Entry to the Sixth Form

There will be one assessment lasting approximately an hour and will require candidates to produce a large drawing on paper, based on a still life group consisting of a range of different objects and organised beforehand. Candidates will work have a choice to work in chalk and charcoal or ink pen and wash, pencils and erasers may be used for light guidelines and planning, and will be assessed on their ability to do the following:

• Create a unified drawing.
• Convey the characteristics of the various objects in terms of tone, surface pattern, shape, scale.
• Convey a sense of three-dimensional form.
• Show an understanding of the different positions in space of the various objects through overlapping, use of shadows, changes of scale.
• Make good/expressive use of the chalk and charcoal or ink pen and wash through blending/subtle gradation, contrasts of tone, varied use of line.

Candidates must bring a minimum of four pieces of work; this could include a sketchbook or a digital portfolio for us to look at. The work should demonstrate a range of skills and techniques.

The assessment is designed to test a candidate’s understanding of the practical aspects of the subject. Generally, candidates will be presented with data relating to a particular biological process (e.g. respiration or photosynthesis) and asked to use their knowledge to explain any apparent trends. The questions will often expect some data handling (e.g. calculating means and drawing a graph) and might also ask a candidate to describe limitations of and/or improvements to the experiment carried out to collect the data.

Candidates may also be asked to design an experiment, having been given an observation or the outline of a problem to be investigated. It is expected that the candidate will have a good working knowledge of the subject up to GCSE level, but questions which depend solely upon factual recall will not be in the majority.

The assessment questions will be set on the following GCSE topics:

• Organic chemistry: alkanes and alkenes (chapters 22-25) NOT alcohols, carboxylic acids, esters or polymers.
• Energy changes in reactions (chapter 19).
• Atomic structure (chapters 3 and 4).
• Chemical bonding and structure (chapters 7-9).
• Formulae, equations and chemical calculations (chapters 5 and 6).
• Reactions of groups 1 and 7 (chapters 11 and 12).
• Rates of reaction (chapter 20).

Chapter numbers refer to the textbook Edexcel IGCSE (9-1) Chemistry by Clark, Owen and Yu (ISBN 9780435185169) but any quality IGCSE/GCSE textbook should cover these topics.

The assessment has three questions. The first question will be based on a passage of Latin or Greek literature in translation. Candidates will be required to answer questions on its style and content. The second question will be based on a material source. Candidates will be required to analyse the source for inferences on Classical life and culture. The third question will require candidates to write a short essay on some aspect of the study of the Classical world. The wording will be very broad, and no special preparation will be necessary. It is not necessary to have studied GCSE Classical Civilisation, although candidates who are sitting the assessment can of course reflect upon the work they have done in Years 10 and 11.

The assessment has three questions. The first question will be based on a passage of Classical Greek accompanied by a close translation. Candidates will be asked to answer questions on the style and content of the passage. Classical Greek language skills will not be tested directly. The second question will be a language test.

Candidates will be required to translate Classical Greek sentences into English. The level of grammar and vocabulary will be appropriate for pupils who have just started the second year of the Classical Greek GCSE course. The third question will require candidates to write a short essay on some aspect of Greek studies. The wording will be very broad, and no special preparation will be necessary. However, candidates would do well to review the work they have done for GCSE.

Candidates will be required to produce a written review of a piece of live OR digital/streamed theatre which they have seen in the last year. The review should highlight particular aspects of the production which they thought were effective and explain why. They should refer to as many elements of drama such as the acting, staging, lighting and costumes, as are relevant. Dramatic terminology studied at GCSE level should be employed with confidence. References to contextual knowledge, the playwright’s intentions, as well as the style and genre of the piece will be expected to be covered, as appropriate. The assessment will test the candidate’s ability to analyse and evaluate live theatre, offering personal judgements, and to use subject specific dramatic terminology.

The assessment requires no specific prior knowledge or study of the subject. We expect candidates to have good business awareness and logical thought together with an
interest in business and economic news. Questions will largely comprise data analysis, graph interpretation and calculations. The Economics A-Level course does require
logical thinking and some numerical calculations. A calculator is required.

The assessment consists of a comparison of two unseen poems. We are looking for candidates who can show the ability to read the poems closely and intelligently, who
can provide a focused response to the set question. The response must reveal, through apt use of quotations and analysis thereof, close engagement with the poems. We set a high store on analytical ability, which a candidate will demonstrate by, of course, an awareness of theme and, above all, a sensitive response to nuance, subtext, perspective and authorial intention. Candidates should guard against vague waffle with little reference to textual specifics.

The assessment will require the candidates to write an essay or a letter or an article of around 150 words in French on one of the following topics from a choice of two:

• La vie au collège
• Ma maison, la routine quotidienne et la vie en famille
• Ma ville et mon quartier
• Le temps libre.

Candidates should ensure that they are familiar with a wide range of topic vocabulary and the more complex grammatical structures encountered at IGCSE. This should include:

• present tense for habitual actions
• constructions with depuis or ça fait…que
• perfect tense of regular, irregular and reflexive verbs
• imperfect tense of regular and irregular verbs
• future tense (simple and near)
• conditional tense
• negatives (ne… pas, ne… rien, ne…jamais, ne… plus)
• comparatives
• ‘si’ clauses
• relative pronouns (qui, que, ce qui, ce que)
• après avoir / être + past participle
• avant de + infinitive
• connectors and personal opinion phrases.

28 marks are available and will be awarded for:

• Completing all tasks
• Giving detailed information, opinions/reactions and explanations
• Focused and wholly relevant writing
• Extended, well-linked sentences used frequently
• A wide range of simple and complex structures used to produce sentences of varying length
• A wide range of vocabulary appropriate to the task
• Accurate spelling and grammar.

The assessment will comprise two parts. A point marked question assessing a candidate’s ability to interpret data and a discussive essay assessing their quality of argument. This year’s essay will consider the threat of climate change. It is anticipated that candidates will have sufficient knowledge from their own GCSE studies to be able
to answer these questions.

The assessment will consist of three questions. The first question is a grammar exercise on the use of the subordinate clause. This is followed by some sentences to translate from English into German and by a short essay (150 words). Candidates should focus on the revision of the higher level of grammatical constructions and vocabulary needed at GCSE. The assessment will test the candidate’s ability to manipulate word order in subordinate clauses, to translate from English into German and to write an essay in German which is accurate and covers the information asked for by the question.

The assessment will consist of two questions. The first question will test the candidate’s ability to analyse a historical source. The second question will require them to apply their knowledge of topics studied at GCSE to consider the causes or consequences of an event. Candidates are advised to revise two or three of the major topics they have studied at GCSE. The questions are designed to allow them to draw on a wide variety of topics. This is an acknowledgement of wide variety of choices at GCSE. The assessment will test the candidate’s ability to interpret sources, write with clarity and precision, provide substantiated analysis and handle historical concepts.

The assessment has three questions. The first question will be based on a passage of Latin accompanied by a close translation. Candidates will be asked to answer questions on the style and content of the passage. Latin language skills will not be tested directly. The second question will be a language test. Candidates will be required to translate Latin sentences into English. The level of grammar and vocabulary will be appropriate for pupils who have just started the second year of the Latin GCSE course. The third question will require candidates to write a short essay on some aspect of Roman studies. The wording will be very broad, and no special preparation will be necessary. However, candidates would do well to review the work they have done for GCSE.

The assessment is based on the CIE IGCSE syllabus. For the reading and writing, the questions are in Chinese characters and require candidates to write answers in Chinese characters. An English translation is not provided for the written questions. Topics cover School and Shopping. Candidates are required to be familiar with the past and future tense and know how to create sentences. They should also be able to recognise question words written in Chinese characters (essential for the writing task).

Calculators are not allowed for the assessment and no formula sheet is included. The assessment will be based on the following topics:

•  Percentages
• Indices and surds
• Manipulating algebraic expressions, including algebraic fractions and rearranging formulae
  • Solving linear and quadratic equations
  • Solving simultaneous linear and non-linear equations
  • Co-ordinate geometry, the equations of linear graphs and circles, together with
  their tangent lines
  • Pythagoras and trigonometry applied to right-angled triangles

The assessment will focus on their knowledge of musical historical periods as well as the repertoire they are currently learning/ playing. There will also be a traditional-style question testing their understanding of music theory. At audition, candidates should be prepared to play two contrasting pieces on their first instrument and one on their second instrument or voice where appropriate. They will be given both sight-reading and aural tests and asked to talk about their contribution to musical activities in their current school and outside. They should also bring copies of the compositions they have produced in order to fulfil the GCSE course they are following. These should be presented in traditional music notation format.

The assessment for Philosophy and Theology is in two parts. In part one, candidates will read a passage from a philosophical or theological text and answer two short questions related to the argument being presented. In part two, candidates will answer one general essay-style question from a choice of three. These questions are designed to invite a focused discussion whilst anticipating and engaging with potential counterarguments. Successful candidates will address the question directly and demonstrate clarity of thought in their responses. The assessment does not presume any prior philosophical or theological knowledge and candidates are not expected to have studied the subject at GCSE.

The assessment questions are GCSE based and cover a range of topics. Candidates are not expected to achieve the maximum mark possible on the test paper, as it is possible
that candidates may not have studied a topic yet, but to answer a fair number of questions correctly and logically. Candidates will be given formula sheets.

The assessment requires no prior knowledge but an awareness of the current political climate and events might prove advantageous. Candidates should have good analytical skills and be prepared to take an interest in politics in the news and follow contemporary events prior to the course starting. The assessment will hinge around a politics related source.

The assessment will consist of two parts. The first part will be a translation into Russian of short sentences in English. The level of vocabulary required will be no higher than that necessary to achieve a high grade at GCSE. Candidates will be expected, though, to have learnt basic verbs in all tenses, and to know basic case endings. The second part will be a translation into English of a short text in Russian. Again, the text will be comparable in difficulty to those used for the harder questions in a typical GCSE Reading Comprehension paper. Candidates are advised to focus principally on revision of the higher level of grammatical constructions met at GCSE.

The assessment will consist of two questions. The first will test the candidate’s ability to write in continuous prose in Spanish on a topic commonly encountered at GCSE. The
second will require a candidate to display his knowledge of a variety of grammatical constructions by translating sentences from English into Spanish. For question one,
candidates are advised to revise a variety of common GCSE topics and to ensure that they use a variety of tenses and vocabulary in their answer.

For question two, candidates are advised to revise the following grammatical points:

• desde hace constructions
• object pronouns
• comparatives
• the use of gustar and verbs like it
• use of the neuter pronoun lo
• the formation and use of the present, future, preterite, perfect and imperfect tenses.

The assessment will test the candidate’s ability to write accurate and varied Spanish and to manipulate more complex grammatical structures.

Pupils attend CLS from all over the Greater London area. The majority travel by public transport, the average journey time being about 45 minutes. Some parents have initial misgivings about their children covering such distances but the pupils tend to make light of it, often using the time to their advantage by reading and learning. Moreover, we find that commuting often engenders a sense of independence and confidence.

Yes, provided they meet the academic requirements of the School. Parents of a child who has any special educational need should submit all relevant educational psychologists’, medical practitioners’ or specialist teachers’ reports at registration. This information is required in order to make appropriate arrangements during the exams or at interview. After admission, the Learning Support Department, in consultation with parents, will make recommendations as to the type of help needed by each individual pupil. Support may include individual or group lessons, providing study skills or specialist tuition, enabling boys with special educational needs to work with greater independence and success within the School.

At the heart of the pastoral system is the Form Tutor who is responsible for all aspects of a pupil’s progress through the School – personal, academic, extra-curricular and social. Tutors are encouraged to contact parents by telephone or e-mail if they are concerned or delighted by any aspect of a pupil’s performance, and parents are encouraged to reciprocate. We seek an active dialogue, a partnership where trust has been built up between Tutor and parent. Tutors are supported by a Head of Year and the Deputy Head Pastoral, who has overall responsibility for the pastoral system.

There are six Houses at CLS. The House System allows pupils to compete with others in their age group, particularly at sport, and enjoy a sense of loyalty and belonging. It is not part of the formal pastoral system.

Although both Schools are owned by the City of London Corporation, they are run separately. However, there is much co-operation and assistance between the Schools. In the Sixth Form there is the joint City+ programme as well as some joint Higher Education Provision. There are also various co-curricular activities such as drama productions, musical concerts, clubs and the annual Sponsored Walk – not to mention social occasions.

The programme aims to provide pupils with the opportunity to engage in a sporting activity that motivates, rewards and promotes a healthy and active lifestyle for each individual, regardless of ability. A Games afternoon for all pupils ensures that the ‘healthy body, healthy mind’ concept remains at the forefront of the pupils’ ideals. Our boys are offered an increasing choice of activities as they progress through the School. A thorough grounding in individual and team sports in the lower years is then enhanced in later years by the introduction of more specialist activities such as sailing, climbing, fencing and martial arts. A full range of outdoor and adventure activities is also available through the Combined Cadet Force. CLS has an extensive inter-school fixtures list, which promotes elite-level competition across the four major school sports: football, cricket, water polo and basketball. School teams annually achieve outstanding results in both Regional and National Leagues and in Cup competitions, and we are very proud of our successes. The School invests heavily in maintaining and adding to its outstanding facilities, both on and off-site, in order to provide every pupil with the opportunity to extend their individual sporting potential.