The Prep School embraces the philosophy of James Allen's as a whole but in particular seeks to avoid both the lack of stimulation so often found in the child-centred 'primary' approaches of the maintained sector and the over-competitive force-feeding priorities of some prep schools.
We do not see primary education as being merely preparatory to secondary requirements but want the chidren to go forward at their own pace, benefiting from working together in small groups. With a well devised, wide curriculum and high expectations the children reach high standards without the stress of blatant competition and are able to enjoy the many and varied facilities which we offer particularly in sport, drama and music.
The school has an excellent staff/pupil ratio of approximately 1:10 and provides specialist teachers in Art, D & T, French, IT, Music, PE and Science. In addition, an exciting project has been undertaken whereby the children are taught many of their lessons in French from 4 years onwards.
JAPS also offers a Saturday Morning School for the Performing Arts for pupils and siblings : this is entirely voluntary and complements the week's activities : music lessons, dance and drama are all offered.
