follows the ministry's selection guidelines. The university order on this site is the Times Higher Education list.

Sources

The sentence above each link is taken from that page. The date is the day the page was read.

Questions these lists get

How are schools in Japan arranged by grade?

The School Education Act sets elementary school at six years, junior high at three, and full-time high school at three. The ministry guidebook for foreign children says the grade follows age. The grade tool turns a birth date into the year.

Which junior highs are listed for elementary year 6?

Families sitting junior-high exams apply at the end of elementary year 6. The list is the 43 Tokyo and Kanagawa junior highs in our data with a returnee, international or English exam for April 2027. Rows follow the Japanese name.

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