Frequently Asked Questions

St Pius X Catholic Preparatory School has an excellent record when it comes to preparing pupils for future success. We focus on the 'whole child' and therefore ensuring from as early as two years old that we nurture and develop our pupils and bring the best out of every child. Our pupils are confident and resilient.

Our Prep-School curriculum is designed with support and nurture in mind. Early intervention and theraputic provision is paired with cross-curricular exploratory learning and a strong extra-curricular offering. Our pupils are encouraged to build confidence in themselves and independence in their learning.

In recent years many of our pupils have achieved great success.

Three of our alumni have recently passed the entrance exams for the prestigious Eton College. One talented alumni is who is currently studying at Eton College is Aryan Patel. Aryan is thriving at Eton College. In GCSE’s, Aryan secured ten Grade 9’s and one Grade 8. Aryan is currently studying A Level Mathematics, Further Mathematics, Chemistry and Economics at Eton College.

Another pupil Mark Tompsett recently won the Gold Medal in the Men’s S14 100m Backstroke at the 2024 European Open Championships in Madeira. Mark is representing Great Britain in the Paralympic Games in Paris 2024 and we are sure that there is plenty more success on the horizon.

A recent Alumni, Reeve Webb began his footballing journey at 4 years of age. Reeve recently signed a contract with a top Premiership team - Everton Football Club. Reeve has previously played for the Under 8s team at Liverpool Football Club.

At St Pius X Catholic Preparatory School, we choose not to participate in SATs. We believe in a gentler, more understanding way to assess a child's academic journey without the pressures of SATs. 

SATs are standardised assessment tests administered mainly by state schools and some independent schools to children in Year 2 and Year 6 to check their educational progress. The aim of SATs is to judge a school's academic level.

Only 20% of private schools in the UK participate in SATs. At St Pius X, we believe that the pressure of SATs can lead to stress and anxiety, it can put schools under pressure to compete for pupils, therefore shifting focus on school applications rather than collaborating to offer children the best education.

We believe that preparing for SATs can take time, it can take time away from direct teaching, and the intense focus on revision before SATs takes time away from other areas of the curriculum such as PE, Art and Science. At St Pius X we like to take a balanced approach.

SATs only test children's ability in Maths and English. SATs offer no insight into other important areas of development, such as social skills, sporting ability, science, technology, engineering, curiousity and creativity.

SATs do not offer a holistic view of a child's development. 

At St Pius X Catholic Preparatory School, every child is unique and has different needs. We focus on the 'whole child'. Schools have been known to exclude children with special educational needs and disabilities from sitting SATs to ensure that their scores don't negatively impact the school's overall results.

Some of the most prestigious independent schools in the UK do not offer SATs for these reasons and you will not find many of these prestigious schools in the The Sunday Times Schools Guide.

At St Pius X, we provide parents with detailed insight into how your children are progressing in all subjects, in alignment with national expectations. We nurture, prepare our children to be confident, mentally strong and happy to ensure long-term success and well-being. This is proven by the many past pupils who have succeeded since leaving our great independent school. Our pupils continuously succeed in sporting events, literacy competitions and engineering competitions and by winning these events our pupils build a winning mentality in all areas.

Yes we do. Pupils at St Pius X Catholic Preparatory School are prepared by our experienced teachers for the 11 plus examination. Many of our children move onto Grammar Schools and we have an excellent entry acceptance record.

Please contact us by telephone on 01772 719 937 or register your interest here.

We have open days in the Autumn and Spring term. Our next open day details can be found here.

If our open day dates do not fit in with your schedule, we are happy to provide a private tour of our school anytime throughout the year. Please complete our form or contact us to book a school tour.

Usually between 12 and 16 children. Our class sizes are purposefully small to ensure that your child receives the best education. This also enables us to tailor our curriculum and the learning experience to ensure that all the children excel and exceed their potential.

Term dates can be found here for our Pre Prep (Early Years) Nursery and the main school.

Children can be dropped off at school from 8:10am each morning and picked up from 3:15pm when the staggered collection begins for all year groups.

Yes of course they can. We have a Breakfast Club that begins at 7:30am each day which is very popular with both parents and children. This applies to all children from Pre-Prep (Early Years) to Year 6.

Our Breakfast Club details can be found here.

Yes we do. Many of our parents use our After School Club which runs until 6pm Monday to Friday. This is available every day during term time for all children from Pre Prep (Early Years) to Year 6. 

Details about our wraparound care can be found here.

Yes. We run holiday clubs during in December, Easter and the Summer breaks. Holiday clubs are available for all children from Pre Prep (Early Years) to Year 6.

Our Holiday Club is also open to children within the wider community of Preston and not only restricted to our Prep School pupils.

Holiday Club information can be found here.

At St Pius X Catholic Preparatory School, we catet for all dietary requirements ensuring that our pupils feel included and satisfied. Our pupils can enjoy their meals without any concerns and limitations. 

Some pupils may have special dietary requirements such as allergies or intolerances that affect what they can safely eat. Our staff carefully note all information for all of our pupils to ensure that you have peace of mind about what your child is provided at meal times.

We have meat-free Mondays and Fish Fridays.

Additionally, we offer vegan, vegetarian and halal meal options each day.

Please contact us if you would have questions about your child's dietary requirements.

We welcome children from the age of 2. Depending on availability of places, children can start from the first term after their second birthday.

We currently accept 15 hours and 30 hours for 3-4 year old children, as well as 15 hours for children over 2 years. From September 2024 this will extend to 30 hours for children over 2 years. To check if you are eligible please visit the Government Website. Please note we do not accept any other two year old funding – we will only accept the two year funding for working parents.

The current DFA guidance ratio is 1:5 for 2 year olds. We still follow the 1:4 ratio as this is far more beneficial to the children.

The minimum requirement for a nursery is to have a Manager that holds a Level 3 qualification and for there to be at least two Level 3 qualified staff members in each room, the remaining staff can then be Level 2 or unqualified.

Our nursery not only meets the minimum requirement but we exceed these requirements. We have a Level 6 qualified staff member, three of our staff are Level 4 qualified, two staff are Level 2 qualified, and all of our staff hold a Level 3 Paediatric First Aid Qualification.

In our Great Oaks setting (pre-school), we also have a fully qualified teacher on site Monday to Friday from 8:00am to 6:00pm.

We ensure that our children receive the best care possible.

A place at our St Pius X Catholic Preparatory School Reception Class can only be secured by adding a £250 non-returnable deposit when registering for a Nursery place. (Limited Reception places available - your child may be added to a waiting list, please reserve at your earliest convenience.)