City of London Boys - learning support/pastoral care

[fishface1979]

Hi,

I wondered if any parents of City of London Boys' school could share their thoughts on the learning support and pastoral care offer. We really liked the school when we attended the open day. Our son is gentle and very clever but can also be anxious, in part as he is autistic. He's into science and history and loved the robotics and VR elements of the open day, not so much into sport etc.

Thanks for any intel!

I don’t have any specific detail, but CLS is entirely rammed to the ceiling with boys like your son. He will find many friends within the cohort, if that’s what he is looking for.

From word of mouth, in general terms of discipline and teaching, the pastoral support at other schools (eg DC and Westminster) is probably far gentler than we have experienced at CLS. Why don’t you set up a call with the CLS SEN team and ask how they specifically support boys like your son? Many prospective parents do this.

Hi Fiddler - do you mind if I ask for a clarification, are you saying other schools have gentler provisions for SEN kids, or CLS have gentler provision?

FWIW I have a very similar boys OP taking the CLS assessment, so yours won’t be alone!

@FiddlefigOnTheRoof Thanks a lot for your response. - much appreciated Do you think the pastoral support is better at the likes of Dulwich College? I wasn't quite sure what you meant by it being 'gentler' - whether CLS was more gentle or the opposite. I will also try to speak with them as you suggest. @Aregularjosephine thanks for your response too and good luck to your son.

I have sons at City and Highgate - in our experience City is a rougher environment, a bit “swim or sink”, that fits better independent boys. In our experience Highgate has offered better, more focused, pastoral care. My son joined City in Y9 and found it a bit hard, I think if is a 13+ entrance is better than an 11+ entrance for that particular school. Not sure what you have applied for? I dont know Dulwich personally but have friends there and at Alleyns, in both cases and they are both very happy with pastoral care.

Don’t know if it’s too late for you but I have a son at CLS who sounds incredibly similar to yours. We have found Learning Support to be exceptional there and could not be happier with the support and care they provide. If you haven’t done so already, do talk to the head of Learning Support as someone else suggested. She is amazing