Prep Schools

As their name implies, the preparatory schools are focused primarily on preparing boys and girls for their senior education, and the important public exams that come with it.

Free of the National Curriculum, prep schools can differentiate their curricula according to what they think best prepares children for their later education. Most prep school children will be learning a foreign language from the very first year, and don’t be surprised to see subjects like Latin, Philosophy and Physics in the classroom, with cricket, rugby and tennis all on offer during games.

As children reach the end of their time at prep school, most will look to the Common Entrance Exam as their gateway into the senior schools. It is during this transition process that senior schools are also looking for talented pupils for scholarships and other awards, so the very able students may be asked to attend further examinations/recitals/matches &c, depending on where their particular strengths lie.

In the state system, children are tested by the Government SATs, however many schools in the independent sector will have their own internal methods of measuring the performance of the children.

There are around 499 prep schools in the Independent Association of Prep Schools, one of our constituent Head’s Associations, collectively educating over 134,000 children.

To search for junior or prep schools try our school search.

School age ranges
Pre-Prep School (age 3-7)
Prep School (Junior School) (7-11 or 7-13)
Senior School (age 11-16 or 13 to 16)
Sixth form (age 16-18)
School structure (state vs independent schools)

Blogs
Pre-preparatory, prep, junior,senior and sixth-form, what do they all mean?