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There is no standard prep school curriculim. There are differences from school to school as to the curriculum as well as academic approaches. There is, however, many similarities at prep schools, primarily because the schools are geared to gain admitance for its students to public schools. And this means with a few exceptions doing well on the Comman Entrance Examination. Thus most schools have a demanding academic program which heavily emphasize four core subjects: math, English, science, and foreign languages. Some schools give less emphasis to science and more emphasis to foreign languages including Latin, but a great emphasis on maths and English is a standard part of the curriculum in virtually every prep school. Prep school children often begin to learn about Shakespeare in the pre-prep as young as 3 years of age. The most common modern laguage persued is French. Many schools have programs beginning with the pre-prep that present the core subjects every day until the children are highly proficient in these subjects. A major change in the modern prep school is that there is no longer a substantial anount of rote learning. The full academic program includes maths, English, foreign languages, science, history, geography, religious studies, information technology, and fine arts. This is of course complimented by a substantial games (sports) program and a wide variety of extracuricular activities.
Prep school curriculum is a fairly complicated subject. Schools tend to offer a summary of the curriculum in their prosectusses and other promotional literature. These summaries are a helpful introduction before devealing into this topic in more detail. Of course the curriculum varies from school to school, but there are many similarities.
There is no standard prep school curriculim. There are differences from school to school as to the curriculum as well as academic approaches. There is, however, many similarities at prep schools, primarily because the schools are geared to gain admitance for its students to public schools. And this means with a few exceptions doing well on the Comman Entrance Examination. Thus most schools have a demanding academic program which heavily emphasize four core subjects: math, English, science, and foreign languages. Some schools give less emphasis to science and more emphasis to foreign languages including Latin, but a great emphasis on maths and English is a standard part of the curriculum in virtually every prep school. Prep school children often begin to learn about Shakespeare in the pre-prep as young as 3 years of age.
Unlike the huge state system, a prep school does not have the ability to exhaustively study and develop a program to teach core subjects. As a result, many schools have adopted prepared teaching programs. Not all chools use these programs, but several have been very widely adopted. These programs provide text books, work books, and other teaching materials. This also means that the children from many different prep schools have very similar cademic preparation. The choices involved are often dreived after consultations with senior schools. This is advantageous for them because it means the incoming students have similar levels of preparation.
While all prep schools have the core subjects, fine arts (primarily art) and games, the rest of the program is more varies. The full academic program includes a range of other subjects, usually including history, geography, religious studies, and information technology. Schools also commonly offer other subjects but these can vary substantially from school to school and are in part affected by the background of the staff.
Note that games is considered by most schools to be an important part of the curriculum. Games are of course an activity, but they are of such importance that we have created a special section for them. Most English prep schools continue to place a considerable emphasis on physical activity and sport, or games as they are commonly called. The greatest emphasis is placed on the major team sports, football, rugby, and cricket. Many non-team sports are also encouraged. At some schools the emphasis is on physical fitness. The headmaster at Hill House in London , for example, believes that "there is. no point in teaching a boy to read and write until he can swim. If a boy is physicall fit, he is never ill. You need to tire any normal boy a bit if you want him to sit down and work at English, French, mathematics and science." Many schools are convinced that sports are an important character-building experience and that success and discipline on the sports field can improve a child's to confidence in approaching academics and other challenges. Often games are seen as building leadership skills. As Twford explains, games are taught so that the children "may appreciate the importance of a healthy body, ... learn to serve his side or school team, and be taught the lesson of leadership ..." rather than for "the doubtful blessings of athletic reputation." As a result, pysical education is part of the curiculum. Many schools prepare a physical fitness profile that a child takes to his or her Public School. The profile records aptitude and achievements in games and sports as well as other physical activities such as skiing trips, camping, and outward bound expeditions.
The fine arts are both part of the curriculum and part of the activities program. The balance here varies among the various disciplines. Art is probably given more attention in the curriculum than the other diciplines. The children may spend more time in music, primarily because such a large number of students at most schools take individual instrument tuition. There are some drama lessons, but th primasry drma experiebce are the plays produced by the children. Less attention is given to dance, but most schools provide lessons in socil dncing and with the increasomg number of cped schools, more and more schools are offering balet and other performing dance instruction.
