St Paul's Cathedral School

[mummyof2boy]

Hi, I am wondering if there is any parents from SPCS here? With the principal Simon Larter-Evans moving on, who will be the replacement? Are you and your children happy with the school? My kid will be going to reception so how are the teachers like in the early years section of the school? We went for the school tour but still feel like I don't think I know enough yet...

Hi. I have now seen that Judith Fremont-Barnes has been appointed as the new Head.

Hi lovely,
I was looking at charterhouse and SPCS too. I’ve just registered my son for the school and I think he’ll be assessed next year. Not sure how it goes and tbh I’m not 100% about sending him there. What are your thoughts of the school

Hi - not sure yet! DC starts in September.

As our son has finally left the school after 9 amazing years - he entered as slightly crackers 4 year old having resented the move from Charter House Square. He left a mature, confident and at times a little too confident young adult for a day school a short walk from his beloved Selfridges. The school offers a rounded education, it ain’t no hot house.

The children leave for a variety of schools at 11 & 13. Some will leave for traditional establishments such as Eton or Harrow or the more liberal Marlborough, others will seek day schools in London from the heights of academic success such as Westminster or City Girls or St Pauls to all that London offers. Easy access to East London, the glitzy Islington town houses and the South means the parent is an eclectic group including DJs, mates of Banksy but could as easily be a KC, a City Worker, London based entrepreneur or member of the government or how about an Everest explorer - travel on the No. 4 bus during the school run is an education in itself.

The opening of the new City of London Prep School and the closure of many boy schools to 13+ intake has placed pressures on the school but it’s tradition and it’s ability to adapt over centuries will I’m sure enable it to thrive long into the future.

For anyone interested in an update on senior school destinations from SPCS, I attended the leavers' assembly last week where the destination schools were announced as each departing pupil was individually farewelled. The schools that this year's 11+ and 13+ leavers cohort are moving on to include:

Brighton College
Bryanston
Channing
Cheltenham Ladies' College
CLSB
CLSG
Dulwich
Eton
Forest
Harrow
King's Canterbury
Lancing
Marlborough
Oundle
Purcell
Queen's College
Roedean
Rugby
South Hampstead
Stowe
Westminster
Wetherby
Winchester
Woldingham

(Not an exhaustive list - just the ones I know of personally or can recall from the assembly.)

Thanks - I’m still reading so that’s very useful.

https://www.stpauls.co.uk/news-article/judith-fremont-barnes-appointed-new-head-of-st-pauls-cathedral-school

Hi there,
Does anyone know when the update about whether my son will get a place for an assessment day or not? Does anyone travel from Canada Water? I’m worried about the route but still very keen as it’s the only one of 2 schools we want to send our boy

Hi, I was under the impression if you were to apply within their cut off of 80 applicants you’ll be assessed. we applied and my son will be assessed next year. We have confirmation of that

We were placed on the reserve list :( this just mean they have had no one drop out :( good luck to your son and thank you for coming back to me

We are considering St Pauls for reception 24. We have the assessment booked in in a few weeks. @Canadawaterchick82 we applied pretty late - have you now had your confirmation come through?

Thad a lot of boarding schools. What % go boarding?

The choristers (usually 6 per year) almost always go on to boarding senior schools at 13+. Of the non-chorister pupils, 11+ leavers rarely go on to boarding, and even at 13+ all but 2 or 3 pupils move on to day schools in a typical year.

I've probably missed some 11+ day school destinations off that list, as I was most familiar with the 13+ leavers. I'd say that last year there were an unusually high number heading to boarding school (just over half the 13+ leavers, including choristers). Worth noting that most of the boarding schools had only 1 pupil heading there, while there were small groups going on to several of the day schools, so across 11+ and 13+ the overall balance was still in favour of day school destinations.

Hi @drmumoftwo - just wanted to come back to say that we are very happy with the school so far. Feel free to DM me.

The majority in DD's year went onto boarding schools, including her. We only know a handful who chose day.

That's a lot of boarding for a day school in London - wonder what is driving it

I've had 2 DC go through SPCS from Reception to Year 8, and can say categorically that it is unusual for a high proportion of leavers to move on to boarding school.

11+ leavers almost always go on to day schools. 13+ varies more from year to year. In my DC1's year, I think 5 or 6 choristers and 5 non-choristers out of a class of 26 went on to board at 13+, and of those, 3 were weekly boarders at schools with a majority of day pupils. Most of the year group went on to senior school as day pupils. In DC2's year, there was a higher proportion of boarding destinations, but it was still only just above 50%.

There are a couple of factors that increase the boarding school impetus at 13+. The first is that the choristers (typically 6 per year group) almost always move on to boarding schools; they have all boarded for the prep years and usually want to continue doing so. The school has good links with music departments in several well-known boarding schools, and in general boarding schools seem to be well-disposed towards chorister applicants and also tend to have more funds available for bursaries and music scholarships than day schools. This means that each year the proportion of Year 8 pupils heading to boarding schools is rarely lower than around 25%, and sometimes as much as 50% (depending on the total size of the year group), just on the strength of the chorister contingent alone.

The second factor is that there are fewer and fewer London day schools with a dedicated 13+ entry point, especially for girls. Relying on an occasional Year 9 place becoming available at a suitable London day school is a gamble; opting for boarding instead can offer more scope to find a school that is a good fit, with less competition for places.

So sorry I just saw this in my junk :( yes we did also receive a letter and went today

That’s good. We were also there today. Hope it went well for your little one (I know it’s impossible to know!)

More than ridiculous number of people. Everything crossed and whatever will be will be :)

Yes I think they assess 80 children and there obviously aren’t many places

There are 40 places, 1 in 2 have a chance.

And sadly we weren’t offered a place :(

Same here. We’re on the waiting list. I think it’s their loss

You’re absolutely right xx