Putting values at the forefront of boys’ education
We want our boys to experience the very best in pastoral care, teaching and learning, enjoy the most dynamic and demanding academic and co-curricular programmes, and make friends for life.
These are the key building blocks for the school, but it is our values that act as the cement which bonds everyone and everything together.
Our values sow the seeds of possibility in the mind, heart and spirit of each boy and create the right culture and the right conditions to allow these possibilities to flourish and become real.
Our Prospectus Head Master’s Welcome Academic Results
Parent: I cannot put in words, as a family – how much we have learnt and grown with our son’s journey at Dulwich Prep London. The school has shaped him into who he is today and has been the prime factor in his success. It has also enabled us as parents to help bring out the best in our son. (July 2024)
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Our Values
For our children, time at school is about more than preparation for exams, it is preparation for life. We believe that an education rooted in teaching character, is what sets our boys and girls apart.
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Love
From the very outset of the journey we teach our boys the value of love, in the form of kindness and gentleness.
As the boys move through school they develop a deep understanding of friendship, trust and respect, never forgetting the need for kind and considerate behaviour.
Our extensive co-curricular programme provides our boys with numerous and varied opportunities to build lifelong friendships, delight in their shared experiences and care for those around them.
As the boys move through school they develop a deep understanding of friendship, trust and respect, never forgetting the need for kind and considerate behaviour.
Our extensive co-curricular programme provides our boys with numerous and varied opportunities to build lifelong friendships, delight in their shared experiences and care for those around them.
Where there is love there is life.
Mahatma Gandhi
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Courage
Courage takes many guises in the life of a young boy growing up. Facing a challenge, overcoming a fear, performing in public or handling disappointment.
Courage is not innate, and we strive to teach our boys the need to be courageous.
Singing a solo in front of 1,000 attentive parents and peers at Speech Day, or climbing to the top of the 95’ mast on one of the 72’ Challenger Yachts...that’s courageous.
By teaching our boys courage, we are giving them the opportunity to try, to fail and then to try again.
Courage is not innate, and we strive to teach our boys the need to be courageous.
Singing a solo in front of 1,000 attentive parents and peers at Speech Day, or climbing to the top of the 95’ mast on one of the 72’ Challenger Yachts...that’s courageous.
By teaching our boys courage, we are giving them the opportunity to try, to fail and then to try again.
Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.
Winston Churchill
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Gratitude
As parents, ‘thank you’ is one of the first things we teach our children to say, and at Dulwich Prep London we uphold family values.
A sense of respect and an appreciation of everything we have and are able to do provides the boys with a deeper insight into their own lives and the lives of those around them.
Visitors often comment on the open and relaxed relationship between boys and staff. This is built on simple expressions of gratitude: ‘Thank you boys.’ ‘Thank you for the lesson, Sir.’
A sense of respect and an appreciation of everything we have and are able to do provides the boys with a deeper insight into their own lives and the lives of those around them.
Visitors often comment on the open and relaxed relationship between boys and staff. This is built on simple expressions of gratitude: ‘Thank you boys.’ ‘Thank you for the lesson, Sir.’
Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.
Marcus Tullius Cicero
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Humility
Recognising the contribution of others and
being proud of their success are crucial life lessons to learn and ones we try to teach from a young age.
We encourage our boys to support their
peers in all areas of life. We want each boy to
realise that he is a tiny but very important part
of a much bigger world. Our boys experience the pleasure that is derived from the success of others.
Winning with modesty, losing with good grace...
it’s about ‘playing the game’.
being proud of their success are crucial life lessons to learn and ones we try to teach from a young age.
We encourage our boys to support their
peers in all areas of life. We want each boy to
realise that he is a tiny but very important part
of a much bigger world. Our boys experience the pleasure that is derived from the success of others.
Winning with modesty, losing with good grace...
it’s about ‘playing the game’.
There is no respect for others without humility in one’s self.
Henri Frederic Amiel
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Justice
‘It isn’t fair...’ Why? By asking our boys to think about right and wrong, their sense of justice is heightened.
Our pupils learn to reason with each other, explain, question and discuss moral outcomes and differences of opinion. In the early years this is as simple as learning to share and as boys progress through school their minds are opened to issues in the wider world.
Justice stems from independent thinking, that’s why we teach philosophy from Year 3. By Year 8 our boys are able to debate on a wide range of subjects. “Should voting in national elections be made compulsory?” - Taken from King’s Scholarship Examination at Eton College.
Our pupils learn to reason with each other, explain, question and discuss moral outcomes and differences of opinion. In the early years this is as simple as learning to share and as boys progress through school their minds are opened to issues in the wider world.
Justice stems from independent thinking, that’s why we teach philosophy from Year 3. By Year 8 our boys are able to debate on a wide range of subjects. “Should voting in national elections be made compulsory?” - Taken from King’s Scholarship Examination at Eton College.
Justice cannot be for one side alone, but must be for both.
Eleanor Roosevelt
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Service
At every stage, we encourage our boys to look out at the world beyond them – working for the benefit of the younger boys in other sections of the school, finding ways to get involved in our local community and sharing their experience, knowledge and good fortune with others.
What does service look like at the Prep? It’s working for others – whether as a Year 8 pupil listening to a younger pupil read, or serving food to London’s homeless at the Cardinal Hume Centre.
Our boys learn the joy of helping others choosing sixteen charities to support last year.
What does service look like at the Prep? It’s working for others – whether as a Year 8 pupil listening to a younger pupil read, or serving food to London’s homeless at the Cardinal Hume Centre.
Our boys learn the joy of helping others choosing sixteen charities to support last year.
Only a life lived in the service to others is worth living.
Albert Einstein
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Self-Discipline
Organisation, self-control, patience, listening. . .self-discipline means something different at every age as the boys move through the Prep and a healthy, active lifestyle is something we promote.
We encourage every boy to recognise that the right choice is not always the easiest and to enjoy the fulfilment that comes with determination and dedication.
Wonderful opportunities can lead to difficult choices...jazz band rehearsals, or playing with friends at the fields? By learning self-discipline, our boys are able to find their way at the Prep and then in the world.
We encourage every boy to recognise that the right choice is not always the easiest and to enjoy the fulfilment that comes with determination and dedication.
Wonderful opportunities can lead to difficult choices...jazz band rehearsals, or playing with friends at the fields? By learning self-discipline, our boys are able to find their way at the Prep and then in the world.
We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline and effort.
Jesse Owens
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Honesty
Honesty is a value children understand from a very young age and one we know they will carry with them on their journey through life. It is having the integrity to look others in the eye and the confidence to look inwardly at themselves.
As early as Year 1 our boys are taught to assess their own work and to comment honestly and constructively on the work of their peers.
As early as Year 1 our boys are taught to assess their own work and to comment honestly and constructively on the work of their peers.
No legacy is so rich as honesty.
William Shakespeare
Our Community
We encourage our pupils to develop a strong moral compass and strive to make a difference. Even our youngest pupils have a deepened sense of community and the drive to be change-makers. The Dulwich Prep London community extends well beyond the school gates.
Life after Dulwich Prep London
The journey is far from finished when your child ends their time at the Prep. Our pupils go on to the very best schools in the country, many of them with Awards and Exhibitions.
Whilst there can be no doubt that striving for excellence, exam successes and scholarship results are important, it is the character of the pupils leaving us that sets them apart and, very often, makes them the first choice of many senior schools.
Alleyn's School
City of London School for Boys
Dulwich College
Eastbourne College
Eton College
Eltham College
Harrow School
King's College School, Wimbledon
Royal Russell School
St Paul's School
Tonbridge School
Trinity School
Westminster School
Whitgift School
Winchester College