Duke's Drive, Eastbourne, East Sussex BN20 7XL
10 reasons to choose Bede's Prep School
Main point of differentiation
Bede’s Prep School has a Schoolsmith Score® of 88, and is one of the top 100 prep and primary schools in the country. It has the most varied sports and arts curricula in the Eastbourne and Hastings area, including, unusually, a dance academy.
School fundamentals
Bede’s Prep School is an independent prep day and boarding school for boys and girls (50%/50%) between the ages of 3 months and 13 years. Boarding from Year 3 for boys, Year 7 for girls. 10% of pupils board. 40% are full boarders and 60% are weekly or flexi boarders. The school has a non-selective admissions policy. It is the prep school to Bede’s School, an all-through school to age 18. Bede’s Prep School fees range from £3,835 (Rec) to £6,790 per term (2024/25). Full boarding fees range from £8,780 to £10,020 per term. Fees exclude VAT and lunches.
Average class size
Bede’s Prep School has a one-form entry pre-prep, rising to two classes per year in Prep and three in Years 7 and 8, and an average class size of 13 pupils.
Leavers' destinations
80%-90% of Bede’s Prep pupils move up to the senior school. 10%-20% of pupils move on to other South Coast independent schools.
The Bede's Prep School curriculum
School curriculum is based on the National Curriculum and is thematic to Year 4. Curriculum also includes PSHE, STEM, classical studies, French, Spanish, Latin. The school offers each pupil between 5 and 10 different extra-curricular academic activities or hobby clubs.
More on the curriculum
There are regular educational trips for all year groups, visiting speakers and residential trips from Year 6.
Specialist teaching
Specialist teachers for sport, music, languages, computing, art, drama and dance throughout, and for most subjects from Year 5.
Sport at Bede's Prep School
Sport and PE accounts for up to 18% of curriculum time. School is one of the 50 prep schools with the most extensive sports offers in the UK. Competitive teams in major sports from Year 3. In recent years the school has enjoyed national success in cricket, football.
The Arts at Bede's Prep School
Art and music are taught as discrete curricular subjects to all pupils, as is drama from Year 3. Dance is timetabled from to Year 4 and pupils may audition for the school’s Legat’s Dance Academy in Year 6. All pupils learn an instrument in class and three-quarters take extra-curricular instrument lessons from Year 3. Two choirs and a host of ensembles, from the formal instrument group to the informal rock, soul, acapella, film and musical theatre. The school is one of the top 50 UK prep schools for the breadth of its creative and performing arts extra-curriculum.
Wraparound care
Wraparound care from 7.45am to 6.00pm. Facility for occasional boarding. Nursery open for 51 weeks of the year.
Find another school near Bede's Prep School
St Andrew’s Prep (0.3 miles); Battle Abbey Prep School (14.5 miles); Vinehall School (25.1 miles).
Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Primary School, Rottingdean (17 miles); Iford and Kingston Church of England Primary School (17.7 miles); St Mary Star of the Sea Catholic Primary School, St Leonard’s (18.1 miles).
Eastbourne College (1.1 miles); Bede’s School (11.9 miles).
Gildredge House (1.5 miles); Ratton School (3.3 miles); Willingdon Community School (4.9 miles).