How to Choose the Perfect Prep School for Your Child

A school photograph of over 300 children and 40 staff must, 50 years ago, have belonged to a secondary school. Now it could be a preparatory school. Originally small proprietor-owned institutions whose task was to prepare boys of 8-13 for boarding schools, most have now grown and diversified.

Though there are still good small schools, economies of scale have forced the majority to double, or treble, in size. Competition has driven them into mergers and expansion into nursery and pre-prep. Many are now coeducational. Large numbers of schools failed to survive the changes; but the remainder have emerged as powerful forces in independent education.

This is not lost on parents, particularly at a time when value for money is all-important. In some areas, a prep school education is seen as the best preparation for the 11-plus exam and a free place in a grammar school. Where there are no grammar schools, a good prep school grounding could be the surest way to a means-tested scholarship at a reputable independent secondary school or a bursary to deserving cases.

And there is the growing realisation that a good primary education is the best educational purchase for those who cannot afford daunting secondary-school fees. It can create in its pupils a sense of aspiration and lay excellent foundations in core subjects such as maths, English and science.

The ratio of staff to pupils is extremely good, on average about 1:10. Prep schools offer excellent extra-curricular programmes. Co-education has not only doubled the potential clientele; it has also helped to broaden the curriculum, particularly in the direction of music and the creative arts.

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