|
Preparatory or prep schools grew out of the public (private) school system. Public schools were rather rough places unsuitable for younger children. Thus the prep schools were established in the 19th century to better look after the younger children and prepare them for their public schools. Prep schools today are private schools preparing boys for the public schools. Traditionally the boys were 8-13 years old, but this can vary from school to school. There are also now attached pre-preps for the younger children. Many prep schools in recent years have added pre-prep divsions, in part to provide a stable source of new entants. It also is away of making sure the children are properly prepared to enter the prep section. The curriculum and program is closely geared to that of the public schools, especially the local public schools that most of the children attend. The academic program at many schools has been improved in recent years. There continues to be an important games program at most schools. Prep schools were once primarily single gender boarding schools, but many are now many coeducational schools. Quite a number of the boys' schools have shifted to coeducation. There are now many day schools. Most of the boarding schools now accept day pupils, especially the younger ages. Most have substantial day rolls, although the older children are incouraged to board as they get closer to the time when they are preparing for the transition to public schools.
Preparatory or prep schools grew out of the public (private) school system. Public schools were rather rough places unsuitable for younger children. Thus the prep schools were established in the 19th century to better look after the younger children and prepare them for their public schools. Prep schools today are private schools preparing boys for the public schools. Traditionally the boys were 8-13 years old, but this can vary from school to school. There are also now attached pre-preps for the younger children. Many prep schools in recent years have added pre-prep divsions, in part to provide a stable source of new entants. It also is away of making sure the children are properly prepared to enter the prep section. The curriculum and program is closely geared to that of the public schools, especially the local public schools that most of the children attend. The academic program at many schools has been improved in recent years. There continues to be an important games program at most schools. Prep schools were once primarily single gender boarding schools, but many are now many coeducational schools. Until after Word War II, British educators generally thought it was preferable to separate the genders. Quite a number of the boys' schools have shifted to coeducation. There are now many day schools. Most of the boarding schools now accept day pupils, especially the younger ages. Most have substantial day rolls, although the older children are incouraged to board as they get closer to the time when they are preparing for the transition to public schools.
About 1,000 different private preparatory schools have operated in England beginning in the mid-19th century. This includes senior chools that have prep sections. Many had only short lives. Others operated for decades. Some have histories of over one hundred years and are still operating today. Information on several specific prep schools are archived on HBC-SU.
Norwich School is an private now co-educational day school for pupils 4-18 years of age. This includes a Lower (pre-prep and prep) and a secondary unit. Ther boys here were prt of the prep unit in the 1980s (figure 1). The school is set in the city's historic Cathedral Close. The School describes itself as 'a traditional yet lively place to learn and combines a vibrant, imaginative culture with values of scholarship and mutual respect." Among the oldest schools in the United Kingdom, it has a traceable history to 1096 as an episcopal grammar school established by Herbert de Losinga, first Bishop of Norwich.. The prep unit would have been established in the 19th century.
This is an outdoor stereoview of a school picnic. It is unidentified and undated. We do not know the name of the school, but the building in the background may provide a clue. We believe it was taken in the 1850s. It is a superb early stereoview featuring a group of school children and teachers having an informal picnic. The male teacher is enjoying a bottle of wine. This is surely a private school. Given the age of the children, we would guess it was a preparatory school. This is, however, a very early stage in the development of preparatory schools. Not only were state schools not well developed in the 1850s, but the unformal scene, large bulding, and the way the children are dressed all suggest a private school. English public (private) schools at the time were just beginning to standardize age levels and develop more prorective preparatory schools for the younger boys. The children are dressed similarly, but not identically. Particularly interesting is their varies headwear. One boy wear a hat, but most wear caps.
St. Michael's College was founded in 1854. It was endowed by Sir Frederick Ouseley, a rich bachelor baronet, who was influenced by the Tractarians as an undergraduate at Christ Church. He was a talented musician and wanted to utilize them in the service of the Church of England. He became a CoE priest. He was Precentor of Hereford Cathedral and Professor of Music at Oxford, where helped to rebuild the music program. At St. Michael's he collected a noted library of music and musical manuscripts . His primary focus was on training boys who as organists and choristers helped to maintain the tradition of English cathedral church music. The school website explains, "He, who had known Mendelssohn and Elvey, and employed Stainer as organist at St. Michael's, and influenced Parratt, established a musical tradition which has lived on and which has had a greater indirect influence on the Church of England's music than any other single institution." Ouseley operated St. Michael's as the parish church of the district, with a resident choir and organist. We visited the school in the 1980s just befire it closed. The school choir peformed at a very high standard. The biys were, however, disapointed that so few people attended their performances. The College closed in 1985, and is now run as the UK base of King's College Madrid
An English dealer identifies this CDV portarait as the Karts Boy School. Have been unable ton find any inormation about the school and the dealer provided no other information. It is interesting because it is clearly a very early portrait, we think from the late-1860s, perhaps the early-70s. This is a period for which we don't have all that many English school images. While we have no information about the school, the date and the ages can be deduced as well as their economic situation. The fact that many of the tounger boys are wering long pants, strongly suggests the 1860s. And the fact that the boys are well dressed shows that it was a private school with boys coming from families in confortable circumstances. , All of this leads us to believe that it was a private school, preumably a prep school. The boys look to be about 8-13 yers of old preparing for one of Britain's public (elite private boarding) schools. There is no uniform, but the boys are all wearing suits. The school may have been in the Leicestershire region.
The [school] picture was taken in May 1877. The school is not identified, but it almost certainly was from a private preparatory school (or the prep duivision of a public (senior private) school. These were boarding schools. The boys look to be about 9-10 years old so they were not the youngest form. Note that they do not wear a uniform. This was fairly common at prep schools in the 19th century. The public schools that these boys were preparing for, however, did have uniforms. The boys all wear suits, most with long pants. Note the many varied styles of suit jackets. There ate two young-looking masers with them. Presumably one id the form master. I'm not sure about the other one.
We do not know the name of the school involved here. We believe, however, that a photograph from the Robinson family album shows the boys at home on school vacation. Edward Robinson appears to have brought a school friend home for the school holiday. The boys wear suits with Eton collars. While we can not be sure, we believe this is what the boys wore at school.
Here we see a group of younger children fron the Froebelian School in 1951. The dealer insisted that the school was in Kendal, but we believe this was The Frobelian School in Leeds. We do not believe there was nore than one such school. The school was founded by Miss L. Hoe (1913). She was influenced by the educational approaches developed by the German educator, Freidrich Froebel. He was particularly interested in early childhood education. We are not sure at what age the school began with at first, but the school now takes children 3-10 years of age and thy leave at at age 11. This of course was when the 11+ examps used to direct students to grammar schools or sevondary moderns. The school is a provate day school. Here we see a musucal group, the percussion band. TYhey won first prize at the Westmoreland Festival in 195.. We do not know if that was a school event or local community event. The children wear a basic grey uniform. The boys wear ties jumpers (sweaters), short psnts, anf knee socks. The girls wear ties, blouses, gym slios or skirts , and socks, Many state primaries adopted uniforms like this, but we belive this was not very common yet in the early-50s. Uniforms like this were common in state primaries by the 1960s. We believe that the choice was up to each school.
The Llanwnog School was a Welsh rather than an English school, but as we have so few 19th century images, we are adding it to the English list. The clothes worn in Wales at the time would have been the same as worn in comparable areas of England.
Here we see a classroom at the Cormont Road School in London. We have been unable to find any information about the school except that is was located on Cormont Road a kind of half circular road runnng around the Myatts Fields green area in Kennington/Camberwell, London. The dealer thought this was a 1920s school portrait. We think the 1900s is more likely. We might have though there would have been more Eton collars in the 1900s, but the portrait of King Edward VII suggests strongly that the portrait was taken in the 1900s, probably the later part of the decade. We are guessing that this is a small day prep school, largely based on how the boys are dressed and the small size of the school. There are only 13 boys in the school. The boys look to be about12 years old. The rather serious teacher is at the back. Notice all the stuff on the wall this is a little unsuual for the time. The photograph is indated, but looks like the 1920s. Cormont Road was a great place for the school. The school was located next to a huge green area where the boys could do sports or other outdoors activities in the middle of London. We are not sure what the '12' placard the boy is holding means. Perhaps is was to help ientify the class when the photographer delivered the prints.
St. Hugh's School at Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire was founded by the Forbes family (1925). Many preparatory schools were founded in the late-19th and early 20th century as small family undertakings. St. Hugh's seems a fairrly standard preparatory school. The school became a Charitable Trust (1962). Many similar schools became charitanle trusts as this time. A HBC reader has provided some information on his time at the school in the late-1960s. The school is associated with the Church of England although children of all denominations attend the school. The school now has some excellent facilities, both teaching, sports, and recreational facilities. There are mopdern classroomsand an extensive library. A modern library is a weakness at many British prep schools. Most prep schools have expanded the music program in recent years and St. hugh's now has a Music School with auditorium and practice rooms. There is also a large Hall with stage and lighting for plays and other drama productions. A new addition is an Information Communication Technology suite with modern computers. There are also workshops for Art, Pottery and Craft Design & Technology. The children also enjoy a range of recreatiinal facilities, including a heated indoor swimming pool, a superb multi purpose sports hall, a rifle range and extensive pitches for the wide range of games played at the school.
St. Peter's Court School was preparatory school located in Broadstairs Kent. Thanet, the Eastern tip of Kent. Several prep boarding schools were located there. The schools were located there because the climate in the south along the coast was seen as a healthy place for children. Not only were there other prep schools in Westgate, Ramsgate and Broadstairs. Convalescent homes were also opened there. The Royal Sea Bathing Hospital, a treatment center for Tuberculosis was also located there. St. Peter's was a prestigious school, serving as a 'feeder' prep school for Eton and some important public schools. Prince Henry (a son of George V) also attended St. Peters. He was the first British prince to azttend a regular school. His older brothers (Edward and Albert) attended the Royal Navy School at Osvorne and it was a shock for the boys. Prince George also attended St, Peter's (1910-13), although he did not live with the boarders. This of course reflected the prestige of the school. We note two aristicractic Scottish boys, sons of the Viscount of Stonehaven, attending the School in the 1920s (Ian and Greville) before going on go Eton. Like other schools along the southern coast, it was evacuated during World war II. The school closed after World war II during the Wilson Labour Government (1969). Not only did the Labour Government introduce polices that adversely affected private schools, but the Socialist economies policies were a major factor in the stagnant economy which also adversely affected private schools. When it closed in 1969, the school merged with Wellesley House, Ramsgate Road, Broadstairs, which is still there today.
Related Chronolgy Pages in the Boys' Historical Web Site
[The 1880s]
[The 1930s]
[The 1940s]
[The 1950s]
[The 1960s]
[The 1970s]
[The 1980s]
Related Style Pages in the Boys' Historical Web Site
[Long pants suits]
[Short pants suits]
[Socks]
[Eton suits]
[Jacket and trousers]
[Blazer]
[School sandals]
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing School Uniform Pages
[Return to the Main English individual school type page]
[Australia]
[England]
[France]
[Germany]
[Ireland]
[Italy]
[Japan]
[New Zealand]
[Scotland]
[United States]
Navigate the HBC School Section:
[About Us]
[Activities]
[Chronology]
[Clothing styles]
[Countries]
[Debate]
[Economics]
[Garment]
[Gender]
[Hair]
[History]
[Home trends]
[Literary characters]
[School types]
[Significance]
[Transport and travel
[Uniform regulations]
[Year level]
[Other topics]
[Images]
[Links]
[Registration]
[Tools]
[Return to the Historic Boys' School Home]
