A good education is worth it, says David Kidd, Headmaster of Culford Preparatory School and Chairman of IAPS

One of the biggest challenges any prep school Head faces is to persuade prospective parents, many of whom have no experience of independent education, that it is a good idea to spend the price of a decent second-hand family car every year for the foreseeable future. In return for this they will receive a service which the state already provides. The service in question carries no guarantees of success and in many cases success is unquantifiable. It sounds like a salesman’s nightmare, and yet year on year more and more parents are buying in to independent education in pre-prep, prep and senior schools.

If they are asked why, preparatory school parents will tell you that they want ‘a better education’ for their children. This answer will come in a number of different guises. They may call it ‘smaller classes’ or ‘better discipline’ or ‘more individual attention’ or ‘better facilities’ or ‘better sports opportunities’ but what they mean is ‘a better education’. So what do preparatory schools offer which constitutes ‘a better education’?

First let us consider the virtue of smaller class size, which is the most frequently quoted reason for parents choosing to educate their children privately. Both the maintained and private sector can boast many fine teachers. However, when fine teachers are coping with classes which may be 50% smaller then elsewhere, the pupils clearly get a much better deal. It is easier to provide first class individual attention for 16 pupils than for 32! Preparatory schools are free to decide whether or not they take part in National Curriculum testing. An increasing number are choosing not to, even though aggregate results for preparatory schools are 20% better than state schools. As a result, preparatory school pupils can enjoy a much broader curriculum, free from the tick-box mentality and SATs-induced stress, which blights the life of a great number of teachers and pupils in the maintained sector. Preparatory schools employ a great many subject-specialist teachers. This, combined with regular and directed assessment leads to above average academic standards.

Preparatory schools are committed to a positive ethos of traditional moral values, where courtesy, consideration, and care are the norm. Anti-social behaviour is not tolerated, and schools aim to provide a safe and secure environment where pupils can flourish; happy and confident in the adults caring for them, and free from threat or anxiety.

There is a strong emphasis in preparatory schools on a very wide range of extracurricular activities. The aim is to offer every pupil as great a number of opportunities as possible, to find out what they are good at, and nurture that talent. Music and drama are high on the extracurricular agenda, and the annual IAPS Symphony Concert at Snape Maltings bears testimony to the astonishingly high standards which preparatory school pupils can attain.

Sport too is seen as very important in the preparatory school world. Most preparatory school Heads remain convinced that team sports are healthy and that, given the correct training, children can cope with losing. At Culford, as elsewhere, we teach our pupils to ‘win with grace – and lose with dignity’. The present culture of non-competitive sport is blighting the sporting education of too many children in England. High-quality coaching for everyone, not just the elite, plus excellent facilities for the vast number of different sports available, mean that prep school pupils can reach very high standards indeed. Visit the Rosslyn Park 7s Rugby on preparatory school day, watch the final of the IAPS annual squash championship, or see the final of the Stowe Putter – the IAPS annual golf tournament, and you will be amazed at the standards the pupils attain.

Preparatory schools come in all shapes and sizes, and this offers parents a wide choice. In independent schools there is no ‘one size fits all’ philosophy. Preparatory schools can be coeducational or single sex; they can be day schools or boarding schools or a combination of both. There are specialist choir schools, junior schools of senior schools as well as free-standing preparatory schools. This wide choice of options is a great advantage. For example, for years there has been a tradition in Greater London to opt for day schools. However, as parents become busier, often with both parents working full time, weekly boarding is proving ever more popular. At Culford we see North London parents opt for weekly boarding with us in rural Suffolk. Schools like Culford can offer a safe, healthy environment for the pupils during the busy working week, and then parents can enjoy quality time at home with their children at weekends.

Finally, let us consider ‘quality control’. All IAPS preparatory schools are inspected regularly by the appropriate authorities. These inspections form part of the accreditation process which preparatory schools must undergo if they are to enjoy membership of IAPS which is one of the Heads’ associations within the Independent Schools’ Council. Membership of ISC provides parents with an important reassurance that standards within member schools are monitored regularly. Schools receive objective and searching appraisals, resulting in advice on further development. Preparatory schools are committed to maintaining and improving the quality of provision for their pupils.

When parents can have all this and more, they often find that the car can wait for another year. You can buy a Saab anytime – but you only get one shot at your child’s education!

This article first appeared in The Daily Telegraph, Saturday, September 25, 2004

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