Sub A, noun phrase

Origin:
Elliptical for Sub-standard A.
A name given in many educational systems to the first year of formal schooling, being (with Sub B) one of the two ‘Sub-Standards’; a member of a Sub A class. Also attributive.
Note:
In KwaZulu-Natal called ‘Class 1’. [a1950 Remembered in use in Port Elizabeth (now Gqeberha).]
1974 S. Afr. Panorama Jan. 39The little ones of Sub A and B are elephants here — during the physical training class!
1978 E. Prov. Herald 14 Feb. 56 000 new black Sub As expected.
1979 M. Matshoba Call Me Not a Man p.viiAt seven I entered ‘Sub-A’ in a Salvation Army school in Orlando East...After ‘Sub-B’ I was shuttled to Mzimhlope Primary School for Standard I.
1979 Sunday Times 8 July (Extra) 3I sent my child there (sc. to a non-racial school) from Sub A and as such I cannot see any problem. At that age children will mix, irrespective of race.
1981 Fair Lady 1 July 108Of the 2 184 pupils 831 are in Sub A (some are 16 years old), though this is not unusual in rural areas where on average more than half the pupils are in the first two years of school.
1988 Pace Dec. 21Even a Sub A pupil could have written better than headmaster M—.
1991 E. Prov. Herald 20 June 1Since Sub A, the boy had been ‘difficult’.
A name given in many educational systems to the first year of formal schooling, being (with Sub B) one of the two ‘Sub-Standards’; a member of a Sub A class. Also attributive.
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19741991