One of the first things different that American viewers of anime will notice is that the school year in Japan starts in spring, rather than autumn. The Japanese also don't have a grade system as such, though many translators will simply translate the years into grades. Another major difference is much greater publicity of scores and success rates in Japanese schools. It is common practice to publish the names of top-scoring students, and acceptances are sometimes posted in public places, rather than sent through mail.
Here we have Tomoe Mami (from Puella Magi Madoka Magica) as she might have appeared in kindergarten, youchien in Japanese. The hat and blue smock kinda thing are pretty standard elementary school uniforms, if you see a bunch of kids wearing these in anime (they look like ducklings, all lined up, sometimes with red backpacks), that's what you're seeing, is kindergarteners (usually on a school trip, I only know of one series that actually takes place at a kindergarten). Kindergartens in Japan are not public schools, and often serve as day-care like institutions for children under 6, when they enter elementary school.
Above is an elementary school student (I think it's a rendition of a character from Idolmaster, ain't she cute). Elementary school, shougakkou (literally 'little school') lasts for six years (the equivalent of first through sixth grade), often (but not always) has a uniform unique to each school, and starts the trend that we'll see in every school of identifying student classes with a number and class identifier. The class identifier is usually a number or a letter (3-2, or 5-C, for instance). Classes are often mixed up each year, a practice that continues throughout primary school. Elementary students sometimes have their names and class numbers written on their backpacks. Prestigious Middle Schools require entrance exams, and the transition between them is often a significant moment of personal choice and progress.
No pictures for you of Middle and High school students, we see them all the time. Middle School, chuugakko begins in what equates to American seventh grade, and is three years long, starting a bit later than western Middle School or Junior High and ending later as well. Note that even schools which continue from Elementary to Middle or High school will usually treat each level as separate schools with minimal interaction between them. Middle schools are more likely to have uniforms than elementary schools, and also is where clubs start occurring. The Japanese school day is slightly longer than the American one, but it is common for students to join school-sponsored but student-run clubs as an after-school activity, meeting after school every day, taking up much of the afternoon. The fact that these clubs are student-run is the reason for the idea of the extreme power of Student Councils, which are usually responsible for determining club funding. Middle School is a time of expected immaturity compared to high school, when students are expected to grow into adults.
High School koukou (lit. 'tall studies') begins with what would be tenth grade in America, age fifteen, and compared to Middle school is a time of increased responsibilities and expectations. Compared to America (or at least, my personal experience of high school around the turn of the millenium), the Japanese place a much greater sense of adult expectation on high school: when you graduate you're expected to be grown up, as such, and so High School is a time of exploration in a way which is normally done more in college in the west.
Hopefully this was at least enlightening and at worst easily ignored.
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