City of London School for Girls

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City of London School for Girls (CLSG) is a girls' independent school located in the Barbican Estate complex in the City of London, United Kingdom. It is sister school of the City of London School (a boys' school) and the City of London Freemen's School (a co-educational school). The school celebrated its 110th Anniversary in 2004-2005, under the title of 'Women in Leadership'. It celebrated its 111th Anniversary in 2005-2006, under the same title. It celebrated its 112th Anniversary in 2006-2007 under the title of 'International Women in Leadership'.

The school was founded by William Ward in 1894. It was his conviction that girls should be given a broad and liberal education with an emphasis on scholarship and despite having no daughters of his own, he left a third of his fortune to the City of London to fund the foundation of a girls' school, a £20,000 legacy for the Corporation of London. The school now receives financial support from the City Livery Companies as well as banks and other City firms. Links with the City of London remain strong - the City administers the school and the Board of Governors is appointed by the Court of Common Council. The school has strong links with its brother school - the City of London School for Boys is just a ten-minute walk away.

1 General
2 Academic
3 Extracurricular
4 Pastoral
5 Future Plans
6 Former pupils
7 External link

[edit] General

The school is for girls aged 7 to 18. Most pupils enter aged 7 ("7+" for the Prep School), 11 ("11+"), or 16 ("16+", for Sixth Form), although casual vacancies arise occasionally. The school's capacity is roughly 680 pupils. As its success rises, applications to the school continue to climb and new classrooms are being continually created, including by moving the school nurse out of her office.

Fees are currently £3,687 a term (2006) for the senior school exclusive of school lunches, and entrance is by examination. (The Prep Department is the same, but includes school lunches). The school remains relatively ethically and socially diverse, although not as diverse as other leading London schools in both the state and independent sectors.

[edit] Academic

The school has an excellent academic reputation and leading league table results. In 2005, the school came first in The Sunday Times table of Prep Schools, and 2nd and 3rd respectively in many published tables of GCSE and A-level results. The current headmistress (the 9th in "City's" history) who drove the league table results up (despite often saying that she does not believe in their existence) has announced her retirement, with the next academic year being her last.

The school's success gives it the reputation of a hot house with special emphasis and pressure being put on all girls taking public examinations. However, the school also encourages extracurricular activities. The arts are popular, appropriately enough for a school located across a lake from the Barbican Arts Centre. Furthermore, teachers are encouraged to go 'beyond the syllabus', exploring wider issues to nurture girls in areas that are not examined. Set within the heart of the City of London, the school is unique, in terms both of its location and its social mix. Pupils and teachers alike exploit to the full the cultural, architectural, historical and intellectual richness of the City of London.

[edit] Extracurricular

The school has fantastic extracurricular opportunities. Music, art and drama are all exceptionally strong. Music lessons are availible to indivuals or groups, and the school has successful Junior and Senior Orchestras, Junior and Senior Choirs, a gospel Choir, a Barbershop group and a Swing Band. Drama at City flourishes under the instruction of Mr Morely (of 'The Bill' fame) and this year saw three school productions: a junior production of 'The House That Sailed Away' and senior productions of 'Just' and 'Kindertransport' by Diane Samuels. In 2005, City held their first ever drama festival, a fortnight of productions and workshops. Sports are another strength at City, with clubs and squads in abundance. The school has a swimming pool, both hard and soft small sports areas, an indoor gym with climbing wall and access to the local HAC grounds. Debating is another popular activity, and public speaking competitions such as Model United Nations and European Youth Parliament are quite frequent.

Trips and visits are common, and City girls are offered language exchanges to France, Spain, Germany and China, as well as other travelling opportunities through schemes such as World Challenge, which has seen girs go recenty to Venezuela. Duke of Edinburgh expeditions have been confined to the UK since 2001, when student Amelia Ward was killed whilst abseiling on a Duke of Edinburgh trip to South Africa.

[edit] Pastoral

The pastoral role of the school is strong and it deals well with the problems typical to a girls' school of its calibre. City Girls are well rounded and open, and ambition in all fields is encouraged. The school is secular, yet has mildly Christian traditions, with twice weekly hymns and an annual Carol Service in the neighbouring St Giles' Church. There is a weekly Jewish assembly, as well as a Not Necessarily Jewish Society, an Asian Society and an African/Afrocarribean society.

[edit] Future Plans

There are currently plans in the pipeline for a new extension to the school in the form of a Sixth Form Block and an all-weather playing field, as the school continues to grow in success and popularity, especially for the 2000 intake, which swelled from the usual 60-70 girls per year to 90+.

The current headmistress is Dr Yvonne Burne, who is shortly to retire. The new headmistress for the school will be Miss Diana Vernon, who will join the school in September 2007.