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In English language usage in the former British Empire, the present-day Commonwealth, a preparatory school (usually abbreviated to prep school) is an independent school preparing children up to the age of eleven or thirteen for fee-paying, secondary independent schools, some of which are called public schools. While many prep schools prepare their students for entry to a range of senior schools, some are closely associated with a single school, as Colet Court is with St Paul's School. Most British prep schools are primarily day schools, but many also take boarders.

Some maintained grammar schools which are otherwise free have a fee-paying prep department. Examples include Sullivan Upper School in Holywood and Bangor Grammar School, Bangor, County Down, both in Northern Ireland.

This use of the term in the UK is in contrast to that in the United States and Canada, where "prep school" means a university-preparatory school.

Boys' prep schools are generally for eight to thirteen year olds, when most pupils take the Common Entrance Examination for entry into a secondary independent school. Before the age of eight, the term "pre-prep school", parallel in the UK with a maintained primary school, is often used. Thus, most independently educated boys will go to a pre-prep school from the age of four or five until eight, then from eight to thirteen to a prep school, and from thirteen to an independent secondary school.

Girls' private schools in England tend to follow the age ranges of maintained schools more closely than those for boys. A girls' preparatory school will usually admit girls from the age of five, and they will continue to another independent school at eleven. However, as more girls now go on to boys' schools which have become co-educational, the separation is less clear.

The Incorporated Association of Preparatory Schools (IAPS) is the prep schools' heads' association serving the top 500+ independent prep schools in the UK and worldwide, with a total of 130,000 pupils. The IAPS is one of seven affiliated associations of the Independent Schools Council (ISC).

• Aberdour School, Surrey
• Aldwickbury School, Hertfordshire
• Alleyn Court Preparatory School, Westcliff on Sea
• All Hallows Preparatory School, Shepton Mallet
• Aldro School, Shackleford, Surrey
• Alton Burn, Nairn. Invernessshire.
• Altrincham Preparatory School, Cheshire
• Amberley House School, Clifton, Bristol
• Andean House School, ^[1]
• Ashdown House, East Sussex
• Aysgarth School, North Yorkshire
• Bancroft's Preparatory School, Woodford Green
• Beaudesert Park School, Minchinhampton, Gloucestershire
• Bedford Preparatory School, Bedfordshire
• Beechwood Park Preparatory School, Markyate, Hertfordshire
• Belmont Mill Hill Preparatory School,Mill Hill, London
• Belmont Preparatory School^[2], Holmbury St Mary, Surrey
• Bilton Grange^[3], Rugby, Warwickshire
• Blue Coat School, Edgbaston, Birmingham
• Brentwood Preparatory School, Brentwood, Essex
• Brockhurst and Marlston House School, Hermitage, Berkshire
• Brooklands Preparatory School^[4], Stafford
• Broughton Manor Preparatory School^[5]
• Burys Court School^[6] Leigh, Surrey
• Caldicott School^[7] Bucks
• Cheam School
• Cheltenham College Junior School^[8] Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
• Chinthurst School, Tadworth, Surrey
• Christ Church Cathedral School, Oxford
• Clifton College Preparatory School, Bristol.
• Clifton Lodge, Ealing, London
• Colet Court, London
• Copthorne School^[9],West Sussex
• Cothill House^[10], Abingdon
• Cottesmore School, Crawley, West Sussex
• Coworth-Flexlands Preparatory School & Nursery^[11], Chobham, Surrey
• Cranleigh Preparatory School, Cranleigh, Surrey
• Culford Preparatory School, Culford School, Bury St. Edmunds
• Cundall Manor School North Yorkshire
• Davenies^[12] Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire
• Downsend School, Leatherhead, Surrey
• Downs School, Colwall, Hertfordshire
• Dover Court Preparatory School, Singapore^[13]
• Dragon School, Oxford
• Duke of Kent School, Ewhurst, Cranleigh, Surrey^[14]
• Dulwich Prep.^[15], London
• Dulwich Prep., Kent^[16]
• Durham Choristers School, Durham
• Durston House, London
• Eastcourt School, Ilford, London
• Eagle House School, Crowthorne
• Eaton House The Manor School, London
• Edge Grove, Aldenham, Hertfordshire
• Edgeborough School, Farnham, Surrey
• Elm Green Preparatory School, Essex
• The Elms School, Colwall, Herefordshire
• Fairfield Preparatory School, Loughborough
• Farleigh School, Andover, Hampshire
• Feltonfleet, Cobham, Surrey
• Foremarke Hall School, Repton, Derbyshire
• Forest Preparatory School, Walthamstow
• Fulham Preparatory School, ^[17], London
• Glebe House School & Nursery, Hunstanton, Norfolk
• Gracefield Preparatory School, Bristol
• Great Ballard Preparatory School, Chichester
• Great Houghton Preparatory School, Northampton
• Great Walstead School, Haywards Heath
• Gresham's Preparatory School, Holt, Norfolk
• The Hall School,^[18], Hampstead, London
• Hall Grove School, Bagshot, Surrey
• Haslemere Preparatory School, Haslemere
• Hazelwood Preparatory School, Limpsfield, Surrey
• Heath Mount Preparatory School, Stevenage
• Hereward House School, Hampstead
• Hill House International School, Knightsbridge, London
• Holland House School, Edgware, London
• Holmewood House School, Kent
• Holmwood House School, Colchester, Essex
• Homefield School, Sutton, Surrey
• Horris Hill School, Berkshire
• Hurstpierpoint College Preparatory School, Sussex
• Kew College, Surrey
• Kimbolton Preparatory School, Kimbolton
• Kingswood House School, Epsom, Surrey
• King's House School, Richmond
• The King's School, Ely Junior School^[19], Cambs
• Kings School, Plymouth^[20], Plymouth, Devon
• Knighton House^[21], Dorset
• Knightsbridge School Lennox Gardens, Knightsbridge London SW1^[22]
• Lancing College Preparatory School at Mowden, Hove
• Lockers Park Prep School^[23], Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire*
• Ludgrove^[24], Wokingham
• Lyndon Preparatory School^[25], Colwyn Bay
• Malsis School^[26], North Yorkshire
• The Manor Prep School^[27], Abingdon
• Marlborough House School, Hawkhurst, Kent
• Milbourne Lodge School^[28], Esher
• Millfield Preparatory School, Street, Somerset
• Milton Keynes Preparatory School^[29]
• Moor Park^[30], Ludlow
• Moreton Hall Prep School, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk^[31]
• Mowden Hall School^[32], Northumberland
• The New Beacon Preparatory School^[33], Sevenoaks, Kent
• New College Preparatory School, Oxford
• Newland House Preparatory School
• Norman Court Preparatory School, Salisbury, Wiltshire
• Northcote Lodge, Wandsworth, London
• Norwich School Lower School, Norwich, Norfolk
• Notre Dame Preparatory School
• Oakfield Sch. West Dulwich
• Orley Farm School, Harrow, Middlesex
• Orwell Park School, Nacton, Suffolk^[34]
• The Old Malthouse, Langton Matravers, Dorset ^[35]
• Packwood Haugh School^[36], Shrewsbury
• Pennthorpe School, Rudgwick
• The Perse Preparatory School^[37], Cambridge
• The Portsmouth Grammar Junior School^[38], Portsmouth, Hampshire
• The Pilgrims School^[39], Winchester, Hampshire
• St Dunstan's Abbey School - The Plymouth College Junior School, Plymouth
• Port Regis^[40], Dorset
• Pownall Hall School, Wilmslow, Cheshire
• Prebendal School, Chichester
• Prestfelde School, Shrewsbury
• The Priory School, Banstead, Banstead, Surrey
• Quainton Hall School, Harrow, Middlesex
• Ranby House School, Ranby
• Ripley Court Preparatory School^[41], Surrey
• Rossall Junior School
• Royal Masonic School, Rickmansworth
• Rydes Hill Preparatory School, Guildford^[42]
• The Royal School Armagh^[43], Armagh
• S Anselm's School, Bakewell
• Shrewsbury House School
• St Bede's Preparatory School, Manchester
• St Catherine's Preparatory School, Bramley
• St Cedds School^[44], Chelmsford
• St Christophers School^[45], Hove
• St Edmunds School, Canterbury
• St Edmunds School, Hindhead
• St Faith's School, Cambridge
• St Ives School^[46], Haslemere
• St John's Beaumont Preparatory School ^[47] Windsor
• St Joseph's Preparatory School ^[48], Stoke-on-Trent
• St Martin's Ampleforth ^[49], North Yorkshire (formerly Ampleforth College Junior School and Gilling Castle)
• St Mary's Hall, Stonyhurst's Prep School
• St Piran's School, Maidenhead
• The Schools at Somerhill, Tonbridge
• Sevenoaks Prep School: ^[50] Sevenoaks, Kent.
• Springmead Preparatory School^[51],Beckington, Bath
• Staines Preparatory School,Staines
• Streatham and Clapham High Prep Department ^[52]
• Summer Fields School, Oxford^[53]
• Sutton Valence Preparatory School, Kent [4]
• Sunningdale School ^[54]
• Vinehall School Robertsbridge
• Warminster Preparatory School, Warminster, Wiltshire
• Wellesley House School, Broadstairs,Kent
• Wellingborough Preparatory School ^[55], Wellingborough, Northants.
• Westbourne House School, Chichester, Sussex
• West Hill Park School, Titchfield, Hants
• Westminster Abbey Choir School, London
• Westminster Under School, London
• Winchester House School, Brackley, Northants
• Windlesham House School, Washington, West Sussex ^[56]
• Woodford Green Preparatory School, Woodford Green, London
• Woodleigh School, Langton, Malton, North Yorkshire^[57]
• Worksop College, Worksop
• Wycombe Abbey

• Hawtreys
• Ravenscroft School (Somerset)
• St Cyprian's School
• West Downs School

• Independent school
• Boarding school
• Education in England
• School and university in literature, in particular Pamela Hansford Johnson's novel The Honours Board (1970)

• Incorporated Association of Preparatory Schools
• Independent Schools Council
• UK Prep School Directory