Preparatory Schools
In this section of the website we look at choosing an independent preparatory (prep) or pre-preparatory (pre-prep) school for your child. Prep schools cover the age range from 7-11 or 7-13. The pre-prep years are usually from 3 to 7. Some prep schools are attached to their own senior schools which children will be able to attend until the age of 18, in which case they are called an "all-through" school.
Find a School - This section of our website is supported by a database of every independent school in the UK. If you enter the town or county in the location box, it will tell you all the schools in your area. Then if you click on the name of the school it will take you to a short profile of that school.
League Tables - We are well-known for publishing league tables of the top independent senior schools based on their public examination results. For prep schools it is far more difficult to produce fair and comprehensive league tables because most private prep schools do not enter children for the external assessments (SATS) used to measure the attainment of prep-school age children in England. Those that do often refuse to divulge their results. When assessing the academic quality of prep schools, we therefore pay attention to their leaver destinations (i.e. the senior schools that children progress to) and use this information on our bespoke placement assignments.
On our Best Prep Schools site you can view tables of the highest performing boarding and day preps based on their success at preparing children for entry to the top academic senior schools.
Boarding Preps - There are a number of fabulous prep schools in the UK, most situated on glorious country estates, which offer a complete education for young children, with boarding for boys and girls from age seven or eight. Although very young children can be full boarders it is more usual for them to 'weekly board' initially, usually moving to full boarding for the final years before moving to senior school. If you are looking at the option of full or weekly boarding for your child please speak to us to discuss the most suitable options.
London Day Preps - Many parents come to us for advice on choosing and applying to prep schools in and around London. There is a vast range of schools available, some of which are extremely oversubscribed and may require your child to be registered from birth and others where it is usually possible to find a last-minute vacancy. Our consultants have a great deal of experience in this field and can help you navigate this complex area to find the best solution for your child and your family.