The London Oratory School
The London Oratory School
Nearest underground station: Fulham Broadway
Is a voluntary-aided school which was founded by and is in the trusteeship of the Congregation of the Oratory of Saint Philip Neri, London, sometimes known as the Brompton Oratory.
Its aim is to assist Catholic parents in fulfilling their obligation to educate their children in accordance with the principles and teachings of the Church; to do this within an environment which will encourage and support the spiritual, physical, moral and intellectual development of the child and help him to grow towards full Christian maturity; and to provide a wide and rich range of educational and cultural experiences which will encourage children to discover and develop their potential to its maximum and to strive for high standards of excellence in all activities.
The school expects children to behave and work properly and parents to support the school in maintaining high standards of discipline.
There are 1370 pupils, including 340 in the sixth form, of whom 100 are girls. Each year the school admits 160 eleven-year-old boys to the first form; up to 50 sixteen-year-old girls and boys to the sixth form for A-level and AS courses; and 20 seven-year-old boys to the Junior House for a specialist musical education.
The school has a long musical tradition. For pupils with an aptitude for music and a desire to study it seriously, the school affords extensive opportunities for tuition, study and public performance. Music is an important part of the day to day life of the school.
The school provides a broadly-based curriculum which promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of its pupils and of society and prepares pupils for the responsibilities and experiences of adult life. The courses followed and the assessments of achievement are designed to include the requirements of the national curriculum.
In the first, second and third forms boys are assigned to one of two broad bands by ability, with 30 of the most able boys being placed in an accelerated group, which is expected to work at a faster pace and complete key stage 3 in the second form in English, French, mathematics and religious education and to take five GCSEs in the fourth form. The curriculum enables pupils to take between nine and thirteen GCSEs in the fourth and fifth forms. Five of the six forms of entry study Latin until the end of the third form, when it becomes optional.
Homework is not regarded as an optional extra but as an integral part of the normal curriculum. Pupils cannot fulfil the requirements of the curriculum unless they make a conscientious effort in the homework which is set and in regular revision.
In the sixth form, pupils are expected to take four subjects, three of which will normally be at A-level and one at AS-level. Sixth form pupils are expected to aim for university places and the school has well-established links with universities and Oxfordand Cambridgecolleges. Last year 184 went on to university, 13 of these to Oxford and Cambridge.