City of London School - Definition and Overview

Arms of the City of London and City of London School

City of London School, or CLS for short, is an independent boys' school located on the banks of the River Thames, at the edge of the City of London in London, United Kingdom. It is the sister school of theCity of London School for Girls (a girls' school located within the Barbican Estate complex). Intake is from age 10 to 18, though many of its pupils enter at 11, and similarly join other independent schools for the sixth form (17-18). The City of London School is unique in status as a fee paying school which is nominally run by a local government authority. It has never discriminated against pupils on grounds of religious persuasion, which marks it out from out public schools which have a strong Anglican tradition. This has given rise to an institution which produces free thinkers and often radical sentiment. The school is fortunate to have a extremely popular Politics Society which attracts some of the leading lights in British and International political spheres. Tensions threatened to erupt between the some 30% Jewish majority and a Muslim minority following the visit of George Galloway.

Current pupils include Harry Potter actor Daniel Radcliffe.

Famous Old Citizens (Old Boys)

• Edwin Abbott Abbott - Schoolmaster, theologian and author
• Kingsley Amis - Writer
• Herbert Asquith - Prime Minister 1908-1916
• Julian Barnes - Novelist
• Mike Brearley - Cricketer
• Ralph Knott - Architect
• Luke McShane - Chess Grandmaster
• Charles Thomson Ritchie - Chancellor of the Exchequer 1902-1903
• John Robert Seeley - Historian and essayist

External links

• City of London School web site (http://www.clsb.org)
• John Carpenter Club (Old Citizen's Association) (http://www.jcc.org.uk)

Further reading

• Carpenter's Children: History of the City of London School