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The ages of the children at prep schools varied from school to school. The standard prep school catered to children about 8 to 13 years of age, although some had 7 and 14-year olds as well. Most boys finished at age 12-13 years. Girls often left early as the intake at many girls' public schools was age 11 rather than 13 as for the boys. This is a matter if tradition,but also probanly reflects the great maturity pf the girls at this age. What ever the reason,it complicates the operation of the coed prep schools as a substantialpart of their students leves at an early point meaning that the older forms were smaller than the yiunger forms. A few schools allowed boys to stay to age 14 years, usually on special arrangement. Prep schools run as junior schools to secondary schools often had programs only running to age 11, butthis also varied from school to school. Many prep schools in recent years added pre-preps with added younger children, usually about 5-7 years of age. The pre-prep program was separate from the main school, but was important in preparing the children as well as securing a steady intake to the school.
Children can enter the Junior School from the age of 6 and leave at the latest after the term in which they reach their fourteenth birthday.
Dean Close Junior School Prospectus
Boys mostly leve the schools when they are about 13-years old. Some are still 12 yeatrs old, close to but not yet reaching their 13th birtgday. By that age the children are able to have serious thoughts and express their thouughts coherently in a way that the younger children are not yet able to do. We had many conversations with these children,in part because they had later bed imes than the ounger children and thus some feee time un the evening. Most were boys because unlike the girls the entry point at boys' public schools is about age 13 years. Many of the girls leave the schools at age 11 years. Many of the boys were interested in talking to us about their schools and school experiences. Quite a few were a little frustrated. They had been at the schools for anout 5-6 years, even more if they began in the pre-ptep. Many were bored. The prep school that seem so big and challenging when they began at age 8 years now seemed small and closeted. Many of the boys complained that they were too old still be at the school. "They treated us like the little kids, one boy complined to the agreement of his mates. They complained about the rules, restrictions, unifirms,limited recreational opportunities and other matters. They had the same masters and did all the various activities offered at the school. "take us away," one group joked. These were not so much complaunts about the school an their time there, just that the school was no longer suitablke for them. We didn't notice any complaints about the quality of the education. Or the levelof instruction. The comments of course varied quite a bit fom boy to boy. Often the boys most involved in ganms (sports) were less critical because the competitions with other schools were more and more challenging as they got older. Other boys were more stoical. They were less apt to complain, but were looking forward to moving on. Mixed with this was also a degree of nostalgia about their younger years and apprehension as they were leaving the safety and security of the school they attended for years for the uncertainty of their new senior schools. As they had noit yet taken tge entrance exams they were also uncertain about that. One headmaster discussed this with us. "This oif course is agood sign. It vmeans thge boys were growing up and maturing and ready for their new school. I wold be concerned if our leavers were not somewhat unhappy about the necesity restrictiins of our schools which of course is designed to meet the needs of the younger boys. I just hope that they leave us with many happy menories and the skills needed for their senior schools."
