St Andrew's Prep

In 1865, the Colstocks Farm, then on the South Downs, was bought by a Mr Goodwin, who was to found the first school on the site. In 1877 the Reverend Francis Souper came to Eastbourne with his wife and family. He bought Colstocks Farm from Mr Goodwin and called the school ‘Meads’ until 1882, when he decided to name it after St Andrew, the disciple whom Jesus had first met by the sea.’[1]

In 1890, the esteemed educator E.L. Browne bought the land from Souper and was Headmaster for 43 years, and a portrait of him hangs in the school dining hall.

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.[1]In February 2010 the charities of Eastbourne College and St Andrew’s School amalgamated to form one charity – Eastbourne College Charity.

To keep pace with a changing and growing school, vaulable developments have been made to St Andrew’s Prep over the years. Most recently, in 2019, the boarding house received a £250,000 refurbishment and the school pavilion underwent a stunning facelift. In 2016, the school’s state-of-the-art Goodwin Sports Hall and dance studio was opened by Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson DBE DL.

St Andrew's Prep is a non-selective co-eduational Prep School offering wrap-around care and located on the beautiful sunshine coast of Eastbourne. Set in 12 acres of green space, the school's campus is in Upper Meads, a leafy, affluent suburb of Eastbourne. It benefits from a unique position nestled at the foot of the South Downs National Park and five minutes walk to Hollywell Beach and the South Downs Way. With nature on its doorstep and its own wood, St Andrew's Prep offers both Beach and Forest Schools - each providing opportunities to complement classroom study with outside learning.

The site is set in 12 acres, housing sports fields, a 4 lane 20m indoor pool, a Music school, an Art, Design and Innovation block, teaching blocks, a purpose built sports hall and dance studio, a pavilion, a rifle range, two libraries and three ICT suites.

The boarding house is located in the upper floors of the school's original building and is run by the housemaster and his deputies, Gappies (school gap year assistants) and a residential matron.

At the start of the Summer term, St Andrew's hosts an annual Sponsored walk which takes place on the Downs and to which all parents and children are invited.

Every year, the school celebrates St Andrews Day. The fun starts with a home-made hat parade and a formal service lead by the Headmaster after which the Year 8s 'take control of the school' organising games, obstacle races and other fun activities around the school for the younger children to enjoy.

Grandparents day is a bi-annual event where grandparents are treated to a concert, tour of the school and tea and cakes on the lawn.

Honesty, Kindness, Respect, Gratitude, Courage,

From the earliest stages of learning, pupils are encouraged to recognise the requirements needed to tackle certain tasks. This will ensure they understand the processes as well as the outcomes. Curriculum tasks are set to develop the following intellectual character traits in all Androvians: Adaptability, Ambition, Collaboration, Creativity, Curiosity, Initiative, Reflectiveness, Resilience,

The original St Andrew’s house system was established in 1904 by headmaster E. L. Browne. He divided the children into ‘sets’ and those sets were named after the teachers who led them. The names of these houses are still used today. Every pupil and member of staff are members of a set.[2]

The house with the greatest number of points receives the beautiful Challenge Cup, which dates from 1932.

There are four houses:

• Arcos after the school organist Mr S. J. Taylor A.R.C.O. (Associate of the Royal College of Organists).
• Rovers after Mr Franklin, an Uppingham Rover (cricketer for Uppingham Old Boys team).
• Sea Kings after Mr C. Kingdom.
• VCs after Mr Vincent Conway.

Houses compete for various honours over the course of the year, including the collection of stars for good work, pluses for helpful behaviour, industry for effort, inter-house Music and Quiz competitions and, of course, through sports days, swimming galas, cross country and all of the team sports.[2]

Three times a week the school day begins with a service at the school's late Victorian chapel. The school also celebrates the major festivals and has a well-established carol service tradition.

The school shares its Chaplain with Eastbourne College, who is currently Reverend Daniel Merceron.[3]

With the broad curriculum on offer St Andrew's Prep are able to create a strong blend of academic, artistic, dramatic, musical and sporting experiences for all children.

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.

For children who will be sitting Academic Scholarships to senior schools, they follow the Bridge Curriculum in Year 7 but then, in Year 8, they move into a scholarship group where they cover everything in the Bridge Curriculum for Year 8 alongside any additional scholarship work which is required.

The majority of pupils go to Eastbourne College after leaving, but the school has sent pupils to all other major public schools in the country.[4]

St Andrew's competes against its prep school counterparts in matches held on Wednesday and Saturday afternoons.[5]

The school also competes in football, fives, swimming, tennis, athletics, cross-country, table–tennis, shooting and golf.[5]

St Andrew's is known for its unique uniform, particularly its Androvian blazer, which combines the three school colours: maroon, green and crimson.[6]

The school blazer

• St Andrew's Prep website
• St Andrew's Prep in the Good Schools Guide
• St Andrew's Prep ISI inspection records