City of London School
The City of London School, also known as CLS and City, is a private day school for boys in the City of London, England, on the banks of the River Thames next to the Millennium Bridge, opposite Tate Modern. It is a partner school of the City of London School for Girls and the City of London Freemen's School. All three schools receive funding from the City's Cash.[1] It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC). It is one of the most academically selective and successful schools in the country.
City of London School
Latin: Domine Dirige Nos
1442
Tim Levene
Alan Bird
122
Boys
11 to 18
1018~
Abbott, Beaufoy, Carpenter, Hale, Mortimer, Seeley
Black and red
The Citizen (weekly)
City Lights (termly)
The Chronicle (annual)
1442
The school was founded by a private Act of Parliament in 1834, following a bequest of land in 1442 for poor children in the City of London. The original school was established at Milk Street, moving first to the Victoria Embankment in 1879 and subsequently to its present site on Queen Victoria Street in 1986.
Former pupils, known as Old Citizens, who have attained eminence in various fields are former UK Prime Minister H. H. Asquith, First World War hero Theodore Bayley Hardy, Nobel Prize–winning scientists Frederick Gowland Hopkins and Peter Higgs, Justice of the Supreme Court Lawrence Collins, Historian John Robert Seeley, England cricket captain Mike Brearley, British chemist and entrepreneur William Henry Perkin, Booker Prize-winning authors Kingsley Amis and Julian Barnes, Hollywood film director Michael Apted, and actor Daniel Radcliffe.
The school provides day education to about 1,000 boys aged 11 to 18 and employs approximately 100 teaching staff and around another 100 non-teaching staff.[2][3] The majority of pupils enter at 11, some at 13 and some at 16 into the Sixth Form. Admissions are based on an entrance examination and an interview, with the exception of pupils educated at the City Junior School, who are given an automatic place at 11+.
School fees[edit]
Although the City of London School has always charged fees to most of its pupils, it describes the fees as moderate compared with other independent schools, and it has always offered scholarships, both on the basis of academic and musical ability (it educates ten boys selected for the Choir of Her Majesty's Chapel Royal). In 2008, the school began offering sports scholarships. After the withdrawal of the Government Assisted Places scheme in 1998, the school has offered full-fee bursaries (or Sponsored Awards) to pupils from families on lower incomes with the help of contributions from parties including private companies, the John Carpenter Club, the City of London Corporation, and parents of current pupils.[47][48] In 2014, at a time when 82 boys at the school received bursaries of 100% of the annual fees of £14,313, the previous head Sarah Fletcher said that her decision to take up the position had been influenced by the school's generous bursary schemes, partly because her own grandfather had enjoyed a life-changing opportunity when given an educational bursary many years before.[48]
For the 2022–23 academic year, the annual school fees were £19,995, and lunch was an extra £292 a term (£876 a year). Music lessons were an additional £271 a term (£813 a year).[49]
Charitable status[edit]
The school runs an annual Charity Appeal each year. The proceeds raised across the academic year go towards a dedicated charity of choosing, voted upon by pupils of the school, making sure that the school's charity efforts reflect topical issues. Each year's Charity Appeal is managed by a student committee, who plans school events, fund-raisers, partnerships, and sponsors. Events in the past have included the 24-hour 'fishathon', 48-hour row, cake sales, sponsored swims and an 11-mile sponsored walk.[50]
The chosen charity as of 2023-24 is World Child Cancer, a charity set up to fight cancer in kids globally. Past charities have included WaterAid, GOSH, Teenage Cancer Trust, Providence Row, and Papyrus.
The school also has six charities registered with the Charity Commission. These are The City of London School Bursary Fund which contributes to the funding of the bursary schemes, The City of London School Bursary Trust which provides bursaries to boys who have gained admission to the school but whose parents cannot afford the fees, The City of London School Scholarships and Prize Fund which allows the school and other parties to offer scholarships, prizes or sponsored awards to current or former pupils without incurring taxes, The City of London School War Memorial Fund which was originally established to support boys affected by the World Wars but now supports means-tested bursaries at the School, The City of London School Charitable Trust which is the annual charity appeal and The City of London School Education Trust which exempts the school from taxes as an independent school providing education for pupils within the school, as well as providing educational and recreational facilities for children and young people in the surrounding communities.[51]
The school has had thirteen headmasters. Ten of these are listed below.