International school2026.10.019 min readPetra Parent Questions

What Is K-12? Grade and Year at International Schools Explained

Petra Tutors Editorial Team

Schoolchildren in uniform with backpacks seen from behind, walking along a tree-lined path

In short

K-12 describes the stages of education from Kindergarten to Grade 12. It is not the name of a curriculum or an exam board.
American-style schools mostly use Grade and British-style schools mostly use Year. The same number of Grade and Year is usually not the same age. As a rule of thumb, Year is one higher than Grade.
The start of the school year differs from Japan. At schools with a cut-off date around 1 September, a child born between April and August may be placed one year above their Japanese classmates.
Cut-off dates differ by school (KIST uses 31 July, TIS 31 August, and ASIJ, ISSH and Aoba 1 September).
When transferring, check your child's date of birth, the receiving school's cut-off date and what they have studied so far, rather than relying on a table of equivalent numbers.

When you research international schools, notations such as K-12, Grade 7 and Year 8 appear mixed together. These are not the names of curricula; they are ways of naming school stages and school years.

Petra's parent consultation desk receives questions like this: "Is K-12 the name of the American curriculum? Are Grade 8 and Year 8 the same age? What year is a Japanese first-year junior high student?" The same number can mean a different age depending on the country and the school, so take care.

What is K-12?

K stands for Kindergarten and 12 stands for Grade 12. K-12 is therefore an expression of the school span: the school covers everything from the kindergarten stage to the end of high school.

K-12 is not a word that means a curriculum or an exam board. The notation K-12 alone does not tell you whether the school is IB, American or British.

Sorting out the terms: K-12, Grade, Year and IB

They may look similar, but each term describes a different kind of thing.
Term	What it describes	What to remember
K-12	The stages of education from Kindergarten to Grade 12 (the school span)	Not the name of a curriculum or exam board
Grade	The way school years are labelled, mostly at American-style schools	Written as Grade 1, Grade 2 and so on
Year	The way school years are labelled, mostly at British-style schools	Written as Year 1, Year 2 and so on. In England, years are also grouped into Key Stages
IB	The name of programmes such as the PYP, MYP and DP	Some IB schools use Grade and some use Year

A rough guide to Japanese, American and British school years

Ages are approximate. The actual school year changes with the school's cut-off date and how it handles exceptions. This does not mean one-to-one identical years.
Approximate age	Japan	American-style (Grade)	British-style (Year)
5 to 6	Nencho (final kindergarten year)	Kindergarten	Reception to Year 1
6 to 7	Elementary school Year 1	Grade 1	Year 2
11 to 12	Elementary school Year 6	Grade 6	Year 7
12 to 13	Junior high Year 1	Grade 7	Year 8
14 to 15	Junior high Year 3	Grade 9	Year 10
17 to 18	High school Year 3	Grade 12	Year 13

In England's national curriculum, Key Stage 1 is Years 1-2 for ages 5-7, Key Stage 2 is Years 3-6 for ages 7-11, Key Stage 3 is Years 7-9 for ages 11-14 and Key Stage 4 is Years 10-11 for ages 14-16 (the UK government's National Curriculum). BST is based on this UK curriculum.

This table is not meant for mechanically converting numbers. In Japan the school year starts in April, while American-style and British-style school years start in August or September, and the point at which birthdays are cut off also differs, so the same child can end up in a different year at different schools.

Why the year shifts between Japan and schools with a cut-off around 1 September

In Japan, a child enters elementary school at the start of the first school year after the day following their sixth birthday. In a school year that begins on 1 April, children born from 2 April to 1 April of the following year are in the same year (MEXT, in Japanese).

ASIJ, on the other hand, requires Kindergarten applicants to have turned five before 1 September. The cut-off date for ISSH and Aoba is also 1 September. If a child is placed according to this cut-off, for example, a child born in June 2020 would start Year 1 of elementary school in April 2027 in Japan, but would start Grade 1 in August 2026 at a school with a 1 September cut-off. That is one year above their Japanese classmates.

This "one year above" happens to children born from 2 April to the end of August (for a school with a 1 September cut-off). Children born from September to March are in roughly the same year as in Japan.

How cut-off dates differ by school

As far as could be confirmed on each school's official website, as of 8 October 2026.
School	Cut-off date / age condition	How exceptions are handled
Tokyo International School	31 August	No specific statement could be found on the official page
K. International School Tokyo	31 July	No exceptions for K1. Grades 1-10: one year up or down considered as an exception. Grades 11-12: up to two years above or one year below
American School in Japan	Kindergarten: five before 1 September. Nursery: three	Check on the official page
Aoba-Japan International School	1 September	Kindergarten to Grade 1 by date of birth; from Grade 2, placement by the grade completed and individual circumstances
International School of the Sacred Heart	1 September. Grade 1: six by 1 September	Check on the official page
British School in Tokyo	Follows the UK Year Group System	Check on the official page

Even with the same date of birth, schools can place a child one year apart. Before you apply, line up your child's date of birth against each school's cut-off date. You can compare the application process in our guide to application timing and preparing to enter.

The same age does not guarantee the same year

As far as could be confirmed on each school's official pages, as of 8 October 2026. Details may change, so check the latest guidance before applying.
School	Basis	Additional checks in the high-school years	What parents should check
Tokyo International School	Birthday cut-off is 31 August. The birthday range for each year is published	New admission to Grade 12 is not accepted	Whether your child's date of birth falls within the range for the year of entry
K. International School Tokyo	Cut-off is 31 July. Grades 1-10: one year up or down considered as an exception	Applications from Grade 10 are restricted. Grades 11-12: up to two years above or one year below considered	Whether you can give the reasons for an exception in writing. Restrictions on application timing
International School of the Sacred Heart	Decided by age as at 1 September	Grades 10-12 are decided by credits earned	How earlier credits will be recognised
American School in Japan	Kindergarten: five before 1 September	Mid-year transfers are not accepted for families living in Tokyo	Timing of transfer, and the report cards required (two years for High School)
The British School in Tokyo	States that it follows the UK Year Group System	Check in the school's guidance documents (not confirmed in this article)	The age bands, and the policy when a child is placed up or down a year

Even with the same date of birth, a child may be in a lower year at one school and a higher year at another. A cut-off of 31 July versus 31 August changes how a child born in August is treated. The thinking also differs between the lower grades, which are decided by age alone, and the upper grades, which are decided by credits earned. For BST, the age bands and policy on placing a child up or down a year are in the school's guidance documents, which we have not been able to confirm for this article. Please contact the school directly.

The gap between Japan's April promotion and schools that start in August

Japanese schools promote pupils in April, while the school years of American-style and British-style schools start in August or September and end around the following June. For that reason, if you transfer in May or June, you can find yourself in a situation where the Japanese school has already moved to a new year while the receiving school has not yet finished the previous one.

K. International School Tokyo explains in its Admissions Handbook that between April and June it does not accept applications for a grade the student has not yet completed. As an example, if a child in Year 3 of a school running from April to March transfers, they can apply to KIST's Grade 3 from April, but not to Grade 4. After finishing Grade 3 at KIST in June, they would normally move on to Grade 4 from August.

ISSH explains that students transferring from a school with a different term calendar need to stay enrolled at their current school and attend classes until the next term begins. In other words, you cannot simply swap "Year 6 in Japan, so Grade 6". You need to look together at four things: date of birth, which grade has just been completed, and the receiving school's cut-off date and policy.

For a transfer in May or June, first ask the school not "what year is my child in Japan?" but "what grade will the receiving school place my child in now?"

In high school, age alone does not decide the year

In Grades 10 to 12, some schools decide the year by what matters more than age: the subjects completed so far, credits earned, the qualification courses being studied, transcripts and requirements for graduation. ISSH explains that placement in Grades 10-12 depends on credits earned. KIST also restricts applications from Grade 10 onwards, and Tokyo International School does not accept new admissions to Grade 12.

Even at the same age, the curriculum at the previous school changes which subjects your child can take at the new school and how much time remains. The documents you need and the questions to ask the school are set out in our curriculum checklist for transfers.

The relationship with the IB

The IB is the name of programmes such as the PYP, MYP and DP. Among IB schools, some use Grade and some use Year, so there is no rule that "IB means Grade".

IB years also have their own names by programme. The MYP is five years and the DP is the last two years. For example, Seisen describes its five years of middle school as the MYP, and KIST's DP is in Grades 11-12. Check the school's guidance for which Grade or Year corresponds to which year of the programme.

What to check when transferring

Once the year of placement is settled, the next step is to check what your child has learned. Our curriculum checklist for transfers sets this out, including questions to ask the school.

Your child's date of birth, and the receiving school's cut-off date (see the table above)
The Grade or Year your child has currently completed. If it is mid-year, how far study has progressed
The receiving school's age placement chart, and the conditions under which it allows exceptions
The current curriculum (IB, American, British and so on)
What the receiving school asks for in report cards and transcripts
The next external exam or graduation requirement

In summary

K-12 is a school span, and Grade and Year are ways of labelling school years; both are separate from the curriculum. They also differ from Japanese school years in when the year starts and where birthdays are cut off.

When transferring from overseas or between international schools, do not decide the year from the numbers alone; check age, cut-off date and the school's policy.

Sources

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