Sussex


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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-where">WHAT? WHERE?</h2>



<p>This lovely day school for children aged up to 13 sits in the Broadwater area of Worthing, occupying its own little world of a walled campus and Georgian manor house within, complete with mature wisteria around the front door. It’s a compelling choice for local families who want their children’s childhood to be valued and protected, whilst achieving academic excellence and becoming well-rounded citizens who live and breathe the school’s values of loving learning, being kind, and going out and doing good in the world.</p>



<p>Lancing Prep Worthing will celebrate its 10<sup>th</sup> anniversary as part of the prestigious Lancing College family this summer. A recent change in leadership has been thoughtfully prepared and managed, and the school is in a superb place to move into its second decade within a family which includes Lancing Prep Hove and the Hogwarts-like Lancing College itself.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-facilities">FACILITIES</h2>



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<p>LPW occupies an absolute gem of a campus. Town preps may not offer the rolling green fields and woodlands of rural schools, but the green space at Lancing Prep Worthing is more than ample and extremely charming, surrounded by a wall giving it a secret garden sort of feel. A big grassy field is accompanied by a couple of versatile playgrounds, sports courts with hard-standing surfaces, and an onsite Forest School at the far end of the field.</p>



<p>The majority of the school is housed within the manor house which has an impressive front and some lovely character details. It’s a bit of a rabbit-warren, as older buildings often are, but classrooms are bright, well-lit and spacious to accommodate small but bustling class sizes. The library, refurbished within the last few years, is cosy and inspiring and there’s a substantial wellbeing suite called The Hive, a hub for all things wellbeing, a cosy room that houses the school’s full time Head of Wellbeing, Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA) and even a couple of guinea pigs.</p>



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<p>Science has its own separate building, which makes the children feel like proper grown-up scientists, and the space has recently been rearranged to make it more user-friendly and prompt more debate and creativity among the pupils. The drama studio, located past the science lab and with an impressive glass frontage of bi-fold doors opening out onto the field, is a wonderful space with heaps of uses – from performances to open-air audiences to individual music and drama lessons- and potential.</p>



<p>The latest development to the campus will see the kitchen space opened up to allow children to get involved with cookery workshops with the head chef. This will run alongside the existing nutrition and cookery room. Delicious and nutritious lunches are cooked onsite and lunch time is a valuable and important part of the day.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="750" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/sussex/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2024/03/4.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-67909" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/sussex/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2024/03/4.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/sussex/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2024/03/4-800x600.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/sussex/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2024/03/4-768x576.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-sport">SPORT</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="665" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/sussex/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2024/03/lpw-sports-day-23-72.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-67910" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/sussex/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2024/03/lpw-sports-day-23-72.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/sussex/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2024/03/lpw-sports-day-23-72-800x532.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/sussex/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2024/03/lpw-sports-day-23-72-768x511.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>



<p>It’s a great site for PE, sport and games, with the large school field and courts. Sports on offer include football, netball, hockey, cricket and tag rugby, and dance and gymnastics are on offer to all pupils from Year 1. Swimming is offered to all pupils from Nursery to Year 4 at the pool at Lancing College. </p>



<p>From Year 3 onwards, pupils take part in fixtures against other schools on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons. House matches take place throughout the year, and as well as a team of dedicated PE teachers, the school welcomes coaches to give masterclasses in all major sports.</p>



<p>All the pupils I spoke to raved about the sporting opportunities on offer – you can’t get a better endorsement than that.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-creative-arts">CREATIVE ARTS</h2>



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<p>The investment in the stunning drama studio best sums up the commitment to creative arts, as does a specialist and super-inspiring art and design room. Art, drama and music all feature on the curriculum and children are given plenty of opportunities outside the curriculum. There are art, drama and culture clubs, weekly preparatory lessons for LAMDA examinations, and opportunities to join Rock Band and Junior and Senior Ensemble, Orchestra and study a range of classical and popular instruments.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-academics"><strong>ACADEMICS</strong></h2>



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<p>Most leavers successfully go on to the academically selective Lancing College, with an impressive amount of pupils winning awards and scholarships. On the rare occasions Lancing isn’t the ideal destination for pupils, the head will work with the family to identify the right school which might well be another local independent school such as Great Ballard, Worth, Seaford or Brighton College but could also include the state sector if a family has front-loaded an investment in education. By the time children leave at age 13, they’re ready to fly at their chosen destination, wherever that may be. The school works with children’s academic capabilities, passions and talents rather than pushing them into a box labelled ‘attainment’.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-head">THE HEAD</h2>



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<p>The dedicated, enthusiastic and likeable Francesca Milling joined Lancing Prep Worthing in 2014 alongside then head Heather Beeby, as head of PSHEE after a career teaching in state maintained schools. In 2020 she was appointed deputy head and took the top job in September last year when Mrs Beeby stepped back from her role after nearly a decade at the helm.</p>



<p>The transition was thoughtfully planned and managed for the benefit of the entire school, its staff and families. Mrs Milling is keen to continue in a similar vein to her predecessor, championing small class sizes so that teachers can individualise their teaching and learning so that each child can reach their potential, and she fully embodies and practices the school values of Love Learning, Be Kind and Go Out Into The World And Do Good.</p>



<p>As a former head of PSHEE she has a strong focus on and interest in pupil wellbeing, which is reflected throughout the school from the exceptional pastoral care to the wellbeing offering.</p>



<p>After a decade of investment in the school site, including renovating the nursery and a number of classrooms and a brand new wellbeing room Lancing Prep Worthing is in a great position to celebrate its decade within the Lancing College family and go forward into the future with Mrs Milling at the helm.</p>



<p>She’s a passionate advocate of the prep school system, informed in no small part by her experience in a state-maintained middle school. She sees the prep system as supporting the needs of pupils in those tricky pre-teen years when they can easily become overwhelmed and swamped in secondary schools, and equipping pupils with all the internal and academic resources they need to thrive wherever they move on to. She’s also a trained Independent Schools Inspectorate inspector.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-pastoral-care">PASTORAL CARE</h2>



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<p>Smaller schools really do lend themselves well to excellent pastoral care and Lancing Prep Worthing is no exception. Children are all known as individuals, and pastoral care begins with the form tutors and extends out to the assistant heads and the wellbeing team.</p>



<p>The challenge for schools of this size, with such a community feel, is balancing pastoral care with enough opportunities so children feel part of ‘the real world’. Every child I spoke to was enthusiastic about the range of clubs and opportunities on offer, which suggests LPW has the balance right.</p>



<p>There’s no boarding at LPW but wraparound care begins at 8am and children can stay until 6pm if necessary. For younger children the provision is more childcare-based with an evening tea, whereas older children tend to stay on until 5.15 with various activities and clubs, and can then join the wraparound care. Charges vary, depending on the age of the child and if they’re in the wraparound childcare or an after-school club.</p>



<p>From reception upwards children can join after-school clubs, which cover a huge range. Alongside sports, music, drama and art, more unusual additions include debating, philosophy and coding.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-quirks">QUIRKS</h2>



<p>The aforementioned school guinea pigs are named Geoff and Nugget (short for Chicken Nugget) – names chosen and voted for by the children. The piggies go home with a different child each weekend and holiday.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-word-on-the-ground">WORD ON THE GROUND</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="665" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/sussex/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2024/03/Banister-mile-30.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-67916" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/sussex/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2024/03/Banister-mile-30.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/sussex/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2024/03/Banister-mile-30-800x532.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/sussex/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2024/03/Banister-mile-30-768x511.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>



<p>Pupils love their school, it’s as simple as that! None of the children I spoke with had a bad word to say about it and enthused at length about the supportive staff, the opportunities on offer, the sports they get to take part in, and the friendly family feel. It’s a small enough school that everybody knows each other by name, which adds to the feeling of being a big family.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-mobile-phone-policy">MOBILE PHONE POLICY</h2>



<p>No phones at school &#8211; children who need a mobile for the journey to and from school hand them in for the day.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-transport">TRANSPORT</h2>



<p>A daily bus service covers the local area, with stops including Littlehampton, East Preston, Worthing, Angmering, Rustington, Felpham, Ferring and Goring. There&#8217;s also a bus service from Lancing College.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-fees">FEES</h2>



<p>Nursery is £40.50 for a morning or £63 for a day. Pre-prep is £3,540 per term, and prep is £4,865 a term. Unusually, fees don’t rise for each year group as they do at many schools, what you pay in Year 3 is what you’ll be paying in Year 8.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="665" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/sussex/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2024/03/RECEPTION-SPORTS-23-42.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-67917" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/sussex/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2024/03/RECEPTION-SPORTS-23-42.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/sussex/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2024/03/RECEPTION-SPORTS-23-42-800x532.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/sussex/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2024/03/RECEPTION-SPORTS-23-42-768x511.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-muddy-verdict">THE MUDDY VERDICT</h2>



<p><strong>Good for:</strong> Great local kids who love to get stuck in. Families will love the supportive ethos and the values of the school, and kids will love all the opportunities.</p>



<p><strong>Not for:</strong> Precocious mini-adults. Childhood is valued and nurtured here so it’s not for kids who are in a mad rush to grow up.</p>



<p><strong>Dare to disagree?</strong> Book a space on <a href="https://www.lancingcollege.co.uk/prep-worthing/littlelancing/visit-lancing-prep-worthing-2022" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="an open day  (opens in a new tab)">an open day </a>or arrange a personal visit. </p>



<p><em>Lancing Prep Worthing, Broadwater Road, Worthing, West Sussex BN14 8HU, 01903 201123</em></p>



<p><a href="https://www.lancingcollege.co.uk/prep-worthing/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="lancingcollege.co.uk/prep-worthing (opens in a new tab)">lancingcollege.co.uk/prep-worthing</a></p>


Lancing Prep Worthing

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