Interview in a City school

No publication about schools in London could really claim to be doing what it said on the tin if it failed to mention the educational commitment of the Livery Companies and, indeed, the Corporation of the City of London itself. Although funds for education were given and set aside from the Middle Ages, The City of London School was only established as a specific entity in 1834, opening at its first site in 1837. In 1883 it moved to the fine building still dominating the Victoria Embankment near Blackfriars Bridge, but its present – and third – home is a splendid modern building near St Paul’s and right opposite The Globe and Tate Modern – a location to die for – where it continues to fulfill the high standards and live up to the historic expectations of the Corporation of which it is such a respected part. The Corporation is also responsible for two other excellent schools – The City of London School for Girls in the Barbican and the coeducational City of London Freemen’s School, which moved out of the City to Ashtead Park, Surrey in 1926.
We put some questions about CLS to a Year 11 pupil by email and asked the Director of Admissions, David Heminway, to supplement his answers.

What’s it like getting to school?
LB: It takes about 45 minutes – I just get one bus a few minutes walk from my house – it stops close to the school. There are other buses and combinations of buses I can take. There aren’t many other school kids on the bus either in the mornings as I leave home pretty early, or after school as we don’t finish until 4pm and most other schools get out well before that.

How much space is there at school for break and that kind of time?
LB: I always get to school by 8 or 8.15 so I have time to play football – we can do that in the upper playground. There is a 20 minute break in the morning and one hour for lunch. There is plenty of actual physical space in the school but I think we should have longer at lunch time.

What are the arrangements inside the school for hanging out?
LB: We can use our form rooms or the concourse, which is a glazed communal area. At lunch time the gym is available for work-outs, etc. The sixth form have their own common room.

What’s the food like?
LB: IMPROVING! There are a number of choices and there is also a sandwich and salad bar.

How does CLS manage games?
LB: Perhaps it’s not our strongest thing, although we are good at swimming, water polo and basketball.

David Heminway gives rather more detail about the remarkable facilities onsite, concealed inside a building with a strikingly coherent and compact outline, in a  London location which could not be more central. “We have a large Sports Hall and a conditioning room with multi-gym. There are three squash courts, a fencing salle and a 25 metre indoor swimming pool. Football, cricket, athletics and tennis are played on our seventeen acres of playing fields in south-east London. Sailing takes place in East India Docks.

“We play twelve sports competitively. This year our 1st XI footballers reached the final of the Trinity Schools Cup; our water polo players reached the National Finals at both under 14 and under 19 level. One of our pupils represents Great Britain at under 17 level in fencing (epee) and a thirteen year old pupil is currently ranked number 4 nationally at table tennis. We won three gold medals and two silver at the London Schools Open Judo Championships and in basketball the under 14 team came runner-up in the final of the London Independent Schools League and the under 15 team reached the semi-finals.”

What’s the computer set-up like?
LB: Excellent – the computers are fast efficient and secure (though I think that too many sites are blocked). They are accessible at all times.
DH: There are 24 in the library and a further four rooms each with at least 24, other open access areas with smaller numbers of computers and two class sets of wireless laptops.

How many kids are there in the school/your year/your class?
LB: 900+/120/21

Do students’ views on the running of the school get aired and listened to? Are their suggestions for charity ideas taken up?
LB: Yes, there is a school parliament with reps from each form and regular meetings. Views are taken seriously as long as they are serious and viable suggestions. The prefects are elected by sixth formers and staff. Each year the school picks a charity to support throughout the year. This is a democratic decision with votes from students and staff. There is a charity committee made up of students and staff and each form organises its own fund-raising events etc…producing a total of £40,000 a year!

Do you benefit from being right at the heart of London?
DH: Yes! In fact to take advantage of our central location each Third Form boy has 8 afternoon visits a year to places of interest in London, as part of his curriculum. In the School as a whole, there are about 140 different trips each year of which about 40 are residential or abroad.

Examples 2006-7: Geography visit to Namibia; China exchange with University of Shenyang; French, German and Spanish exchanges; Sixth Form Work Experience in Granada, Hamburg and Tours; skiing in USA; GCSE History trip to Berlin;
Sixth Form Physics visit to CERN (Geneva); Classics trip to Rome and Pompeii; History Battlefields trip to Belgium; Lower School visits to Cologne Christmas Market, and Normandy; CCF expeditions both at home and abroad. In addition, numerous UK visits including geography fieldtrips; biology fieldwork; Lower School adventure training; Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards; cricket, water polo and basketball tours etc etc.

Does CLS have much contact with CLSG?
LB: Yes. There are collaborative music and drama productions. In the 1st and 2nd form there is an organised social event each year. A lot of us meet the girls socially at Barbican or St Paul’s and have other contact outside of school.

How much drama and music is there?
LB: There are numerous concerts, recitals and drama productions throughout the year, including the carol service in the Temple Church.
DH: Music is strong, with lessons available in any instrument. The Temple Church and The Chapel Royal offer bursaries to CLS for choristers who can meet the school’s academic entry requirements, whilst Drama flourishes in a fully equipped theatre and Studio under a full-time Director of Drama.

What subjects do you think the school is especially good at?
DH: CLS is one of the best academic schools in the country and is classed by the newspapers as ‘premier league’ in terms of A level results. It would be invidious, therefore, to single out a particular subject and better if prospective parents and pupils were to look at the results tables posted on our website www.clsb.org.uk under ‘Academic’, where GCSE and GCE results can be downloaded.