Preparatory Schools for Boys, School Open Days, Sidcup in London
Preparatory school or prep school for boys may refer to gender specific versions of: University-preparatory school, a school in North America that is a private secondary school, typically charging high fees, designed to prepare students aged 14–18 for higher education at a university or college. Or for Preparatory school in the United Kingdom, which is an independent school preparing children up to the age of 11 or 13 for entry into fee-paying secondary independent schools. It might also be a Gymnasium (school), which is the European equivalent of a North American university-preparatory school. 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 entry into fee-charging, secondary independent schools, some of which are known as public schools. Most British prep schools are primarily day schools.
In the UK school open days are where prospective parents and students visit the school to help them decide whether they like the location, the buzz and the headmaster. Often the school has published open days or open houses where they allow anyone to come in that is interested in seeing the school. Open days can involve hands-on classes for prospective students while parents chat to senior staff and current students. Current pupils then lead a tour of the school. Meeting the child also gives the school a chance to see how well they will fit in. Instead of open days some schools will tailor individual tours for interested parents. This happens most days throughout the academic year. Nothing is going on specifically for these visitors that wouldn't normally be going on, versus holding special activities on open days. The Independent Schools Council (ISC) website publishes the dates of open days at the vast majority of UK independent schools.
Sidcup is a district in South East London in the London Borough of Bexley and small parts of the district in the Royal Borough of Greenwich.Located 11.3 miles (18.2 km) south east of Charing Cross, Sidcup is bordered by the London Boroughs of Greenwich and Bromley and Kent County Council, and whilst now part of Greater London, was once referred to as the gateway to Kent. Sidcup retains Kent as its county reference, (much like most of Outer London with the other Home counties, although small parts of Sidcup correspond with the London postal address such as SE9. Sidcup has a mixture of large Victorian and Edwardian properties alongside typical 1930s suburbia, primarily owner occupied semi-detached and detached housing. It retains many parks and open spaces hinting at the great estates and large homes which once stood in the area. The town contains a major hospital, a recently opened sports and leisure centre, as well as two colleges (Bird College and Rose Bruford College).