City of London School Boys-tell me what you know

Independent Schools as an alternative to Grammar

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TulipGreen
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Joined: Fri Mar 16, 2018 12:16 pm

Re: City of London School Boys-tell me what you know

Post by TulipGreen »

grgygirl wrote: The very clever boy receives outside of school tutoring in two languages and maths! Personally, if you have a grammar school place then look very closely at what extra value City will add and whether that is worth paying £20K a year for.

At my sons school there are many boys who turned down prestigious schools and scholarships (including us!) for several reasons.
Wow, some boys have tutoring even if they go to private schools? Is it quite common? (although it may depend on individuals, I guess?) You mean that, the grammar schools provide more or less the same quality/depth of learning as City does? As I don't have real experience much, it is quite helpful information.
TulipGreen
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Re: City of London School Boys-tell me what you know

Post by TulipGreen »

Hopefulgardener I found your post very sensible...thank you.
TulipGreen
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Re: City of London School Boys-tell me what you know

Post by TulipGreen »

Bazelle Nice to hear from current happy city parents. I asked my son, you may not be easily shining there as a lot of bright boys around, are you happy with it? He answered, I want to be inspired by them and I want to get better. He knows some boys there and he wants to be part of it....
mad?
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Re: City of London School Boys-tell me what you know

Post by mad? »

TulipGreen wrote:Wow, some boys have tutoring even if they go to private schools? Is it quite common? (although it may depend on individuals, I guess?) You mean that, the grammar schools provide more or less the same quality/depth of learning as City does? As I don't have real experience much, it is quite helpful information.
Yes, some pupils will have tutoring at both. Although it depends on the parents, then perhaps the DC and least of all the schools IMO. Of course grammar schools provide that depth of learning, most schools do it is just that selected children tend to perform better than a full range of abilities.
mad?
RedPanda
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Re: City of London School Boys-tell me what you know

Post by RedPanda »

TulipGreen wrote:You mean that, the grammar schools provide more or less the same quality/depth of learning as City does? As I don't have real experience much, it is quite helpful information.
Grouping by ability allows for more focused teaching at an appropriate depth for the group. A grammar (or a top set in a comprehensive) will do the same thing. It's less about the school and more about the cohort if that makes sense TulipGreen. Comparing the quality of teaching is difficult, given OFSTED (for what they are worth) won't visit City.

My view (no data to back this up) is that comprehensives probably have higher quality teaching than grammars and indies but I don't think that is the question you are really asking :)
Hopefulgardener
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Re: City of London School Boys-tell me what you know

Post by Hopefulgardener »

I think there are all sorts of Grammars (and Comps). Some may well be better than independent schools. Ofsted reports and results are published so easy to compare.

Yes, tutoring happens. Unfortunately, as all the 11+ prep wears off many will realise their DC may struggle for a reason or another. I know a family that regards tutoring as part of their routine since their children were little. I am not sure they will have the confidence to let the tutor go any time soon.

Re. streaming at City, that’s one of our questions and we’re told they only do it for Maths. Worth double checking, just in case.
Bazelle
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Re: City of London School Boys-tell me what you know

Post by Bazelle »

TulipGreen wrote:Bazelle Nice to hear from current happy city parents. I asked my son, you may not be easily shining there as a lot of bright boys around, are you happy with it? He answered, I want to be inspired by them and I wa
It was tough for my son's self esteem to become "average" after joining CLS, since he was used to be top of the class without much effort before that. But this is finally having the desired effect, i.e. he is working harder than he would have done I think in a less competitive environment.

I too was shocked when I realized that tutoring was still going on after 11+, very common, particularly in math apparently, in the CLS GCSE booklet, only math had a paragraph about tutoring (take home message was to use it wisely, whatever that means). Because they set in math from year 8 at CLS, people freak out when they end up in middle or bottom set. And then they freak out because they are at the bottom of the top set, etc. It is really annoying. My understanding is that it is happening mainly in selective schools, which is maddening when you think about it.

CLS also streams in modern languages from year 10.
TulipGreen
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Re: City of London School Boys-tell me what you know

Post by TulipGreen »

By the way, regarding music tuition, my DS has current go to different school to have music lessons and I don't want him to quit there, as the current teacher and program is great. If that so, are we allowed not to take lessons at school?(not the music class, instrument lessons) Can we choose?
londonparent123
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Re: City of London School Boys-tell me what you know

Post by londonparent123 »

I am a bit of a lurker and this is my first post. But I thought I had some perspective that may be helpful. I have a son at City in year 10.

My son went to a relativley academic state primary school where he was in the top 4-5 in a year of 60. He really liked City when he went to look around and was offered a place. There were a number of factors at play which meant that his going there was not a straightforward decision - finance being one of them. He knew things were not straight forward and so we made a deal that he would make the most of his time there and have a responsible attitude towards his learning and education.

When he went there, he found he was bang on average. And so he has strived and pushed himself to be above average, while enjoying running with his pack at a fast pace. This meant in year 7 and 8 he had to work really quite hard to up his level. It meant he had to recalibrate his sense of who he was (in primary he was naturally good at maths for e.g., at secondary he has had to work really hard to be in the top most group segment of the second set for maths). But it's paying off. He now works hard, he continually focuses on how to improve, his teachers are very happy and he is very happy at school.

There are a lot of very, very bright boys. You can see this not just by the results or university destinations, but because the boys are doing really well in the external enrichment opportunities such as the UK maths challenge, the IGEM biology engineering challenge - the John Locke essay competition, the Model United Nations. These boys are self directed and hungry to explore their world and how their brains can rise to the external challenges. This cohort isn't being tutored to be in the top set. They have incredible wide ranging intellects. (Although probably my son isn't quite in that cohort!)

Because of the sacrifices, there is no way we would contemplate tutoring. All those boys have great academic potential. The teaching is very good. My son has been provided with a great opportunity. But it is up to him to make the most of it. We are not going to provide a hammock for him to swing in with regards to 1-2-1 tutoring. He certainly never mentions if anyone else gets tutored. And at some point in life everyone has to stand on their own two feet. City gives him a supportive, rigorous, broad and pastoral education. That is already a massive benefit.

There probably are some very affluent families, but my son mixes mainly with the local set that he travels with. The kids come from all over london, essex, herts and Kent - the boys connect and play online or meet and have lunch in town - they don't seem to gossip about income.

From what I have seen of it, I like the school and I like the boys. Whenever a new friend does come over they are kind to the rest of the siblings in our family, warm and polite to us parents, with a good sense of humour.

I hope this helps with whatever choices you make, it sounds like whatever happens you can't go wrong! Best of luck of with it all
fairyelephant
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Re: City of London School Boys-tell me what you know

Post by fairyelephant »

Provided you don’t have to take him out of school to go to his music lessons, I’m sure it will be fine with them. On a practical level when he starts a new school with homework, ravelling and after school activities he may prefer not to have too much on his plate outside of school. The great thing about doing your music lessons in school is that the music department will be well aware of him and he will automatically be co opted into school orchestras and bands etc.

On the tutoring front, the number of DC being tutored staggers me. I think it says more about the parents than the DC and seems to be a knee jerk reaction to any dip in results. Clearly not everyone can be in the top set - even selective schools have some spread of ability! Always worth speaking to school first, they should be keen to help.
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