FAQs

Wellesley Prep welcomes children from age 2 to age 13 (Nursery up to Year 8). 

• Nursery – age 2 – 4
• Pre – Prep:
  • Reception (age 4 – 5)
  • Year 1 (age 5 – 6)
  • Year 2 (age 6 – 7)
• Prep:
  • Years 3 (age 7-8)
  • Year 4 (age 8-9)
  • Year 5 (age 9-10)
  • Year 6 (age 10-11)
  • Year 7 (age 11-12)
  • Year 8 (age 12-13)

Feel free to call Issy Langly-Smith, our registrar to start with, or you can email her on registrar@wellesleyprep.co.uk and she can talk you through the admissions process.  Alternatively you can submit an online enquiry form, book a tour, or attend an Open Day. Following this, your child will be invited to join us for an informal taster session to help us understand how they learn best. 

More details: Admissions journey 

We are non-selective; however, we do need to ensure all pupils that join Wellesley will thrive here. Younger pupils take part in informal observations and activities, while older pupils complete gentle assessments in order to start them in the most appropriate learning groups when they join.

Some year groups do reach capacity and may operate a waiting list. We encourage early enquiries to avoid disappointment.  By registering your child to join us; you put yourself in the driving seat and ensure a place is ‘reserved’ for your child.  To register, please contact our Registrar, Issy Langly-Smith via registrar@wellesleyprep.co.uk.

We have wrap around care from Monday to Friday from 8am – 6pm.   

The school day for our youngsters (Nursery, Reception, Year 1 and Year 2) is from 8.30am – 3.30pm.  From Year 3 – Year 6 it is 8.30am – 4pm and for our senior pupils in Years 7 & 8 they stay at school until 5pm.  

The weekend is your own – we do not have Saturday school.   

We provide before-school care from 8am and after-school care until 6:00pm, offering flexibility and peace of mind for working families. 

Children should bring their school bag, reading book, water bottle, and sports kit / swimming kit, depending on the day. Full guidance is provided before your child joins. Wellies and coats remain at school at all times. 

All items must be clearly named. Misplaced items are collected daily and stored in a central location. Children can retrieve items at designated times.

We are a day school and do not offer boarding. Our approach is built around all children being here together during the school day and then returning home in the evenings. This means families remain closely involved, children enjoy their home life and weekends, and everyone benefits from a strong sense of balance.

Most families live within 40 minutes of the school, creating a warm, supportive local community. This shared experience – without the mix of boarding, flexi-boarding, and day pupils – helps maintain a consistent, family-centred environment for all our students. 

There are a number of morning and afternoon minibus routes each day that are available to our pupils. All routes are run by experienced and reliable drivers. Every year we review demand for each route and aim to accommodate new routes if required.

Bus routes

At Wellesley Prep, we offer a rich and broad curriculum that combines strong academic foundations with creativity, outdoor learning, wellbeing, and character development. Our approach ensures that every child is challenged, inspired, and supported as they grow.

We focus on preparing children confidently for the next stage of their education—whether that’s forming sounds, learning to read, developing debating skills, taking thoughtful risks, or applying their knowledge in more formal assessment settings. By the time they leave us at the end of Year 8, pupils are exceptionally well-equipped for the academic demands of Year 9 and beyond.

Our Curriculum

Our innovative humanities programme is forward thinking and exciting.  The rationale surrounding the decision to combine the humanities subjects was based on emphasising the key skills of problem-solving, critical thinking, oracy, debating, independent research, collaboration and identifying connections between the three disciplines. Digital literacy has, as a result, also improved due to the nature in which the children work. We still cover some key areas of history (e.g. source analysis and essay writing) and geography (e.g. map skills and physical processes) in our lessons, and much of the key vocabulary is referred to.   

As educators, our job is to consider the forecast ahead, particularly when the workplace is evolving in unprecedented ways. Knowing capital cities or the names of famous battles is not enough (and nor should it be!). Being human, having the ability to communicate, and finding common ground with anyone is paramount. We compete against increasingly agile growing economies around the world, and we need to focus on what potentially gives us the edge. This country is famously creative and entrepreneurial, and we must strive to ensure that is not lost.  

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Differentiation is built into every lesson, and our dedicated learning support team provides additional guidance for pupils who need extra help or challenge.

Yes. Pupils enjoy specialist teaching in areas such as art, music, languages, sport, computing, and drama.

Hands-on learning, problem-solving activities, and pupil-led exploration are central to our approach, helping children develop resilience and a “yes” attitude.

Safeguarding is central to life at Wellesley Prep. E-safety is embedded throughout our curriculum, ensuring pupils learn how to use technology safely, responsibly and confidently. We support the whole school community in understanding both the benefits and the potential risks of the online world.

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We run a no phone policy and pupils are not allowed to have phones at school.

Children in Years 7 & 8 have their own Microsoft device, managed by the school. Children in the rest of the school use school devices when required. 

Outdoor learning is a core part of school life. Children regularly take part in forest school sessions, nature-based projects, outdoor sports, and curriculum-linked activities in our grounds.  The children and teachers are fortunate to have 100 acres to explore, whether it is the fields and gardens that surround the school buildings, or the woodland beyond. Our woodland classroom offers the opportunity for all year groups to spend extended periods of time in the woods. 

Woodland school

We prioritise emotional wellbeing through pastoral care, daily check-ins, mindfulness activities, a dedicated wellbeing space, and regular interaction with nurturing staff. We have a dedicated wellbeing room to cater for all needs.

Pastoral care

Our nurturing approach encourages children to learn from mistakes, express their feelings, build confidence and resilience, and develop strong relationships.

We focus on positive reinforcement, respect, kindness, and restorative practices. Clear boundaries and consistent expectations help children feel secure and supported.  Our children are often praised on external trips from trip organisers or onlooking public for their good manners, kindness and enthusiasm; this becomes ‘the norm’ for Wellesley children. 

School Policies

We provide regular updates via newsletters, emails, parent apps, and face-to-face meetings. Teachers are available for quick conversations or scheduled appointments.  We work closely with our POW (Parents of Wellesley) organisation who are extremely helpful by providing parents with weekly reminders of day-to-day events for the week ahead. We host various information evenings during the course of the year, covering discussion points such as senior school choices, scholarship, residential trips and e-safety. 

Parents receive termly grade cards, an annual full report and attend parent–teacher meetings twice a year.  Form teachers arrange separate catch up meetings if parents wish.

We love an excuse to invite families to the school, there is nothing better than a full Wellesley event, such as sports day and Bonfire night; these are equally as popular with our alumni who we always welcome back.  

We host performances, assemblies, open classrooms, and special celebrations throughout the year.  Making life-long friends – parents and children – is very much part of the Wellesley culture; whilst our focus is on the children, we also host some fun parent events for the adults to get together with the help of the wonderful POW – Parents of Wellesley. 

Our uniform is practical, comfortable, sustainable and, we think looks great! The children don’t wear ties or blazers (there is time for that later in life!), their coats are ready for the elements and they can run around at break time comfortably. A full uniform list is provided after admission. Items can be purchased through our designated supplier or second-hand uniform sales organised by the school.

Jewellery and cosmetics are not allowed.

No piercings can be worn at the school at any time apart from girls in Years 7 & 8 who are able to wear one small plain gold/silver ball stud in each earlobe. These will, however, need to be removed for all PE and school sport.

All children are provided with a homemade morning snack and lunch. Lunch is served across three settings between 11:45am and 1:00pm, and always comprises of two courses plus a salad bar and bread. Lunches are well-balanced, and nourishing. There is always a vegetarian option and we cater for dietary requirements as required. 

Weekly menu

Yes. We cater for allergies, intolerances, and cultural or religious dietary requirements.

Sport is a big deal at Wellesley, competition is encouraged, and everyone is included. We play matches in all of the key team sports from Year 3 – Year 8. Our Year 2 pupils get to experience sporadic friendly tournaments.  Our A team squads perform very well in IAPS tournaments across the country in Football, Hockey, Netball, Rugby, Cricket, Tennis, Athletics, Gymnastics, Swimming and Judo.  There is a healthy rivalry between our local schools and the children then enjoy coming across these pupils at senior school.   Many of our pupils also play sport for local clubs and their county teams; it is frequently commented on our pupils’ resilience and determination, along with their natural encouragement of their teammates and the opposition.  

Sport

Wellesley offers excellent sports facilities, including grass pitches, a full-sized all-weather astro pitch, a smaller astro pitch, a sports hall, and a swimming pool. 

With a full-sized and smaller sized all-weather pitches we ensure that training and fixtures can go ahead in nearly all conditions. We take pride in maintaining high-quality facilities that make the most of our 100 acre site and fully support our sports programme  We value the benefits of outdoor activity and make the most of our extensive outdoor space whenever possible. 

All children swim throughout the year as part of their timetable, developing water confidence and safety skills. We are lucky enough to have an indoor swimming pool and it is the perfect size for learning to swim.  For those who wish to take swimming to an advanced stage, being a day school means families can easily access local clubs and specialist coaching opportunities. 

Our sports hall is well equipped for gymnastics with specialist equipment including a full size trampoline, specialist flooring alongside a variety of indoor sports. The annual gymnastics competitions and displays are much anticipated by the children.   

Yes – children can choose from a wide selection including music ensembles, STEM clubs, LAMDA, drama, languages, art, coding, sport, and more. See a full list of our clubs here.

After school clubs

We have always been renowned for putting on wonderful shows, from poetry competitions, nativities and gymnastics shows, to full plays and musicals. The children love it, the teachers love it and the parents are always blown away by the creativity and confidence the children ooze, with the odd, inevitable hiccup encouraged as they learn to succeed and make mistakes in equal measure.  

60% of the children at Wellesley learn to play an instrument and there are plenty of opportunities to showcase what they’re doing with bands, orchestras, coffee concerts and recitals all in place to help improve confidence.  The children love to sing too and we love hearing them.  The weekly hymn practice for the whole school is joyous, but even more magical are the separate choirs, particularly at Christmas.  In the spring term the annual trip to sing at Wembley Arena is always much anticipated. 

With weekly lessons in both music and drama, every child has the opportunity to give something a go. 

Adventure, Leadership & Service

Extra-curricular activities are a key part of our 13+ curriculum, supporting our ethos of adventure, teamwork and leadership. Each week, Year 7 & 8 pupils take part in our ALS programme, designed to challenge them, build confidence and broaden their horizons.

Wellesley offers a wide range of holiday camps and activities for pupils, families, and friends throughout the year. These include specialist coaching courses in football, gymnastics, netball, swimming and tennis, as well as our popular multi-activity summer camp held during the first two weeks of the summer holidays. We also run Creative Camps and dance and drama programmes at various points in the school holidays, ensuring there is something enjoyable and enriching for every child.

Holiday camps

Throughout the year a diverse set of trips and excursions is organised for all year groups, as we feel they propose a valuable extension of the classroom and benefit the pupils both academically and socially.

In keeping with our curriculum we believe that school trips, which are organised within a safe and fun environment, afford pupils the perfect opportunity to face real life experiences and in doing so can contribute significantly to their own personal development.

RESIDENTIAL TRIPS

During the Summer term a number of residential trips are organised for the senior pupils in the school.  Summer 2025’s trips included:

Year 5 visited Heatree Activity Centre in Devon. This five-day trip affords pupils the opportunity to learn through ‘hands on’ activities in the outdoors and ties in with their Geography and Science curriculum. 

Year 6 went on a five-day trip to Normandy where they immersed themselves in French language and culture and visit the D-Day sites.  

Year 7 spent five days in Swanage, Dorset to complete their Geography field work.  Located on the Jurassic Coast, a UNESCO World Heritage Site with Studland beach, Old Harry Rocks and Lulworth Cove right on their doorstep, Swanage was an unbeatable location for all levels of fieldwork and fun.

 Year 8 marked the end of their time at Wellesley Prep by taking part in the Three Peaks Challenge in Scotland, the Lake District and Snowdonia. The children are away for five days and climb three mountains in three days.  Each year the children in Year 8 vote for the charity they want to support and organise initiatives throughout the year to educate our community on the charity they have chosen, and to raise as much as possible. This year over £15,000 was raised for GOSH (Great Ormond Street Hospital)

We provide tailored academic preparation, interview practice, pastoral support, and guidance for families. Our pupils move on confidently to a range of excellent senior schools.  They go onto their first choice secondary schools; this is because we work closely with parents to determine which is the best school for your individual child.  This creates an exciting opportunity for families and the daunting side of it we guide you though.

Leavers’ Destinations

Absolutely. We assist pupils applying for academic, music, sport, drama, art or all-rounder scholarships.  We have a very high success rate; again because we work closely with parents ensuring the right school is chosen and the right aspirations are followed. Every year we plan our Year 7 &  8 calendar carefully around specific scholarship exams and assessments and the necessary preparation. 

Results

Wellesley is fortunate to have a talented and dedicated Board of Governors, each passionate about the school and committed to achieving it’s vision, values, and long-term goals. You can learn more about our Governors and their contributions to Wellesley here.

Parents of Wellesley is an active and enthusiastic volunteer organisation and registered charity which raises money for Wellesley’s charities and provide opportunities for the children to enhance their school experience. Every year, the Year 8 pupils select a charity to raise funds for, and supporting their fundraising initiatives is a key focus for POW. 

The school will ask each class to for a parent volunteer to be the Class Rep.  Class Reps will be part of POW, and the central POW committee will ask for help when needed – all help is gratefully received, although by no means compulsory.

 If you would like to know more about POW’S work or offer your help, then please contact them via the School office.