British Preparatory Schools E-Book: Volume III--Photo Essay Table of Contents
Figure 1.--Here we have aseries of photo essays on different aspects of the British preparatory school experience. We will add drawings, snipets of written work, and quotes from the children as well as material provided by the staff describing the schools and their educational programs. All this written material is designed to to help illustrate the photographs and to give an idea about what is on the mind of the the childeren pictured. Note that the children in the photographs are not the same as the children writing the written pieces. We have attempted, however to match up the subjects.
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Here we have aseries of photo essays on different aspects of the British preparatory school experience. We will add drawings, snipets of written work, and quotes from the children as well as material provided by the staff describing the schools and their educational programs. All this written material is designed to to help illustrate the photographs and to give an idea about what is on the mind of the the childeren pictured. The photo essays will cover all aspects of prep school life from beginning school in the morning to going to bed at night and is arranged in a kind of rough daily schedule order as well as a range of topics that do not fit into a time-table approach.
The British prep school is a private educational institution to prepare younger children to attend public schools--private secondry schools. The public schools were still rather rough places when many prep schools were founded in the 19th century. British private schools expabded greatly in the 19th century to provide the expanded number educated men needed to run the Empire. Gradually the prep schools came to be responsible for children about 8-13 years of age. Many modern prep schools have in recent years added a pre-prep to prepare even younger children to enter main school. Private education became a major issue in British politics during the 1970s and 80s with Labour politicans charging that they provided an unfair advantage to children from affluent families. Many schools were adversely affected by the economic down turn that Britain experienced in the 1970s. Labor politicans pushed to curtain Government funding. The situation has improved in recent years. The intensity of the political debate has declined. And at the same time more parents have turned to private education because of increasing disatidfaction with the state schools. Even so, prep schools still educate only a small fraction of British children.
Our book here focuses on preparatory schools. Here there are both day and boarding schools as well as boys, girls, and coed schools. The basic prep school is for children from about 8-13 years of age. But there are a range of different schools in the private sector. This includes both variations of the prep school as well as schools which encompass the prep school age group. There are pre-prep schools for younger children. Some of the pre-preps may also have few form for younger prep school age children. This is most common in city day schools. Generally girl's prep schools take girls through age 11 as the girls public schools take new students a couple years younger than the boys' public school. This has begun to change as coed publuc schools become more common. A few boys' prep scools only take boys through age 12 instead of age 13. This is generally the case n city day schools where space constraints restruct the program. There are also schools which offer both primary and secondary programs. These are often called colleges or acadamies, the later being more common in Scotland.
Headmasters in school publications often provide bried summaries of the school in the prospectuses or other school publications. . Different head maters pick up on different aspects of the schools to stress. These brief statements offer interesting intriductions to the schools and prep schools in general. They provide insignts into the school program and outlook of the headmaster who plays a key role in the school program. We will load some of these summaries here to give an idea of how the different schools describe themselves. While brief, these summaries are often instructive. Here what we are trying to do is to give an indication as to how the schools see themselves and decribe themselves to prospective parents.
Prep schools are located all over Britain. They are located in every county and in a range of environments. Day schools for obvious reasons are situated in cities and suburbs to be within comuting distance. Boarding schools are often located in more rural area or in quiet country villages. Quite a number of boarding schools were once located in rural areas and have had suburbs grow up around them. The locaion of the school is one of the factors that affect the atmosphere at the school.
Many prep schools have lovely grounds. As many were founded in old manor houses, there are in many cases beautiful formal gardens which in many cases are lovingly maintained by dedicated gardners that have been with the schools for years. There are normally extensive games fields. Of particular interest to the younger children are undeveloped, often wooded areas where they can play. The boys in particular like to build forts and secret hideaways in their free time. Many schools have lovely old manor housees as well as a range of purpose-built buildings.
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. A few schools allowed boys to stay to ahe 14, usually on special arrangement. Prep schools run as junior schools to secondary schools often had programs only running to age 11, but this 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.
School publications often comment on the scool's approach and objectives. This provides a useful background to put the school images here in context. There are many common threads in the comments here, such as an emphasis on literacy and numeracy. The emphasis on sports is still present, but not as dominant as it once was. While there are common threads, the approsaches of the schools are not identical.
School publications include a setailed decription of the facilities offered. Until after World War II, the facilities at many schools, other tham extensive playing fields, were quite limited. Since that time, successful schools persued major efforts to improve and expand facilities. There are, however, substantial differences in the facilities offered at British prep schools. Most are now substantial well founded insstitutions which have in recent years added important facilities like sports halls and musuc rooms as well as a range of amenities. There are also smaller schools will still very basic facilities.
Modern prep schools place a great emphasis on academics. This is obvious from the visits to the individual classess. The teachers are prepared annd demanding and disruptive behavior isd not tolerated. The children for their part are serious and most apply themselves to their studies to an impressive degree. The results are notable. Most prep schools report significantly higher achievement levels than the state schools. There are a number of reasons for this, including both the parents and school program. Prep schools when discussing academic achievement like to discuss two aspects more than any other. First they like to focus on the number of children who pass the Common Entrance Examination and are accepted by their senior schools. The other aspect is the number of students who earn scholsrships. The children of course all have their favorite subjects as well as activities at school. It is interesting to listen to their assessment. One interesting apect here is that while their choices of favorite subjects varies substantially, the two subjects most infrequently mentioned in maths and science. Prep schools are of course private fee-paying schools. The fees, especially for boarding, are quite expensive. This limits the students generally to the affluent or at least families in comfortable cirumstances. Most schools offer scholarships. The scholarships offered greatly from school to school. The scholarships we have noted were all academically competitive scholarships.
Here you can have a look at school life from the morning with the children coming to school to bed time in the evening. We will load some sample time tables to see how basically the school day was structured and varied among schools. We will also have a look at the various elements of the school day in detail. We will focus much of our attention on classes, games, and activities, but there are maby other sapects of the school day like morning break, lunch, rest period, tuck, prep, and other compobents of the school day which we will look at. Here we will lay out the various aspects of school life in a rough daily time-table approach. The various schools have quite similar schedules, but they are not identical so our layout is a generalized approach and indivudual schools might have some different approaches. We are not always able to present photographs and written pieces on the many different components, but we will do our best.
The schedule for saturday was different at all the schools. The saturday schedule varied from school to school. Normally the schools had classes in the morning. Afternoon activities varied. Often spoorts activities were schudled, especially matches with other schools. Often the children were given free time for games, both inside and outside depending on the weather. The older pupils often are engaged in sports. The younger children in a variety of games or other activities. Especially popular on saturday for the younger children is building and playing in forts and dens. Some children might catch up with their reading or even school projects. There are seasonal variations. During the summer term the swimming pool is often open. Other facilities like the gymnasium are open for a range of activities. Some schools schedule field trips or other special activities. There are often special activities satuday evening some as movie videos. Sunday programs varied from school to school. Most prep schools have some religious affliliation. Thus the principal activity in the morning is church. The schools attend church as a group at a local church of the appropriate denomination. Some schools have their own chapels. Provision is made for the children with special religious needs, primarily Catholic children at Protestant usually Anglican schools. Often after breakfast the children write a letter home and then march together to school in their dress uniforms. After lunch there the children normally have free time. The children are free to plat games are engage in various favorite activities. Here the seasin and weather are a factir. There may be an outing of some time organized for interested children. The children on excheats return in the evening.
The look and activities varies greatly seasomally. This is due to both the easonal changes and the time table. Most schools have four terms (Fall, Winter, Spring, and Summer Term). This is not the case at every school, but it is a very common approach. They are sometimes refeered to by the holidays, such as the Christmas and Easter Terms. The curriculum is relatively standard throughout the year, but there are changes in the timetable. Freetime and bedtime change at many schools when the days get shorter. The sports change seasoally and sports are an important part of the program at many schools. Different holidays are celebrated. At the beginning of school, rugby dominates the sports prgram. Schools can arrange the daily school with considerable flexibility, but the sports have to be coordinated so they can arrange fixtures with other schools. One factor that has a major impact on schgool life is the weather. The schools try to plan as much outdoor activities as possible. The weaher does not, however, always cooperate. This is not entorely a seasinal matter. And 100-200 children cooped up inside for an extended period can be a major challenge, both for the children and the staff. Of course Winter weather is a problem, but Brirain has a fairly mild climate. What British weather is best known for is rain. And rain can affect daily activities throughout the school year.
Many British schools have foundations that go back centuries. This is especially true pf the public (private secondary) schools. The preparatory schools have much more recent foundations. The first prep schools weere founded in the 19th century, although some existing prep schools evolved from earlier schools. Most modern prep schools were founded in the 20th century.
Britain is a country of traditions. You can not go very far in Britain without running into some aspect of the coutry's rich historical and cultural traditions. From the Tower in London to Hadrian's Wall and further north into Scotland, the country is covered by stone-age sites, Roman ruins, Viking sites, as well as medieval castles and palaces, and much more including some fascinating World War II sites. Even our modern economy beginning with the Industrial Revolution began in Britain and sites like Iron Bridge record this aspect of Britain's history. Many schools have their very own rich and fascinating traditions. Americams will be interested to know that Lord Corwallis' country home is now a well used school building.
The prep school children are organized into forms on the basis of their age and academic abilities. Usually the forms run from 1 through 6, although this varies somewhat from school to school. Many also have pre-preps which deal with the younger children before they actually begin prep school work. For most chldren in the pre-prep, entry in the prep school is virtually automatic. And because the staff is already working with the child, the approriate time can be determined. Not all prep schools have pre-preps Schools have varying entry requirements. Most want the children to have basic reading and math schools. A few schools have entrance examinations. The children are also organized into houses which are particularly important aspect of boarding school life. Another important aspect of the organization of the school are prefects. Some schools have special names for these older children who are given responsibility to help enforce the school rules.
When one thinks of schools it is generally the academic program that comes to mind. Prep schools certainly have a string academic program. But the prepschool program i not limited to academics. In fact the academic component at many prep schools was relatively weak. Prep school head masters as well as their counterparts in the public schools from the beginning were very concerned with character. Just how character was defined and the values instilled varied from school to school, but character building was very important and one of the reasins that parents sent their children to these schools. One of the reasons that the sports progea was given such emphasis was that strenuous sports competition was seen as a character building experience. This commitment to chasracter building continues at modern prep schools. Character development was at first preceived as toughening a boy up. This has certasinly not been abandoned at the schools, but modern schools now see character in a more varied context abd value system than was once common.
As a beginning teacher, I had the idea that discipline was not an important matter and was much more interested in the subject matter. I was very quickly disabused of that misconception. The goal of a school is to inpart learning, but the simple truth is that without adequate discipline, learning can not occur. This is not to say that discipline is the central matter at school, it is to say that without basic discipline nothing of value can occur in the classroom. Often this is the principal difference between private and state schools in Britain, the private schools recognize the importance of discipline and insist on basic discipline statndards. There are of course many fine state schools and teachers which recognize this. Unfortunately teachers in the state school often are forced to devote inordinate efforts to the problem of discipline and a few unruly students, often without the adequate support of the school administration. This detracts from the effort on academics. These sort of problems and detractions are for the most part avoided at prep schools and the masters there can devote their efforts to the learning process.
The image that many people have of British schhols, especially private boarding schools , is that they are very unhappy places to which very young people are subjected. The image includes Spartan living quarters in which the children pine away for their parents and the comforts of home. Also many believe that the children are subjected to harsh discipline, including physical punishment. Thereis also the idea that it is all work with little opportunity to have fun. English literature is full of accounts describing very unhappy childhood experiences befinning with Winston Churchill as well as countless lesser known individuals. Actually we believe that this image was a not unrealistic desription of many prep schools through the 1950s. The schools began to change significantly in the 1960s. Most of the schools we visited were not like this at all. We did find a few schools that seemed less concerned with the needs of younger children than one would expect. The general pattern, however, was quite different. Most schools made a real effort to create a homey, caring atmosphere. One of the most revealing examples were the dormitories. New boys entering a school for the first time through the 1950s found drab, Spartan dormitories. And he would never dare bring his teddy along. The dormitories we found were bright, cheerful places and the beds were populated with not only teddies, but a variety of stiffed animals that would do a good-sized zoo proud.
One interesting aspect of the prep schools is language. There are all kinfs of terms used at the schools which will be recognizanle to manyBritish readers, but not to American and other foreign readers. Thus we thought some items from the mazines using these the terms might be helpful Some of the terms were relatively standards at all prep schools (forms, games, houses, lines, matron, masters, prefect, prep, tuck, whickett, etc.). There were also terms that developed at each specific schools. Prefects at some schools may be called captains. And individual masters might have their own favorite expressions.
Almost all British prep schools require the children to wear uniforms. These uniforms have varied widely from school and over time. The uniforms range in formality and at many schools are adjusted seasonally. Many schools require the children, boys and girls, to wear neck ties, but quite a number of schools are now more casual about uniforms and use open collars. Some times this is part of the seasonal change. Caps were once almost universal, but are now worn at only a few schools. Many schools have colorful blazers, bit they are usually not worn for classes and other activities. Some schools have corduroy uniforms. School scandals were once very common, but now not as widely worn. Pre-Prep
Prep schools used to be very strict about hair cuts. They did not normally require short back and sites cuts, but the styles were definyely on the short side. Attitdes about hair changed considerably and the prep schools for the most part decided go go with the flow. We note a range of different styles in the 1980s. Most schools allowed the children considerable lattitude here as long as the hair was kept reasobanly near and off the collar. Here schools varied. Some schools continued to be very strict about hair styles. Sone schools have a barber come to school on a regular basis. Other schools let the parents handel hair cutting. This was especially true of day boys. Headmasters might, however, have boys whose hair is demmed beyond the pale visit a local barber. Girls cut for the most part left up to the individual as long as nothing exotic appear
The first and the largest number of prep schools, like the public schools they fed, were boys' schools. Gradually girls schools were also founded. Almost all of the early schools were single gender schools. This did not begin to chsange until well after World War II when many boys schools shifted to coeducastion. (For some reason few gir;s schools have made this shift.). It might be thought that the shift to coeducation was a carefully planned decesssion based on a study of research works which suggested that there were educational advantages to coeducation. As far as we can tell this was not the case. Rather it seems to have primarily been a business decession resulting from the need to attract more students. Whatever the reasons for girls coming go formerly all-boy institutions, the impact has been very significant. The nost obvious is the dramatically improved amenities and living conditions.
The children's view on school in general and their school in particular is interesting. Some of the comments and written pieces are fun, playful musings. Others are more serious . The children, like all children, of course like to complain about school. But for the most part they seem to be satisfied customers. Several students who came from other schools (generally meaning state schools), mentioned to us how much better they like their new school. Most of the children like their schools and indeed seem very happy there. Some of the older children seem to chafe a bit about the restrictions, but that is rather to be expected--meaning that they are ready to move on to their senior schools.
Most prep schools like the public schools they feed have religioud affiliation. Most schools in England are associated with the Anglican Church (Church of England). Some schools are associated with other churches. Thus there is religious instruction, orasyers at morning assesblies, and mandtory church attendance on Sunday. Provision is made for those of other religions. Some headmasters have divinity degress. In modern Britain, Church attendance has declined significantly and thus this exposure to religion is a difference from most state schools, although there are Anglican and Catholic schools hich receive substatial state support.
Most early prep schools were founded as boarding schools. Boarding was seen as an important part of the overall educational program. This was not based on any real educational analysis of the needs of prep-school age children. Rather because the primary purpose of the schools was to care for younger children destined for the public schools, which were mostly boarding schools, the prep schools defacto were largely organized as bording schools. Boarding was, however, expensive, so days schools were also organized in the major cities. Also some parents did not want to send their children to boarding schools. They were at first somewhat looked down on as boarding was considered an important part of the prep school program. In recent years, boarding has declined in importance. Cost is a factor, but the chsanging attitudes of parents is probably more important. Many parents bekievce tht younger children are better off at home. Mny boarding schools refused at first to accdpt day children, but most boarding schools now have varying nu,bers of day children.
The various British holidays are celebrated at school in a variety of ways. Some holidays are celebrated at school. Some holidays take place on vacation, such as Christmas. But often there are celebrastions at school leading up to the actual holiday.
In addution to the major holiday clebrations, schools also have special celebrations of their owns.Some of the most important are Sports Day, the Summer Fete, and Prize Giving. Some have destictive names and the scheduling varies from school to school. There may also be differences as to how they are ceebrated. Virtually all schools have these major events. Many schools have their own destinctive events and traditions.
Here we have a look at some of the individuals associated with British prep schools. One of the fascinating aspects of prep schools like any school is of course the children. We have slected some captivating images of the children as they go about their daily routein. We not happy and sad children. Some having a good laugh and others deep in thought. We would love to give the children a penny for their thoughts. We notice others completely abosorbed in a book or other activity. These an many other experiences and emotions are all part of the daily life at any prepschool. Some of these images are posed with the children having fun getting theit photograph taken. Other images are candid portraits with the childre oblivious to our photographic activities. Of course we focus on the children, but we met many fascinating teachers and other staff members. And of course no review of the inviduals at prep schools would be complete without the almost complusory school dog or cat.
The primary puropse of a British preparatory school is to prepare children to enter the public (private secondary) or as coomon referred to their senior schools. Many children and their parents have a school in mind. To facilitate this process, the children take the Common Entrace Examination (CEE). This is a test the children sit during the 6th Form at the prep school. The results are accepted at most public schools. A few schools continue to insist on their own unique tests, but most public schools now use the CEE. This is always a difficult time for the children. After taking the test they have to await the results for some time. Public schools use a variety of factors in selecting thir students, but the CEE is an important factor. Many schools have minimum standards for admission.
