Pre-Prep - Fettes College

Exciting new chapter for Fettes College

In September 2025 we opened a Pre-Prep within our Prep School and welcomed our inaugural Pre-Prep class of 2025 to the school - it is exciting to see them begin their Fettes journey from the age of 5. We invite you to discover our Pre-Prep too.

Experience our Pre-Prep at Stay & Play Assessments

Our Pre-Prep Stay & Play assessments offer the perfect introduction to life at Fettes Prep School. These relaxed two-hour sessions are designed to help children feel at home in our nurturing environment and give families a real sense of what makes our Pre-Prep so special.

During the session, children are welcomed into the classroom to meet their prospective teacher, explore a variety of engaging play-based activities and make new friends. Meanwhile, parents are invited to meet the Headmaster, Charlie Minogue, enjoy refreshments and hear more about our ethos, curriculum and approach to learning.

The Stay & Play assessment is a wonderful opportunity to see our school community in action – warm, purposeful and full of joy. At the end of the sessions, guaranteed places for September entry are offered, helping to relieve the uncertainty and stress of waiting to secure a school space.

Fettes Prep is a “School with kindness at the heart of its curriculum ” (The Sunday Times) and our Pre-Prep allows us to embed Fettesian values from an early age. The Pre-Prep occupies its own re-designed spaces in the beautiful William House building, with free-flow access to bespoke outdoor areas, 100 acres of secure woods, parkland and open spaces on the enclosed Fettes site. Fettes’ enviable location also allows easy access to everything Edinburgh has to offer with the security and space that being on campus brings.

Ethos

At Fettes College Pre-Prep, we combine the Curriculum for Excellence's meaningful emphasis on play-based learning with a rigorous approach to developing core academic skills and a unique approach to embedding empathy and kindness in everything we do.

Through a combination of whole-class instruction and small group work, children receive daily phonics and numeracy input tailored to their level, while thoughtfully designed play stations encourage exploration and deepen understanding of cross-curricular topics. We take a child centred and individualised approach, putting the children’s interests at the heart of their learning experiences.

With access to Fettes College’s world-class facilities and specialist input for subjects such as PE, Music, and Languages, our pupils benefit from a rich educational experience that sets them up to excel in the Prep School and beyond. Outdoor learning is central to our curriculum, offering exciting opportunities for collaboration, resilience, and discovery within our extensive grounds, alongside regular trips beyond the school gates that bring learning to life.

Our holistic approach prepares children academically all the while fostering creativity, curiosity and personal growth in a literacy-rich, stimulating, and fun environment. Fettes Prep’s unique approach to embedding the development of critical thinking, collaboration, creativity, resilience and empathy in our teaching will now start in the Pre-Prep, giving children the best possible chance of developing these important skills in a fast-changing world.

Fettes Prep is a “School with kindness at the heart of its curriculum” (The Times) and children’ s experiences in the Pre-Prep will ensure kindness and empathy flourish at the heart of a Fettes education.

Overview

Other Information

Uniform

Timings of the Day

These may be subject to small changes, but we hope that what follows gives you a flavour of what the day will look like for your child.

7.45 - 8.30am	Breakfast Club (Included in fees)
8.30 - 9.15am	Registration/morning routine. Children should be in school by 8.45am.
9.15 - 10.15am	Teaching Session One
10.15 - 10.45am	Break and Snack
10.45 - 11.45am	Teaching Session Two
11.45 - 12.45pm	Lunch and Break
12.45 - 1.45pm	Teaching Session Three
1.45 - 2.15pm	Break
2.15 - 3.15pm	Teaching Session Four
3.15 - 4pm	Pick up or option to stay on for Activities
4 - 6pm	Pick up or stay on for After School Club (meal included) charged extra. All children picked up by 6pm.

There will be no compulsory school on a Saturday morning.

Catering

Class Names

Children may enter P1 in Scotland from the age of 4 and a half. At Fettes we prepare our students for the dual pathway of A Levels or the International Baccalaureate Diploma (IB) in the Senior School (a unique offering in Scotland) and this means that we use English Year groups throughout the Prep and Senior Schools. To merge these two systems and allow children to join Fettes when they are old enough to start formal schooling in Scotland, our youngest Year group will contain children who are four and a half but not yet six on 1st September. This Year group will be known as the Hive (a nod towards the school motto and crest) with the second Year group (comprising children who are 6 rising 7 on 1st September). Children starting in the Hive at 4 and a half will be expected to stay in this class until they are the correct age to join the second Year group, in Pre-Prep.

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