UK Prep Schools- What you need to Know
Prep or Preparatory schools are part of the independent school system, they are fee-paying primary schools that teach children up to the age of 13. The Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) inspects most prep schools and Ofsted oversees the ISI, on behalf of the UK’s Department of Education.
The term preparatory refers to the fact that these schools prepare their students to go on to private senior and public schools historically they had their origins in the 19th century preparing boys for public schools via common entrance examinations. Public schools in the UK refer to a group of old-established boarding secondary schools, such as Eton, Harrow and Charterhouse schools.
Pre-Prep
The stage before prep school in the UK independent school system is pre-preparatory school. This is typically the entry point for children into education and would be akin to Nursery and reception in the state school system.
Children begin Pre-Prep school at the age of 3 or 4, and move on to prep school at age 7 or 8 which is Year 3 or 4 in the state school system. Many Pre Prep schools will also have connected prep schools for children to progress into. The Pre-Prep schools will have their own admission process and entry requirements for some ferociously competitive schools, this can include filling out an application at birth and or observing cognition and behaviour during an assessment day, but it’s not impossible for children so young to sit some sort of examination.
Types of Prep School
As with other independent schools there are different types of prep school:
- Day Schools: Students live with their parents or guardians and travel to school each day and then back home.
- Boarding Schools: Students live at the school for all or part of the week.
Boarding schools can be further subdivided into:
- Flexi: Parents can determine how many nights a student will spend at school or at home.
- Full board: can be a popular option for international families because it means that parents do not have to live in the United Kingdom. However, full board prep schools tend to be less popular at prep school level. Some prep schools do offer a combination of day and boarding options.
- Single-sex or co-educational schools
Some schools will only have either all boys or will be all girls whilst others will be coeducational and teach both boys and girls.
Admission into Prep Schools
To gain admission to a prep school children will have to sit an examination, during the course of year 2 known as the 7+ or year 3 known as the 8+, there are some schools (mostly found outside of London in the countryside) that are not as selective but may use examinations for organising students into teaching sets, where students of similar ability are taught together, but in London especially the competition for places is very fierce, so there is a great weight placed on the 7+ and 8+.
One of the main reasons Prep Schools are sought after as mentioned before is because they feed many of the most prestigious private schools in the country and prepare their students to take entrance examinations for these schools. So a student attending a top prep school will dramatically increase the chances they go on to prestigious senior school or even a highly rated grammar school.
Some Preps even have an intake at 11+ generally from local state primary schools with a view to prepare students for 13+ examinations. Pupils who gain highly sought-after 11+ places at the prestigious preps are all but guaranteed places at the connected senior schools.
Prep schools have freedom over what they teach and don’t have to follow the national curriculum per se, this means that include more niche subjects like Latin or Greek or have an extensive enrichment or extracurricular activities like horseback riding or fencing.
The smaller class sizes also mean students are able to get more attention and contact time with teachers. This is attractive to many parents especially if the student is gifted or has special educational needs.
How can Sam Tutoring Help?
If you have any more questions or would like any support on understanding prep schools or any other aspect of the independent school system you can use the dedicated Sam Tutoring consultancy service, we also have an excellent tutoring service that can help students understand and get prepared for any entrance examinations to these schools. Get in touch today and see how we can help you today.
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