How bright for City of London Boys?

[Elenaelaina]

We are thinking about secondary schools for son who is going into year 5 this September. He is currently at a fairly high achieving state primary and doing very well, but I have no idea whether we would be realistic to enter him for City of London. His school report just says “greater depth” and his teacher isn’t able to give any sense of where he is in a wider cohort.

We looked at the sample exams on their website and they look manageable with a bit of preparation, but obviously I don’t know how well you have to do. Any suggestions for how to get an idea of where he stands academically and what schools would be realistic? Do we just need to find a tutor with experience do the schools?

You could enter him for the 10 plus as practice but it's worth reading up on the changes that City prep school is going through as it's move to mixed.

If you want private from year 7 you need to consider a range of schools for different abilities.

Thank you. We are particularly interested in City of London as we liked the feel and the location is convenient for us. It would be from year 7 as he’s very happy at his primary, but yes, perhaps 10+ is a good trial run.

It is a highly selective school and plenty of top of their school boys don’t get through. I think most recently it was about 800 applicants for 60 places at 11+.

If there are local tutors to you with a track record of getting boys in they may be able to do some assessments as to what his potential is like and if not City where else might be an alternative. Otherwise I totally get it is very hard to judge in a state primary whether your GD child is just doing well or is exceptional.

bear in mind the tutor feedback is likely to be “<potential outcomes> with regular tutoring”. However realistically the boys getting in that type of school will be at academic prep schools focussed on 11+ and/or well tutored and/or doing lots of work with parents at home.