1st: School, of course! - Part 1

Preamble: this is the draft of a speech I have to do as a mock oral examination. I know it's boring, please forgive me!

For personal experience, I obviously know and understand the Italian school system. Now, after I've lived one year in the UK, I begin to have an idea about how the British school system works.
Due to my followers' nationality (some of them are Italian, but others come from different countries), I'll explain both systems, hoping not to be too boring ;-)
In Italy, kids usually begin their school life at 3, when they attend the "scuola dell'infanzia": it is not mandatory and it lasts 3 years. In this school, children learn to stay and play together, to respect rules and other people. They also learn to use pencils, scissors, glue, and to follow the teachers' instructions. In some school, they do physical education and English, always playing of course!
The school is mandatory to 6 until 16. "At 6" means that in September of the year in which the child turns 6 he starts the school, also if he's only 5 because he's born between September and December (me, for instance). In the UK it is different: "at 6" means that the children have already turned 6 before the 31st of August.
In Italy, primary school lasts 5 years, between 6 and 11, in the UK it starts one year before.
From 11 to 14 we have the "Scuola Media" (the legal name is "Scuola Secondaria di Primo Grado", but everyone calls it "Scuola Media" because it's shorter and clearer). At the end of that, pupils take the "Esame di Stato", a compulsory exam required to enrol to secondary schools.
There are three big families of secondary schools:
1) Licei, academic schools designed to prepare for the pursuance of university studies, they last 5 years, after that, we have the "Maturità" a formal state exam, compulsory to go to the university.
2) Istituti Tecnici, technical school, they provide an education orientated to specific jobs but often enough to go to University. They last 5 years and finish with the Maturità.
3) Istituti Professionali, Vocational schools, last 3 to 5 years, after 5 years is possible to take the Maturità and try to go to the university but it is really difficult to succeed.
In the UK, at 11 yo ( Y6 at school) pupils have to do the  SATs before the admission at the secondary school. Then, at 16 yo (Y11 at school) they must do the GCSEs: pupils have to pass an exam (2 to 4 papers each) for every single subject they have studied during the past three years (from Y9 to Y11). It is a very important certification, because of three reasons: first, it is the "piece of paper" that sanctions the fulfilment of the mandatory school; second, it is necessary to be enrolled to sixth forms or other schools; third, universities, as well as some employers, look at the GCSE's result (mostly English and Maths). The GCSE certificate follows you along your life.
To be continued...