Figure 1.--Here are the boys’ and girls’ uniforms at my sons’ school. |
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I started at prep school at age 5. This was completely normal at the time. I've still got the termly reports from my prep school and they are all in the same format; there is no mention of a junior section of any kind. What has happened since is that private-sector schools take children from about age 3. The pre-prep section lasted up to age 7, and beyond that they were in the prep section to age 11. This sort of thing is, so far as I am aware, a relatively recent development - i.e. recent compared to when I was at school! I find it interesting to compare my preferences as a boy to that of my sons. The uniform at my sons’ school was qualitatively the same as mine – dark grey trousers, blazer (basically black, with coloured edges), white shirt, and so on. They were allowed to wear shorts in the Pre-Prep and prep departments, i.e. up to age 11. Both did so, both summer and (mostly) winter, as did some of their contemporaries. PE kit was somewhat different to mine. At home, they never had the same objection that I did to anything that fitted tight over the ears, and so wore T-shirts most of the time. Shorts in the summer and jeans in the winter were their general preference: these days they only wear shorts in particularly hot weather.
I started at prep school at age 5. This was completely normal at the time. I've still got the termly reports from my prep school and they are all in the same format; there is no mention of a junior section of any kind. What has happened since is that private-sector schools take children from about age 3. The pre-prep section lasted up to age 7, and beyond that they were in the prep section to age 11. This sort of thing is, so far as I am aware, a relatively recent development - i.e. recent compared to when I was at school! Nowadays the lower years are called pre-prep, but they weren't in my day. Nearly all the private-sector schools near where I now live take children from about age 3 nowadays. Such schools fall into 4 groups; 1. up to 11; 2. up to 13; 3. up to 16; 4. up to 18. The major time for moves is at age 11 - the Common Entrance exam is rarely used in this area. I should add that all these schools are basically day schools, though one or two have a few boarders. The school my children went to is more or less nonselective in its intake to pre-preps, applying selection thereafter simply to limit numbers. A lot has changed in the nearly 40 years since I left school! Most of the change, I suspect, took place in the 22 years between when I left in 1969 and when my elder son started in 1991. The main change since then is that more private-sector schools have worked out that if you catch the kids at age 3 or so, you'll keep most of them until they fall out of the top end of the school.
I find it interesting to compare my preferences as a boy to that of my sons. The uniform at my sons’ school was qualitatively the same as mine – dark grey trousers, blazer (basically black, with coloured edges), white shirt, and so on. They were allowed to wear shorts in the Pre-Prep and prep departments, i.e. up to age 11. Both did so, both summer and (mostly) winter, as did some of their contemporaries. PE kit was somewhat different to mine. At home, they never had the same objection that I did to anything that fitted tight over the ears, and so wore T-shirts most of the time. Shorts in the summer and jeans in the winter were their general preference: these days they only wear shorts in particularly hot weather.
