Preparatory school (UK)
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A preparatory school, or prep school in the United Kingdom, and previously in the British Empire and so the Commonwealth in current English usage, is an independent school designed to prepare a student for fee-paying, secondary independent school. Whilst many prep schools prepare their students for entry to a range of senior schools, some are closely associated with a single school, as Colet Court is with St Paul's School.
Traditionally Prep Schools are for eight to thirteen year olds, when they take the 13+ Common Entrance examination for entry into a Public School; to run parallel to the state system, many Prep Schools now run until eleven, and the senior schools from eleven. This is particularly the case in day schools and girls schools, whereas the traditional boarding schools still run from 13 to 18. Under the age of eight, students are educated at a "pre-prep" school, which takes the place of a state primary school.
Thus, independently educated boys will typically go to a pre-prep school from ages 4/5 to 8, to a prep school from age 8 to 13, and to a public school 13 to age 18.
Girls' private schools in England tend to follow the age ranges of state schools more closely than those for boys. Thus, a preparatory school for girls will usually take students from age 5 to 11, and independent schools for girls after prep school will usually begin at age 11 and continue to age 18, with no age 13 intake.
This usage of the term is in contrast to "prep school" outside of the United Kingdom and a few other Commonwealth countries, which is usually taken to mean a university-preparatory school. Like public schools and other secondary-level prep schools elsewhere in the world, many British prep schools are boarding schools.
The Incorporated Association of Preparatory Schools (IAPS) is the prep schools' heads' association serving the top 500+ independent prep schools in the UK and worldwide, with a total of 130,000 pupils. IAPS is one of seven affiliated associations of the Independent Schools Council (ISC).
[edit] Partial list of British preparatory schools
- Aberdour School, Surrey
- Aldwickbury School, Hertfordshire
- Alleyn Court Preparatory School, Westcliff on Sea
- All Hallows Preparatory School, Shepton Mallet
- Aldro School, Shackleford, Surrey
- Altrincham Preparatory School, Cheshire
- Aysgarth School, North Yorkshire
- Bancroft's Preparatory School, Woodford Green
- Bedford Preparatory School, Bedfordshire
- Beechwood Park Preparatory School, Markyate, Hertfordshire
- Belmont Preparatory School[1], Holmbury St Mary, Surrey
- Bilton Grange[2], Dunchurch, Warwickshire
- Blue Coat School, [Edgbaston, Birmingham]]
- Bramcote[3], Scarborough
- Brentwood Preparatory School, Brentwood, Essex
- Burys Court School [4] Leigh, Surrey
- Chinthurst School, Tadworth, Surrey
- Clifton College Preparatory School, Bristol.
- Colet Court, London
- Copthorne School,[5],West Sussex
- Cothill House[6], Abingdon
- Culford Preparatory School, Culford School, Bury St. Edmunds
- Cundall Manor School North Yorkshire
- Downsend School, Ashtead, Surrey
- The Downs School, Colwall, Herefordshire
- Dragon School, Oxford
- Dulwich Prep.[7], London
- Durham Choristers School, Durham
- Durston House, London
- Edge Grove, Aldenham, Hertfordshire
- Edgeborough School, Farnham, Surrey
- The Elms School, Colwall, Herefordshire
- Fairfield Preparatory School, Loughborough
- Foremarke Hall School, Repton, Derbyshire
- Forest Preparatory School, Walthamstow
- Gracefield Preparatory School, Bristol
- Great Houghton Preparatory School, Northampton
- Hall Grove School, Bagshot, Surrey
- Haslemere Preparatory School, Haslemere
- Hazelwood Preparatory School, Limpsfield, Surrey
- Hill House School, Knightsbridge, London
- Holland House School, Edgware, Middlesex
- Homefield School, Sutton, Surrey
- Horris Hill School, Berkshire
- Kimbolton Preparatory School, Kimbolton
- Kingswood House School, Epsom, Surrey
- King's House School, Richmond-upon-Thames
- Kings School, Plymouth UK, [8], Plymouth, Devon
- Lyndon Preparatory School[9], Colwyn Bay*
- Marlborough House School, Hawkhurst, Kent
- Milbourne Lodge School[10], Esher
- Edgarley Hall Preparatory School, Street, Somerset
- The New Beacon Preparatory School [11], Sevenoaks, Kent
- New College Preparatory School, Oxford
- Newland House Preparatory School
- Oakfield Sch. West Dulwich
- Orley Farm School, Harrow, Middlesex
- Orwell Park School, Nacton, Suffolk, [12]
- The Old Malthouse, Langton Matravers, Dorset[13]
- The Perse Preparatory School[14], Cambridge
- The Pilgrims School[15], Winchester, Hampshire
- St Dunstan's Abbey School - The Plymouth College Junior School, Plymouth
- Port Regis[16], Dorset
- Prebendal School, Chichester
- Prestfelde School, Shrewsbury
- Quainton Hall School, Harrow, Middlesex
- Ranby House School, Ranby
- Royal Masonic School, Rickmansworth
- S Anselm's School, Bakewell
- Shrewsbury House School
- St Beads Prep School, Manchester
- St Catherine's Preparatory School, Bramley
- St Cedds School [17], Chelmsford
- St.Edmunds School, Hindhead
- St Ives School[18], Haslemere
- St John's Beaumont Preparatory School [19] Windsor
- St Joseph's Preparatory School [20], Stoke-on-Trent
- St Martin's Ampleforth[21], North Yorkshire (formerly Ampleforth College Junior School and Gilling Castle)
- St Mary's Hall, Stonyhurst's Prep School
- St Piran's School, Maidenhead
- Springmead Preparatory School and Nursery[22],Beckington, Bath
- Staines Preparatory School,Staines
- Summer Fields School, Oxford [23]
- Sunningdale School[24]
- Vinehall School Robertsbridge
- Wellingborough Preparatory School[25], Wellingborough, Northants.
- West Hill Park School, Titchfield, Hants
- Westminster Abbey Choir School, London
- Westminster Under School, London
- Woodford Green Preparatory School, Woodford Green
- Worksop College, Worksop
[edit] See also
- Independent school
- Boarding school
- Education in England
- School and university in literature, in particular Pamela Hansford Johnson's novel The Honours Board (1970)
