St Andrew’s Prep, Eastbourne, UK

Over 140 years of education by the sea. Like many Prep schools, St Andrew’s was, in its early years, a small boarding school for no more than 99 boys aged between 7 and 13. In 1964 the first day boys joined the school and in 1976 girls were admitted. During 1977 St Andrew’s merged with Ascham, the Prep school of Eastbourne College. The school increased in size and in the same year Nursery age children were accepted.

In February 2010 after careful discussion the charities of Eastbourne College and St Andrew’s School amalgamated to form one charity – Eastbourne College Charity. The amalgamated charity has enabled carefully targeted capital investment in the improvement of facilities of both schools.  The proximity of the two sites ensures many opportunities for facilities are shared, for example almost daily use by St Andrew’s Prep pupils of the astroturfs at Beresford and the staging of some musical and theatrical performances at the Birley Centre.  As well as the many educational benefits that flow, the two schools benefit from sharing expertise and resources in critical areas such as ICT, bursarial functions, human resources, compliance to the ever-growing regulation that applies to schools, marketing and the maintenance of buildings and grounds. To keep pace with a changing and growing school, facilities and developments over the years have included a four lane 20m indoor pool, a music school, an Art and DT block, various teaching blocks, a pavilion which includes a rifle range, a library, an ICT suite and, most recently, the new Goodwin Sports Hall and dance studio, which was opened in 2016. 

St Andrew’s Prep offers a full range of boarding opportunities from Year 3 (age 7), including full (seven days a week) boarding, weekly (Monday to Friday) boarding and flexi (occasional) boarding.  The recently refurbished boarding house has spacious bright rooms that allow each child their own personal space. The boarding house caters for children of all nationalities, alongside many local children; there is a very healthy cultural balance. Our international students benefit immensely from boarding at an English prep school. They experience a different culture, while improving their English with specialist EAL teaching. Our local children benefit from boarding with students from a range of backgrounds and cultures. Boarding is safe, fun and friendly at St Andrew’s Prep with up to 60 pupils in the house at any one time.  This included a large cohort of English flexi (occasional) boarders who stay overnight to take advantage of the ease to be involved in after-school or before-school activities; the opportunity to become more independent; supervised revision time when necessary; the chance to build lifelong friendships with children from around the world and the ease of commute!