City of London freeman's school in Ashtead

[MigratingCoconuts]

Hi all, I started a thread about this in secondary but realise that this might be a better place.

Does anyone know anything about the rep of this school??

thanks!

I've heard lots of different things, and also visited their open day. The grounds are drop dead gorgeous. Not quite as pretty as Claremont but second best. I know (not well) some parents who send their children there, and are very happy with it. A couple of good friends of mine have sat their children for the school's exams.

They get excellent results. It seems a fairly arts-strong school. I was very impressed by the wide range of places their students go onto. E.g. if they loved art they end up at the top art colleges in the country. If they love drama, they go on to the top drama schools, and they had more 6th formers getting into Oxbridge last year than Hampton Boys, which is seen as a pretty academic indie locally.

We were shown around by a very impressive little girl. Young but almost scarily capable (but charming with it.) Incredibly confident without being cocky.

The downsides (for us) were:

• that we couldn't quite work out how these great results were achieved. Almost no student work was on show at open day, either on the classroom walls (which were bare as a prison) or in work books, (which weren't on show.) French tutor gave the impression that they studied film instead of not as well as novels at A level. A tiny handful of boarders were doing chemical experiments which were quite low key. I was told later that a great deal of students get outside tutoring for exams, which rather misses the point of paying for education in the first place, imo.

• the catchment. There isn't one as such. I got the feeling that social activities outside school might be a bit limited as no one is near anyone else. that, or you;d spend your life as a parent-chauffeur.

My overall impression was that most children would be very happy there but not really pushed academically or given a broad education (drama seemed very focused on West End musicals. I'd have liked some Shakespeare in there.) But their 6th form results don't match my instinct. They seem to do incredibly well.

I know a few young people who attend CLFS. They all fit into Racingheart's description: "Young but almost scarily capable (but charming with it.) Incredibly confident without being cocky"

My friend's children go there and she likes it because it is traditional, strong discipline with a good academic focus. Her children are all very sporty and seem to spend their lives playing for one school team or another. The grounds are fabulous and they've invested heavily in new facilities over the last few years.

Interesting to read about lack of displays etc.

thank you for replying. I know almost noting about the school so that's been very helpful indeed.

Chicken I was very put off by the lack of displays. Probably unfairly so. Because it seems clear that the children there are happy, the school is stunning, its facilities are excellent and the prospects for the children as they leave the school are really bright. I just wanted more insight into what they did all day long.
it's still on our back up list though. I'd definitely not rule it out.

racingheart - all independent schools in that area have a massive catchment - taxi driving until the beggars can use the train / buses is de rigeur - you will not avoid it anywhere! As an example my DS is at a senior school near CLFS and the geographical range goes from Godalming to Wimbledon!

willali Godalming to Wimbledon sounds very familiar. You're absolutely right. I suppose I meant that there are one or two other private schools which for us have more local pupils attending them, so they'd have some school friends in the same village. (Though you can bet the New Best Friend will live in Wimbledon. Or Godalming :) ) Hampton say, has a smaller catchment because of RGS - you choose one of the two, depending on which is closest. But yes, we will be taxis for years.