St Andrew’s Prep is a nurturing family School where children are educated in a caring, Christian environment so that each child can develop his or her potential to the full. We believe in our pupil’s individuality and contentment.
St Andrew’s Prep is proud of the rich heritage formed by our pupils since we opened our doors in 1885. Nestled in a lively, beautiful town steeped in history and surrounded by game reserves and farms not far from the coast, St Andrew’s Prep offers the best of both worlds to the children in its care. Grahamstown is the home to the National Arts and Jazz Festivals, SciFest, beautiful churches and many historical and architectural treasures. Museums, art centres and the Rhodes University campus are all within easy walking distance and enhance our academic environment. Here, children are able to enjoy an element of safety not often found in larger cities.
We seek to live out a Christian ethos as an Anglican foundation within a multi-cultural society. St Andrew’s Prep is committed to providing a holistic educational programme based on the concern for individuality and independent thought and the development of a positive self-image and respect for others. Our teaching staff is growth-orientated and dedicated to the application of current education principles to satisfy the needs of pupils with a wide range of abilities. We enjoy close communication with the entire school community in a spirit of love, fairness, honesty and loyalty. Our success is measured in terms of confident, happy boys and girls who leave the School equipped to continue to face the challenge of the contemporary world with courage and sensitivity.
St Andrew’s College, Prep and the Diocesan School for Girls (DSG) form what is known as the “Family of Three Schools”. Prep accepts children from three years old into Pre-Primary and is co-educational from Grades 1 to 3, after which the girls move on to DSG and the boys continue at Top Prep from Grades 4 to 7. Prep caters for day pupils and boarders. It is an independent, innovative, junior feeder school to St Andrew’s College and the DSG.
These three schools, adjacent to one another and to Rhodes University, develop a desire for lifelong learning and form part of the lifestyle of academic excellence. Because Prep and College are combined, we have specialist training from professional sportsmen, which enhances the children’s skills and game knowledge tremendously.
We also share in St Andrew’s College’s state of the art Design and Technology Centre, which is recognised as one of the finest in the Southern Hemisphere. Activities in the Centre are focused on cross-curricular work and creative thinking, with the process of problem solving often more important than the result. Both Junior and Senior Prep are actively involved in community outreach programmes. Children are taught that it is in giving that we receive.
Grahamstown is surrounded by fascinating places such as the fossil rich Karoo, the beautiful forested mountains of Hogsback and Katberg, world-class game reserves and the unspoilt beaches and coastal forests of the Eastern Cape. Outdoor Education is an extension of the classroom and all activities are designed to enrich all the facets of the normal classroom curriculum.
Prep has built generations of boys and girls who are proud of their achievements and confident to move forward with academic excellence and life skills. The pupils themselves have left their imprint on the fabric of St Andrew’s Prep, creating traditions that are well-loved from generation to generation.