FAQS
General Information
How big is St Andrew’s Prep?
St Andrew’s Prep School is a medium size school of approximately 350 pupils. It caters for pupils aged from 9 months to 13 years old.
What is St Andrew’s Prep School’s ethos?
Breadth. Excellence. Integrity.
The primary aim of St Andrew’s Prep is to equip the children to lead happy, fulfilled lives in a safe and healthy environment. We provide a broad education that provides opportunities for every pupil in all aspects of school life: academic, sport, performing and creative arts and social.
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What are the class sizes?
St Andrew’s Prep offers small class sizes to ensure that each child receives high quality individual care. Our class sizes range from 12 to 20 depending on year group and the School has the flexibility to increase the number of classes to enable children to be taught in smaller groups should numbers in the school increase.
What facilities do you have at St Andrew’s Prep?
The schools excellent facilities and resources include a 4 lane 20m indoor swimming pool, a music school, an art, design and innovation block, teaching blocks, a pavilion, a rifle range, two libraries and three ICT suites, a modern purpose built sports hall and dance studio, a tennis court, a woodlands classroom, large sports fields and outside playing areas. Our pupils are also able to make use of some of the outstanding facilities that Eastbourne College has to offer.
What age can my child start?
Your child may start in our Nursery from 9 months old or at any time further up the school. We offer Settling In sessions for nursery children and taster days for school aged children to ensure a smooth transition. Pupils are welcome to join at any point during the academic year but September is the most popular time.
Do you offer a minibus service?
We offer a comprehensive bus service and children can go on our buses from Reception age. The network currently covers a radius of approximately 20 miles.
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Is there Saturday morning school?
St Andrew’s Prep offers an optional Saturday school programme for children in Year 4 upwards until 12.30pm. The timetable is activity based with no academic lessons.
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The School Day
What before school and after school care provision is available?
Children are welcome to enter the School from 7.30am each morning and are supervised in the Library until School commences at 8.30am. We are proud of our extensive range of clubs, for most of which there is no charge, and run until 5.15pm for Years 3 and 4 and 7pm for children in Years 5 to 8. If parents are delayed, children will be looked after by the duty staff and boarding team until they arrive.
Does the School provide lunch and snacks?
Yes, we provide a choice of hot lunch or salad along with choices of homemade soup, a hot pudding, yoghurt and fresh fruit. Our aim is to provide children with a well-balanced, nutritional diet and snacks are offered during the day and include fresh fruit and bread sticks. The Junior department (Years 3 and 4) who take part in after school clubs are given a piece of fruit and an oatcake at 4.15pm. For those in Years 5 to 8 staying on for after school clubs, a hot snack is served at 5.30pm. Special dietary needs are also catered for. St Andrew’s Prep is a nut free school.
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Will my child do Prep/homework during their school day?
The St Andrew’s Prep school day is full and varied. Children in Years 3 and 4 have a small amount of Maths and English homework. From Year 5 upwards some of the prep lessons are built into the timetable and then the children will have two preps to complete at the weekend. There may, at times, also be other tasks brought home, usually in advance of a test or to catch up on work missed through illness or another event.
How do you cater for children who require extra support?
St Andrew’s Prep School is able to offer Learning Support during a lesson and on a one-to-one basis for a small number of children with moderate learning difficulties. Our Headmaster, Mr Gregory, would be happy to talk to parents who have concerns about their child’s progress during a parental visit to the School.
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https://www.standrewsprep.co.uk/prep/academic/learning-support/
How do you stimulate children who are able and talented?
Those who have been identified as able and talented are given opportunities within all subject areas and through extra-curricular activities to use and develop their gifts and talents to fulfil their potential. Our Academic Scholars enjoy enrichment workshops during the year and we also hold Friday lectures every half term which gives pupils the chance to listen to an outside speaker. Able and talented pupils are encouraged to take part in various ‘challenges’ throughout the year, for example our DICT challenge and Maths Quiz.
Are your pupils required to take Common Entrance Examinations?
From September 2019, St Andrew’s Prep moved away from Common Entrance in favour of The Bridge Curriculum, which is an exciting new initiative that aims to combine the best bits of the Common Entrance syllabus with the best bits of the National Curriculum and other programmes of study to create a pathway of learning that is exciting, dynamic and more effective in preparing pupils for the demands of GCSE and beyond. It is through this route that most Androvians will access senior school. However, there are a number of children who take Academic Scholarship examinations and they will follow the Bridge Curriculum in Year 7 but then, in Year 8, they will move in to a Scholarship group where they will cover the Bridge Curriculum for Year 8 alongside additional work to prepare them for Scholarship examinations.
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https://www.standrewsprep.co.uk/prep/common-entrance-and-scholarship/
Extra-Curricular Activities
Can my child learn an instrument?
At St Andrew’s Prep School we pride ourselves on the range of instruments on offer to our children. Individual and small group lessons are available. A wide range of lunch time clubs are run throughout the week, including orchestra, various choirs and wind band where children can further hone their skills by playing as part of a group. We also offer individual Speech and Drama lessons (LAMDA).
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How do you perform on the sporting front of school life?
St Andrew’s Prep has an excellent sporting pedigree. Our ethos is ‘Sport for All’ and every child in Years 5 to 8 takes part in matches on Wednesday afternoons and junior children in Years 3 and 4 take part in sporting ‘festivals’. Our aim is to promote enjoyment and an understanding of the values and ideals of good sportsmanship and commitment that are the essence of team sports.
What clubs and activities are available outside the curriculum?
St Andrew’s Prep offers a breadth of opportunity through its extra-curricular provision. Children have opportunities to sample and excel at a range of activities including archery, art, ballet, batik, Bridge, Brownies, carpentry, chess, craft, cricket, fencing, fives, football, golf, hockey, Lego clinic, Musical Theatre, patchwork, Piglet’s Pantry, Pi programming, sailing, Saturday strolls, school productions, shooting, squash, table tennis and water polo. We encourage children to spend time getting involved in our clubs as well as our teams, choirs and orchestras.
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Pastoral Care
How are new children helped to integrate?
We pride ourselves on enabling children to settle in quickly. All staff take the time to make sure that new children feel part of each class and are supported not only in their learning but in all areas of school life. Each child is assigned a ‘buddy’ to take care of them during their first few weeks of school and there is regular contact between parents and their child’s Form Tutor.
How is my child kept safe at School?
We have a thorough procedure for ensuring the safety of our children. Health and safety checks are carried out regularly and staff are kept up-to-date with First Aid Training, child protection training and carrying out risk assessments. Pastoral Care at St Andrew’s is pro-active rather than reactionary and every child is cared for. The Head of Pastoral Care oversees the school’s Welfare Management Team which prioritises the wellbeing of every child.
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How do you communicate with parents?
We operate a system whereby parents can meet, email or talk by telephone to staff in order to discuss day-to-day concerns and their child’s progress. In addition, our parents all have a Parentmail account. We hold informal coffee mornings for individual year groups and a weekly E-bulletin is sent every Friday to keep parents up to date with events at school. More formal feedback is given through Parents’ evenings, Effort Grades (called Industry) and detailed, written reports.
What is your policy on bullying?
We have a very effective bullying policy and any bullying issues are resolved quickly and discreetly. Our School policies can be found on our website.
Do children learn other languages?
All our children learn French as part of the curriculum from Pre-Prep to Year 8 unless they are EFL. French is taught by a specialist Modern Foreign languages teacher. We also offer Spanish as an after-school activity.
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Financial Information
How much are the school fees?
Do you offer Scholarships?
Yes, we offer Academic, Art, Drama, Music, Performing Arts and Sport scholarships to both internal and external candidates depending on their age. Our annual Scholarship assessment days are held in January.
https://www.standrewsprep.co.uk/admissions/scholarships-and-bursaries/
