Independent day & boarding School for girls and boys aged 2-13
Welcome
I considered my prep school years to be the most fundamental and important years of my education. Now, many years later, and in a very different world for young people, I consider these years, from Nursery to Year 8, to be even more critical in many ways.
My journey to prep school Headship has been via a career in the City and 15 years in a top senior school, and these diverse experiences have shown me, in depth, exactly what a good prep school is ‘preparing’ young people for today.
The type of world into which young people of prep school age now are growing up in is probably more uncertain in nature than at any time for very many years. We must prepare our young people for this uncertainty by giving them the skills to know who they are, to be empathetic to the needs of others, to be academically curious and, of course, resilient, creative, proactive and independent.
We strive to provide exactly this education at Wellington College Prep. Despite being one of the oldest prep schools in the country, we are one of the most modern in terms of outlook.
Please read on and then come to visit to experience our culture, see our space and facilities, and hear in greater depth exactly how we will work to help your children be the best prepared for every next stage of their lives.
Ed Venables Head
“Preparing every child to flourish and succeed throughout their lives”
Our Vision
We want Wellington College Prep children to enter the next stage of their lives (during their time at school, as they leave the school, and beyond) with the skills, attitudes and self-knowledge to be able to be the very best in their environment. This will afford them genuine choice over the future direction of their lives and will empower them to make the best decisions.
Flourishing happens when children are happy, safe, learning and are appropriately challenged. Flourishing children are the ‘best’ children in terms of the relationships that they build and in their intrinsic motivation towards learning and skill development. In this strong academic culture, with the highest of expectations, they achieve top academic results. Pastorally, they are secure and comfortable with who they are, and they selfregulate with ease.
This focus creates a school community that is mutually supportive and high achieving. We aim to be professional and progressive in all aspects of pastoral development, academic learning, inclusivity and sustainability. Our values of Kindness, Respect and Courage provide the framework for this fully co-educational community.
The Junior School (Nursery to Year 4) prepares the younger children to succeed in the Upper School (Years 5 to 8) where independence skills begin to take shape and where the pressures of senior school entrance start. The Upper School prepares the older children to flourish at senior schools, where they will stand out from their peers and be leaders in their new communities. The learning that happens at Wellington College Prep will provide solid foundations for future happiness and success.
Our Junior School
Wellington College Prep Junior School buzzes with life. It is a bright and stimulating place where everyone is made to feel special. Starting with Nursery and Reception (Early Years) and then moving on to Year 1 and Year 2 (KS1) and Year 3 and Year 4 (KS2), this is where we build the foundations for our children to flourish.
A broad all-round curriculum ensures happy, engaged learning. Our experienced team teaches a careful blend of numeracy and literacy along with science, technology, French, art, sport, swimming, drama and outdoor learning, as well as a varied selection of extra-curricular activities including judo, ballet and chess. These experiences encourage enquiring, investigative minds and the inclusion of the International Primary Curriculum (IPC) helps to foster children’s interests and ideas.
A focus on caring for others, showing respect and kindness and celebrating success at every level is at the heart of our Junior School. Strong foundations ensure the very best for our children. Confidence, curiosity and kindness are the keystones of our philosophy.
Exciting play environments around school encourage social confidence and understanding, and the ability to use the excellent facilities around the school ensure a passion for life that is palpable amongst children, parents and teachers.
Bright and open areas, all with outside access to our fabulous outdoor classroom help us provide a happy, safe, warm and stimulating environment for all children to play, learn and develop freely.
The wonderful team helps children to develop responsibility for themselves, and to become confident, independent and curious learners. We encourage children to explore, ask questions and have ownership of their own learning journey so they make progress across all areas of the curriculum. Our small class sizes ensure that every child is given individual care and attention and can celebrate success every day.
Space and freedom are essential to learning, and the woods, green fields and secret garden are just some of the spaces our children explore on a daily basis. Every week pupils have a swimming lesson in our heated on-site indoor pool and take part in PE and games sessions that include dance, gymnastics and ball skills, benefitting from expert coaching by Wellington College Prep sports staff.
Preparing children to flourish academically
We teach a bespoke curriculum, written to celebrate our 200th anniversary, which enables us to create a coherent, linear narrative from Nursery to Year 8.
Curriculum is part of our culture and is, of course, continuously evolving in response to the needs of our learners and our changing world. At all key stages it is based on educational research and cognitive science to maximise pupil learning. With access to the research facility at Wellington, The Bridge, our curriculum will continue to evolve and continue to remain highly relevant as Senior school teaching develops.
Maths and English underpin the curriculum in Early Years, and in Key Stages 1 and 2 (up to Year 6).
In Years 5 and 6 we have more of a secondary feel, with specialist teachers (and small set sizes) for all subjects. Pupils also have access to our state of the art science labs and design technology room. At this stage pupils have their own devices and are introduced to the Microsoft ecosystem.
Finally, in Years 7 and 8, we look towards Wellington College (and other Senior schools) to ensure that our breadth of subject offering and level of independence that we are offering allow pupils to flourish when they make this important transition to secondary education.
Technology is changing the world of work and, in turn, has had a significant impact on the way that Senior schools teach their pupils. Greater independence and self-direction, the ability to research topics beyond the syllabus, the skills to collaborate effectively with others, and, of course, full digital literacy (including AI prompt engineering) are some of things on which the best schools are now focusing.
At Wellington College Prep, we understand this and, in turn, are adjusting how we prepare our pupils for these top schools. Yes, we help the children be successful in Year 6 Senior school admissions processes – from a position of experience, in a calm, considered and as stress-free manner as possible – but we don’t lose sight of the bigger picture.
We have a broad, knowledge rich curriculum that includes a digital curriculum (focusing on understanding AI, its applications and the ethics around it) and a digital strategy increasing the use of AI in all subjects to personalise learning.
We believe in an open dialogue with parents and report regularly on how every child is performing relative to their underlying ability.
Preparing children to flourish pastorally
It is well known that life can be complicated and difficult for teenagers and young people now. Various pieces of research, according to the BBC, suggest that one in five young people (aged 8 to 25) experience probable mental health conditions at some stage. While the peak age for the onset of these conditions is 14.5 years, almost 35% exhibited before the age of 14. Anxiety and phobias actually tend to start far earlier.
At Wellington College Prep we are a positive school and we believe that we can truly help young people at the time when they need it most. We seek to allow our pupils to have the space to talk about how they feel. In doing so we hope to catch issues as early as possible and well before they are bottled up. Our purpose-designed wellbeing hub is truly at the heart of the school in this respect and fully encapsulates the seriousness with which we take the happiness of every child.
We hope that every child will leave with the ability to recognise when they are not at their best from a mental and physical health perspective and, critically have some skills to help with that.
Our ‘Learning for Life’ programme offers a modern and relevant PSHE curriculum to every child in the school. This is supplemented by a ‘Golden Eagle’ programme of activities designed to build character and resilience. Above all of this sits the learning about spirituality, something that is critical to allow young people to understand their place in the world.
The ‘Golden Eagle’ programme focuses on teamwork, service and leadership skills and makes use both of our campus as well as the local community. Part of the programme is to inspire young people through a series of visiting speakers, chosen because of their outstanding achievements in many varied walks of life.
The highlight for many children is the annual Golden Eagle week that sees each year group spend a week in the summer term away from the normal timetable, learning new skills, challenging themselves and being with their friends. Older year groups spend this week in Wales, the South West of England and France.
• A bespoke personal, social, wellbeing, health and relationships programme
• Excellent communication between tutor, pupil and parents
• Dedicated time each week promoting wellbeing and understanding
• Specialist support available for pupils who are struggling with their mental health
• Staff trained in coaching techniques
Preparing children to flourish as people
Sport
We believe that providing quality and varied sporting opportunities is an essential part of school life. ‘Sport for all’ is our guiding principle and sport and physical activity are part of everyone’s day at Wellington College Prep. PE and Games, alongside regular weekly fixtures, ensure everyone gets the chance to develop an appreciation of the importance of active and healthy living.
Children make use of our dedicated playing fields and pitches, sports hall and swimming pool.
We also benefit from regular use of Wellington College’s outstanding sports facilities and we share professional sports coaches. Teamwork is an important part of the learning experience, so pupils take part in team games such as football, cricket, hockey, rugby, netball, athletics, swimming and cross country and get the chance to compete against other schools.
We believe that providing quality and varied sporting opportunities is an essential part of school life, both for health and fitness reasons as well as the sense of achievement and value that active participation and competition can bring.
Drama, Dance, Music and Clubs
We firmly believe that a progressive education must include as much co-curricular activity as possible.
Drama, dance and music are timetabled into the curriculum to ensure that all children get to participate. LAMDA and private music lessons are available from Year 1 and taught by a team of experienced peripatetic teachers and include a wide variety of instruments from the double bass to harp. Each year group will perform in some form of performance, whether that be nativities for our youngest children or full stage performances using Wellington College’s theatre.
Our co-curricular programme provides outstanding opportunities for all children. Everyone can find an area in which to excel, and with over 60 activities on offer, the choices are many and varied.
A comprehensive programme of physical and creative activities encourages all children to try something new and to develop passions, confidence for life and friendships.
Boarding
Boarding forms a vital part of life at Wellington College Prep. We offer weekly and flexi-boarding from ages 7 to 13 in our superbly equipped boarding house. Bedrooms are cosy and welcoming and a beautiful central common room with large sofas, a kitchen area and lots of games is an inviting space for boarders every evening.
Boarding allows children to be children in a home from home and safe environment. Being with friends, enjoying running around in the fresh air, playing games, reading, supervised study sessions, swimming, indoor sport, and lots of laughter are at the heart of boarding life.
Whether moving on to a day or boarding school, trying some nights of flexi-boarding teaches a new level of confidence and independence that at this age, really can help develop young people for future boarding.
It’s no surprise that many of our day pupils go on to become boarders, keen to spend more time with their friends and more time enjoying the evening activities and becoming part of this special community where friends for life are made.
Years 7 and 8
Variously described as the ‘forgotten years’ or the ‘wasted years’ in many schools, Year 7 and 8 should be the best and, arguably, most critical years of education. Once the dreaded Year 6 testing is complete, these are the years which set children up to flourish as teenagers.
We believe that remaining in the ‘safe’ prep school environment is the healthiest way in which to experience these critical years. The flip-side, of course, is that we must prepare the children such
that they can hit the ground running when they change environments in Year 9. They must experience independence, they must be challenged socially and they must be prepared to act as grown-ups in their behaviour towards their peers and other members of the school community.
At Wellington College Prep we add another teaching class in Year 7, mainly from other schools that finish at Year 6. This influx of new pupils serves to add new ideas, new talents and new characters.
We also broaden our curriculum, we add project skills and a more collaborative way of learning, we increase leadership learning, and we introduce far higher expectations of grown-up, independent behaviour.
Children in these years at Wellington College Prep don’t get forgotten and they don’t get missed when the social and pastoral challenges start to increase significantly. The personal learning that they experience in these years allow them to make the
jump to 13+ senior schools with real, genuine confidence.
Many pupils will experiment with flexi or weekly boarding at this stage and will thus start to benefit from all that this brings too.
Senior
school preparation
Regardless of a child’s future preferred Senior school destination, our hugely experienced staff will work hard to provide excellent advice and complete preparation. The process begins early with regular cognitive ability tests which allow us to see how each boy or girl is performing relative to their underlying ability. It is also critical to stress that our varied curriculum (fostering academic curiosity) and our wide co-curricular offering allows children to develop (in a fully natural way) the all-round characters that Senior schools are invariably seeking.
The final stages of the journey begin in earnest in Year 5 with tailored advice to each family about Senior school options. We strive to make the journey as stress-free as possible for children and for their families. Our first-hand experience of Senior school admissions allows us to help families focus on what really matters rather than engaging in practices that cause children of this age to find the process overwhelming or extremely tedious. Specifically, we guide families through all aspects of preparation, and run a programme at school to prepare children for computer-based testing and for their interviews and assessment days.
For those unsuccessful initially in Year 6 or for those applying later than Year 6, we continue to speak regularly with a broad range of senior schools to do our best to ensure that every child gets a place at a Senior school to which they are extremely well-suited. Our goal is that every Wellington College Prep child flourishes at their Senior school.
While there is no automatic place at Wellington College for Wellington College Prep applicants, we strive to offer an educational experience that is as similar as possible to that of Wellington and so culturally the children are ready to impress the Admissions team at Wellington if this is one of their choices of school.
Destinations of our Leavers Wellington College
In recent years our pupils have moved on to the following senior schools:
Bradfield College
Brighton College
Canford School
Charterhouse
Cheltenham College
Downe House
Epsom College
Eton College
Guildford High School
Lord Wandsworth College
Luckley House
Marlborough College
Millfield School
Radley College
Reading School
RGS Guildford
Rugby School
Shiplake College
St George’s School, Ascot
St Edward’s, Oxford
St Mary’s Ascot
St Swithun’s
Wellington College
Winchester College
Wycombe Abbey
Scholarships have been awarded to our pupils in the last five years at:
Bradfield College
Brighton College
Charterhouse
Cheltenham College
Eton College
Guildford High School
Lord Wandsworth College
Luckley House
Millfield School
Radley College
Reading School
Rugby School
St Swithun’s
Wellington College
Winchester College
Pupils at Wellington College Prep, regardless of their future school, all benefit from our close working relationship with Wellington College. On the surface this means regular use of top-quality sporting facilities (outdoor and indoor), the modern performing arts theatre and other aspects of the campus. Going deeper, the relationship means we share professional sports coaches, other music and dance specialists and even counsellors. Wellington Heads of academic departments liaise with our Heads of department on curriculum matters and our pastoral teams meet regularly to share pastoral and safeguarding expertise across both schools. Our pupils are also able to interact with older teenage role models when we feel this is helpful. Less obviously, perhaps, pupils can be introduced to other Wellington pupils of their age at all of our international schools around the world.
We benefit from the academic, intellectual and cultural economies of scale that being part of a world-famous group of schools brings but, yet, at Wellington College Prep we retain the friendliness and security that being a medium-size school on its own self-contained site affords.
For those going on to Wellington in Year 9, they will have made a significant number of new friends, and they will have learnt exactly what will be expected from them in all aspects of their future schooling, thus making that transition as smooth as possible. Girls and boys going in smaller groups to other Senior schools will be equally well-prepared to flourish in their new environments having already been exposed to a large Senior school on a regular basis.
Wellington College Prep is, in part, older than Wellington College and was purchased by Wellington in 1968.
Admissions process
Book a visit
The Admissions team would be delighted to welcome you to one of our regular open events where we can show you how we nurture every pupil to flourish.
We also offer private tours during the week where you will get to meet either our Head or Senior Deputy Head and then be shown around.
Register your child
Once you have decided that you would like to pursue a place at Wellington College Prep School, please complete our online registration form.
Taster days
Once your child has been registered, we will invite them to come and spend the day with us so that they can get a properly authentic feel for the culture of Wellington College Prep, and so that we can check that they would be likely to be fully happy in our environment.
Our website offers lots more information and can give you even more of a flavour of our school: wellingtoncollegeprep.org.uk
Our admissions team will be delighted to help you further and can be contacted at: wcpadmissions@wellingtoncollegeprep.org.uk 01344 772134
We look forward to seeing you soon.
Wellington College Prep
Wellington College Prep (formally Eagle House School)
