City of London Freemen's School (CLFS)

[AlwaysMoreThanMeetsTheEye]

Seeking views (ideally from direct experience) on CLFS. We are SW London and it is one of the schools on our radar for 11+ (2023 entry). Academic results seem outstanding but I am really interested on pastoral care (for a down-to-earth and sociable but also slightly anxious DD) and also sports, art, and music provision. Many thanks in advance.

To update, it wasn’t an easy decision but we decided to go with Epsom College once we had all our offers on the table.

Can I ask what swung it for you?

Also would love to know what helped make the decision.

My son left a year ago. He was very happy and didn't experience any of these issues - in fact if anything he thought the pastoral care was a bit over the top with an awful lot of sessions about the importance of caring for each other (maybe the new Head's reaction to some of the points described by others here?)

I appreciate that it may be a different experience for a boy but our friends had girls at the school as well as boys and none of them led us to believe there were serious issues of the sort described under the current regime.

What I would say about the school is that although the teaching is excellent the administration is hopeless - so expect to need to chase for information and for them to forget to tell you important things about arrangements (in contracts to the admissions people who were much better organised!)

We had the same choice and went for CLFS over Epsom - I dont regret the decision. But Epsom is a 6 day school and CLFS is 5 days so in our case it was mainly about wanting to spend more time as a family at weekends.

It's not as simple as public money providing faith education.

At the DC's school the CoE owns the land and buildings, and allows the school to use them. I'm not sure if the school pays any rent. The CoE also provides financial support to the running of the school.

This scenario is played out hundreds of times in older schools with their roots in the CoE. In many rural villages, these are the only schools that have ever existed there. Even if the CoE wanted to sell the school land and buildings, how many local authorities or academy trusts could afford to buy them?

One more thing to be aware of if your child is academic. They won't let you do 4 A-levels (unless one of them is Further Maths) because they prefer the additional time to be spent on a broader life skills/study course ('Free Minds'). Mine did double Maths, Physics and French and got excellent results with very good teachers in all subjects, also had good school support for Oxbridge/Warwick entrance.

As for sport was badly hit by Covid but was generally good before that. Squash is unusually good, tennis less so (for boys anyway). A lot of focus on rugby and cricket but boys are allowed to play football if they prefer. My son wasn't into music or theatre but the facilities seemed good and lots of his friends were involved.

There is a current push on nurturing and a new senco which is encouraging. However so far there’s lots of talk but not seeing much manifested on the ground in terms of investment in pastoral staff or facilities. Some very old fashioned out of data approaches to teaching and motivation in juniors - hope that will change. Junior Head leaving end of year so things may alter. There is a lot of talk and lessons on relationships especially for girls. However the change in ethos needs to get into the bones of the place. NB Parents are kept v much at arms length - better balance to be struck here. Nevertheless I’ve got 3 kids 2 boys and a girl who are relatively happy right now. Nowhere is perfect. I think it Could be a fantastic school if it modernised and really took to heart a change led by a day to day caring and understanding teaching style. Wonderful park - lots of freedom to roam (pos too much) freedom and independence expected. Sport not as competitive as other places which is a good thing I think. My experience is they don’t push, discipline is less light but still some quite old school shouty/strict types and therefore some upset little ones. I can see how bullying could occur and not be picked up or addressed to parents but no direct experience to date thank god. Mixed bag. Good luck. It’s always a leap of faith.

Thanks Arisaig1. Sorry I should have said that my son only attended the senior school, I know nothing about the juniors. He actually attended Cranmore Prep school beforehand and I recognise many of your concerns about needing a more caring, nurturing environment from his early years there.

(In the seniors parents weren't kept at arms length, it was just that the admin was incompetent so they often forgot to tell you what was going on - but they were always very pleased when you turned up!)

It's true that sport isn't as high profile or competitive as some places but there was still good competition in most sports for those who wanted it. So I think this was a good balance. And there are a lot of playing fields - as well as squash courts - so facilities are much better than most state schools and many private schools.

Hi I agree with what you say. Admin and comms is poor but that I can live with if the experience is good for kids. I find the arms length thing was lower down the school. Senior experience seems largely different so far. Think it’s a balance. Having too much parental interference is not a good thing. However you need to feel welcome if you need to talk. I like the sport balance - not aggressively competitive which is better I think than some places. Academically solid I think.

Hi, can I ask whether any children were not invited to the academic scholarship assessment but still got offered a place? My child has not been invited after having done the 11+ exam and I wanted to check whether this means that she is therefore not going to be offered a place or whether some children who are not invited to the scholarship assessment still get offered places. Thank you.

Hi, my son hasn't been invited to academic assessment, but still got a place. You should have received an email on Monday with the offer. Have received anything from them?

Hi, are you happy with your choice so far?

Hi, are you happy with your choice?

Very much so. It has been an amazing experience for my DS. He thinks teachers are vastly superior to prep school and from my perspective the enrichment is way beyond expectations. I can’t really comment compared to Freemen as not had any contact with others there.

our experience has been wonderful, whilst I’m sure there are some negative experiences, we have not experienced this. Joining later in the school, it has been nothing except a positive experience, sports, academia, staff, facilities, other parents, friendships, trips, etc. Any friendship issues, which would happen in any setting, has been dealt with promptly, but the school does encourage independence. Some kids do move on at 6th form but this is very common at all the schools. Recently there has been a large intake from Downsend, so it is very much seen as a desirable school in the area. Not living in the immediate local area has not in any way impacted my kids ability to build a large network of friends who they socialise with outside of school as well. There is certainly no culture of lapndancing hockey teams, this must be historical or a myth. My kids are happy and achieving, doing extra curricular activities, confident, and sociable. I would take a look for yourself and made a decision based on your own thoughts. The open days are led by the kids, so ask as many questions as you need, you will get honest answers.

I think pastoral care is improving and new Senco team making a v positive change in terms of support - winds of change in the junior school too with new head from the padstoral Longacre. Fingers crossed going in right direction - less obsessed with independence.