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Preparatory school (United Kingdom)

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A preparatory school, or prep school in the United Kingdom, and previously in the British Empire and 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).

Partial list of British preparatory schools

alleyn court preparatory school,westcliff on sea

See also

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