Have you been asking: When is a prom usually celebrated in the UK? Cooks Carriages offer prom horse and carriage hire throughout Essex and London. We look at when the school prom arrived in the UK and What age the school prom for. 

When is Prom in the UK?

Prom is the highlight of the year for all students around the country in the UK. There are some students who are excited about the event the whole way through their secondary school career. 

Others dread the occasion from the second they hear that they are going to have to pay to get into the party with the rest of their peers. Either way, you can't disagree that prom is a highly important time for all hardworking students in their school careers. 

If you can believe it, there are some students who are planning their outfits and evenings from the moment that they first step into secondary school.

You may be wondering, when exactly is this all-so-important school prom? Well, we have the answers for you. Here in the UK, secondary school prom is commonly held somewhere in the months of either June or July. 

Towards the end of the summer's school term. In England, prom is usually held for students at the end of Year 11, and in some schools, at the end of Year 13. 

This is when students have completed their work on their GCSEs or have finished their A-Level studies and exams. In Scotland, the proms are commonly held at the end of S6.

How Do I Make My Prom Memorable?

What year is prom in the UK?

At the majority of secondary schools across the UK, prom is held right at the end of the student's final year at the school. 

In some cases, the prom may just be near the end of the school year. For most schools, the prom is seen as a type of farewell party for all of the students who have been studying so hard at the school for all those years.

Prom is commonly held at this time of the year so the students can celebrate their student exams coming to an end, as well as the end of their entire secondary school career. 

It is also an opportunity for the students to say goodbye to each other, as the end of secondary school comes with a lot of new beginnings because students will soon be going off to either start their university career or start a new job.

There are some schools where students will receive more than just a prom at the end of their time at secondary school. Schools will hold similar events all the way through their time at secondary school, with events such as fairs and discos.

When did the school prom arrive in the UK?

Before the year 2000, schools across the United Kingdom would hold events known as leavers’ balls or leavers’ discos. These were essentially watered-down versions of what we now think of as an American-style prom event. 

They were held in the halls of the school where the students had been studying, and music would be quietly playing on the school's sound system. It was all quite old-fashioned and very much in need of a shakeup.

What we now call a prom was introduced to the UK through events held in the United States. These are big lavish parties where extravagance and attention to detail are of the utmost importance. 

Ever since the early 2000s, the school prom has been growing and growing in popularity across secondary schools in the UK. In fact, it was recently reported that in the UK, around 85% of UK schools host a school prom for their leaving students.

What age is the school prom for?

As you may have picked up from TV shows and films, in America, school proms are usually held for students who are between the ages of seventeen and eighteen.

 Just think of any cheesy teen high school movie, such as Mean Girls, She's All That, and Back to The Future. 

This is different here in the UK. Here, school proms are most popular with students who are in their final year of secondary school, year eleven. This means that they are aged fifteen or sixteen. 

Although, sometimes proms are held for students at the end of year 13 when they would be either seventeen or eighteen. In Scotland, students have their prom at the end of year S6, where they are between the ages of seventeen and eighteen.

It might sound absurd, but younger children are now becoming jealous of their older peers, so even primary school children are now having proms, or prom-type events, held for them. This is usually done at the end of primary school when the children are moving on to secondary school.

How much do prom tickets cost?

At many schools in the UK, the prom is an exciting free event that the school which the students have been attending for many years fully pays for. 

However, this is not the case with all schools. For lots of schools, proms have a set cost that the students will need to pay out in order to attend the final school party with the rest of their students. 

Of course, the actual exact cost that will need to be paid to receive a ticket to the prim will vary between the schools. At the absolute minimum, students will need to pay around £5 for a single prom ticket. 

However, such a low cost for a prom ticket is actually quite rare. On the other end of the spectrum, there are some schools in the UK which will charge massive amounts for their prom. This will be done because the prom is such a huge American-style extravagant event. These tickets can cost as much as £70.

Overall, the most common pricing for a prom ticket is somewhere between the £20 and £30 marks. The reason for the tickets being sold at this price is all the extra services which are necessary at a prom. 

Some of the services which can end up contributing to the total prom price are the cost of the DJ's wage, all of the decorating, any catering option, the cost of renting the entire prom venue, and much more. 

Once the cost of all these services has been put together, it can come to quite a substantial amount. An amount that is likely too high for the school to just pay for. 

So once this cost has been split evenly across all the students who will be attending the event, the cost of a ticket to the prom will usually be around £20 to £30. It is also important that the amount tickets cost also needs to be at a level students can afford.

If you are attending a prom in Essex or the surrounding areas, we provide horse drawn carriages for just such occasions. 

We offer Prom horse and carriage hire Essex and London. Visit our site to book your prom transport hire.