I'm not sure what age "prep school is" so here is a basic guideline for a few different ages:
5-10 years old:
Here they're far too young to understand the positional concepts involved with the sport, and there is a massive range in talent in every squad between individuals. It is vital at this age to make sure that it is FUN, and they get as many touches of the ball as they can.
You shouldn't coach it at a more complicated level than the three-basics rule: Heading, Shooting, Passing.
An example of a passing training session to cover 2 hours, with estimated 20 players:
0-15mins: Warm up - lots of running within a square, progress it to "Rabbits tails" (a game where you put a shirt in the back of your shorts so it hangs out like a tail, and they run around trying to steal other tails but keep their own). Some light stretches and move on.
15-45mins: Basic passing of the ball, in pairs, pass back and forth, making sure the technique is right (striking the ball with inside of foot) and that its accurate. Introduce targets about midway through (how many passes can you do as a pair in a minute, and then beat it - the trick here is to give everyone 50 seconds for the first one, and 1:10 for the second time you do it, everyone beats their score from last time and feel really good about it)
45-50: Drinks break
50-1,10: In threes doing passing and moving - basic exercise of pass and follow the pass - comfortable enough to do.
1,10-1,30: Progress it further to passing on the move - have them all in a square (about 50mx50m) with 10 footballs (1 between 2) and have them passing and running around in the square so they get used to it. Again, encourage.
1,30-1,35: Drinks
1,35-2,00: Scrimmage game at the end - try to emphasise passing it as much as possible - maybe award a goal if they make 6 passes without the opposition touching the ball.
Ok next age:
11s-18s:
At this age they will begin to understand a lot more, and should already have techincal ability in the sport, here you should work with the rule-of-5:
Passing, Shooting, Control, Goalkeeping, Heading.
I'll explain a passing exercise, for comparisons sake:
0-15: Warm up, Start slowly but bring in lots of sprints, turns, twists, jumps etc to get all muscles warm. Finish with some dynamic stretching.
15-45: Teach the difference between a driven pass and placed pass - explain where they should be used, then demonstrate, then get them to do it. Show, Tell, Do - thats the routine I work on.
45-50: Drinks
50-1,10: Work in 3s on switching play - 2 narrow, 1 wide, play short passes to draw in a defender, and then play a driven pass out wide to release the man in space.
1,10-1,15: Drinks
1,15-1,40: Match day run through - working with a full side, put them into different scenarios - defending freekicks, exposing counter attacks etc. So they put their new learnt skills into real match situation.
1,40-2,00: Scrimmage - again reward the use of skills learnt - example - free shot on goal (defenders cant close down) if man is found with a driven pass.
Adults again is a further progression - less on technique and more on game play.
I'm a UEFA A Licence coach (level below pro) so if you're in any need of help - let me know and I'll run you up some drills
