Finding the right preparatory school

George Marsh, who is Headmaster of Dulwich College Preparatory School and Chairman of the Independent Association of Preparatory Schools, describes how he found one that suited his own children

Though I was educated at a preparatory school and I have now taught within the system for nearly 20 years, I well remember wondering how to set about finding the right preparatory school for my children. I hope that my own experience and the steps I took will help those of you who are thinking of following the path taken by many parents every year.

I was intent on my children using the maintained sector, but increasing concerns led us to explore the private sector. This was relatively easy in the rural area where we lived. We were not able to fund boarding and so we were looking at the five preparatory schools that were within range of home without travel being a burden. The local schools were easy to identify from the ISIS office and armed with this list we wrote off for prospectuses from five schools. If you live in an urban area you will face a much more complex situation because there will be many more schools to choose from. I would strongly recommend that you consult one of the schools’ guides such as Preparatory Schools and use ISIS to get an idea of what is on offer.

It is concerning as a parent to know if a private school is of good quality and I would point out that ISC, the Independent Schools Council offers accreditation to schools and this accreditation is a benchmark of quality. All schools that come under the ISC umbrella, are inspected every six years to ensure that they are efficient and offering a good quality education. Five schools’ organisations, HMC, GSA, SHMIS, IAPS and ISA are members of ISC and if the school you are interested in is a member of one of these organisations this is a kite mark of quality.

It was now time for parental homework and the glossy brochures from the schools were studied carefully. All had been professionally produced and contained much that was similar in content. All of them, for example, had pictures of the Head with pupils, of a science lesson and pupils in art rooms. It was difficult to tell which school would offer our children the type of education they would benefit from and enjoy.

The next stage was to sit down and decide what we wanted the preparatory school to offer our children. There would be no point in moving them anywhere unless there were obvious gains from the change of school. We wanted coeducation, a school that challenged children in the form room, that offered good pastoral care, where laughter was a part of life, had strong music and sport and could demonstrate interest and knowledge of individual children.

This last point made the Head a crucial figure to us, as he or she would set the tone to the pupils and the staff. I personally believe the Head of a preparatory school is a much more important influence on his or her school than the Head of a senior school. This part of our research was the most important because it gave us criteria by which to judge the schools we were to visit. It was not an easy or quick discussion and there were differences of opinion between us that took time to iron out. Having a son and a daughter we wanted to try and find a school for both children. There were differences between them and though we hoped we would find one school where both would thrive, we were not sure this would be possible.

Having our list of five schools we contacted them all by telephone. I think this was the appropriate way to make our first contact because there certainly were big differences in the way the schools dealt with our enquiries. Two seemed to think they were doing us a favour to allow us to visit – at one it seemed that the Head was too busy to see us unless we were very lucky. I would not send my child to a preparatory school without meeting the Head in person and our list was down from five to three. The other three were welcoming on the telephone and were happy to see us at a time convenient for us. The schools we visited all wanted us to visit without our children in the first instance, but this varies from school to school. As I know from my own experience children will decide on which school they want to go to for bizarre reasons. Children have wanted to come to my school on the strength of our biscuits, go-karts and in one case, loo paper. If you have the time, I recommend a visit on your own. I am no fan of going to Open Days unless there is the possibility of a later visit in a small group or on one’s own to see the school working. It is very difficult to gain an impression of the chemistry of a school without being there when it is at work and play. It is the interaction of pupil with pupil, staff with pupil and Head with both staff and pupils that you need to see and sense when visiting a school.

We visited three good schools and we made our decision on the basis of ‘feel’ which is indefinable but very important, and two small boys. As we walked from our car towards the main school building, the two boys approached and asked if they could help. Muddy kneed, socks down and shirts out of their shorts they certainly looked happy. I said we had come to see the Head and they offered to take us to see him. They did exactly that and we bypassed receptionist and Head’s secretary as our guides took us straight to the Head’s study. I think he was as surprised as we were, but he dealt with the situation very well, thanking the boys and asking us if we would mind waiting a few minutes before seeing him – once the two boys had disappeared. Obviously it was chance that this sequence of events took place, but we were suitably impressed and our children spent their preparatory school years at the school and have flourished ever since.

The decision to put our children into the private sector was not an easy one to take as it certainly affected our lifestyle and took me from teaching in the maintained back to the independent sector. However, though I still at times feel guilty personally, I do not regret the sacrifices in any way. The independent schools offered academic challenges, breadth of extracurricular activities and an expectation for children to engage and be involved that I fear might have been harder to gain elsewhere.

The traditional preparatory school runs from seven to 13 and then transfers children to senior schools (known as public schools). This picture has altered significantly in the last two decades and many preparatory schools now run nurseries. There is likely to be an option of full or part-time education from three. Some schools offer care from 8.00am to 6.00pm, built around their nursery. All nursery schools are now inspected by OFSTED to ensure they are run properly and efficiently. These inspections are regular (maximum time is every four years) and the reports will be available to see at the nursery. A good nursery will have a bright and colourful environment, with a wide range of play equipment and plenty of opportunities for children to use paint, box model, experience music and be exposed to books and number work.

Pre-preps will take children from the nursery. It is not possible to say exactly what a pre-preparatory is because it varies from school to school. All our schools are independent and history and the nature of the buildings are the driving forces that decide where the division between pre-prep and prep will fall. The pre-preparatory will operate in most cases along similar lines to a primary school with pupils being taught by a class teacher, with specialists possibly being used for ICT, French, music and games. Independent schools do not have to follow the National Curriculum and do not have to operate the Literacy and Numeracy Hours or do SATS at KS1 or KS2. This does not mean basics do not matter; they do. However we have greater flexibility to achieve our ends. Only about a third of IAPS schools do SATS at KS2.

Children in the preparatory school will change to specialist teaching at around age eight or nine (Years 4 or 5). This is one of the biggest differences between the private and maintained sectors. The enthusiasm and excitement shown by pupils who, for example, are being taught history by a teacher who believes his subject is the best is uplifting. Lifelong love of subjects is often born at this time. Preparatory schools will teach a full range of subjects; English, mathematics, science, French, history, geography, music, art, design technology, PE and sport as well as optional extras like Latin and Spanish. This appears to be a long list and it is only possible because in most preparatory schools children spend an average of an hour a day more at work than their peers in maintained schools.

When it comes to talking of leaving preparatory schools, it is not possible to be precise. Pupils leave at 11+ or 13+, depending on the traditions of your area. At either age they will take an exam to gain a place at their next school. At 11+ this is usually consists of papers in English, mathematics and verbal reasoning. Thirteen-plus entry involves a much wider range of papers which will give your child enormous confidence when he or she takes GCSE, three years later. How you choose a senior school I will leave to another scribe.

Today under half the preparatory schools have boarders and the numbers of children boarding at preparatory school age has fallen with the biggest decline being in young boarders. The age of boarding being a Spartan regime with cold baths, no access to parents, bleak dormitories and no care or supervision, except by eccentric staff, has been buried. It has been buried by boarding schools offering a very full and attractive new face, with excellent living conditions, activities to fill the children’s free time and plenty of access to parents or other relatives. If you are thinking of sending your child boarding, I strongly advise you to visit a boarding school and talk to the children who are enjoying their school days. The pupils who are boarding are the best possible advertisement for boarding. Nothing is simple in the preparatory school world however, and you will find some schools offer full boarding, others weekly boarding and others flexi-boarding. This means that if you find it very difficult to get home one evening or your child has an activity that goes on late one night a week, they can sleep in school as a boarder for one night a week. We have parents who use our short stay boarding to enjoy a holiday without their children every year!

I hope that you will find the preparatory school world easier to understand after reading this article. There will be a school near you that will answer your needs and I hope you will be as happy with the way your children flourish as I have been.

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