Figure 1.--This is class 1B in the prep department during 1971. The boys uniform was just the same as in the senior school, exceot the prep boys wore short trousers. In the senior school, shorts were required only in the first year. My friend is the third from the right in the middle row. He had his hair cut like mine. Notice the difference from the more posh boys.

The school also had a "preparatory department" which took in boys from the age of 9-11 who then went on to the main school as well as boys joining from various state primary schools from all over London. Prep referred to preparatory school which in England meant a primary-level school preparing boys for entering the secondary-level public schools. HBC has quite a bit of information on preparatory schools. Most grammar schools did not have prep departments. Ours was different. Being a direct grant school, this meant that it was essentially a private school. Several private schools at the time did have prep departments or prep schools that they were closely assciated with. The prep department at our school had the same uniform as the senior school. The different was that the prep boys wore short trousers. In the senior school only the first year boys were required to wear shorts, at least at the time that I entered the school. It was almost like a public school for day boys - very different to the grammar school my older brother went to. Mine had a prep department - where the boys paid to go to and then entered the main school. I not only had to pass the 11-plus to get into my school, I also had to sit their own entrance exam too. It is why I was so out of place there.

Prep Department

The school also had a "preparatory department" which took in boys from the age of 9-11 who then went on to the main school as well as boys joining from various state primary schools from all over London.

Preparatory Schools

Prep referred to preparatory school which in England meant a primary-level school preparing boys for entering the secondary-level public schools. HBC has quite a bit of information on preparatory schools.

Direct Grant Schools

Most grammar schools did not have prep departments. Ours was different. Being a direct grant school, this meant that it was essentially a private school. Several private schools at the time did have prep departments or prep schools that they were closely associated with.

Uniform

The prep department at our school had the same uniform as the senior school, except caps and short trousers were required. The different was that the prep boys wore short trousers. In the senior school only the first year boys were required to wear shorts, at least at the time that I entered the school.

The Studets

It was almost like a public school for day boys - very different to the grammar school my older brother went to. Mine had a prep department - where the boys paid to go to and then entered the main school. I not only had to pass the 11-plus to get into my school, I also had to sit their own entrance exam too. It is why I was so out of place there.

Facilities

I did mention that the prep department at my grammar school had their own seperate building, though on the same site. The prep department had their own building and playground.

Standards

I do know that at this period the prep school was run by a husband and wife team, with additional teachers, who had been there for ages and they probably disaproved of the slow relaxation of "standards" that were occuring at the time and were determined to "hold the line in their department" before their boys went off into the main school. You could tell this by the way they treated the boys during this lunch period--although it wasn't much different to the way I'd been treated at primary school at that time. I suppose they wanted to make sure that their charges kept their manners and weren't tempted to copy any of the antics of us older boys.

Lunch

The only time the really mixed in with us was at lunch time. I do recall that the prep. school boys would be marched up in a "crocodile" to the refrectory wearing their caps and would all take them off just before they went into the building and put them in their blazer pockets. We had to wait while they went in first. A boy I was with commenting on the fact. Another boy I knew who had attended the prep school told me that their teacher had instucted them to do this. The comment of my friend about the prep school boys wasn't so much about the caps themselves but the way they robotically lined up to enter the refectory and then took them off just before they went in to the building (although he didn't express it in exactly these terms). The boy who had "come up" from the prep school was defending them rather than ridiculing them--explaining to us that they were told to do this by their teachers (who used to accompany them on this one and only mixing with us in the main school.

Created: 9:41 PM 3/1/2005
Last updated: 9:42 PM 3/1/2005