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University College School, or UCS, was founded with UCL and began its life in 1830 on Gower Street. The school was progressive from the outset, with no corporal punishment, no boarders, and teaching Modern Languages and the Sciences before many other schools. UCS separated from UCL in 1905 and moved to its own site in Hampstead in 1907. More recent developments include the Pre-Prep for boys in 2003, and girls being admitted to the sixth form from 2009 onwards. The UCS mission is described as enabling pupils to ‘become the very best version of themselves.’ The school outlines that it provides ‘best-in-class education and outstanding pastoral care, supported by a liberal ethos that forms the bedrock of our school.’ This ‘liberal scholarship’ is defined as ‘intellectual curiosity, creativity, breadth of study and independence of mind, as a basis for academic excellence.’ This should help pupils to ‘live out their full potential.’
School fees are £7297 per term.
In the most recent available data, from 2021, 96% of GCSEs were graded at 7-9 (A or A*) and an incredible 51% of all grades were 9s. At A level, 98% of grades were A* to B, and approaching half of all grades were A*.
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The school offers more than 22 subjects at both GCSE and A Level, and is proud of the academic enrichment programmes and activities which accompany this academic curriculum, as well as the ‘dedicated and bespoke pastoral care’ that pupils benefit from. The Academic Enrichment programme operates across all year groups at UCS, and includes anything from Enrichment Weeks, to the EPQ in Sixth form, to an Academic Symposium in which Year 12s give 15 minute presentations on topics related to courses that they are interested in after UCS.
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There are 55 places available for new boys in Year 7. These new boys will join the 60 or so who transfer from the UCS Junior Branch into the Senior School. The admission process is as follows.
First, Entrance Examinations take place which are designed to match the National Curriculum requirements in format and content. This means that candidates are assessed primarily by their ability in English and Maths. There is no reasoning paper. The format is a one hour and 15 minute paper for English, split into two sections – reading comprehension (45 minutes) and creative writing (30 minutes), and a maths examination of one hour and 15 minutes, divided into three sections. These are Multiple Choice, Core Maths, and Maths Problems. All topics will be within the National Curriculum for the age group.
The school then will interview ‘as many candidates as we can’ and these interviews take place in late January. They consist of a mini-lesson and a one-on-one interview with a member of the teaching staff.
School
What’s your current school like compared to this one?
What do you most like about your current school?
What do you think a UCS student is like?
Have you had the chance to look around UCS?
How do you think you will be able to give to the community here?
What do you think of your teachers at your current school?
Subjects
What subjects do you struggle with?
What’s your favourite subject at school?
If you could choose one new subject to study that you haven’t been able to yet, what would it be?
If you were a head teacher, what changes would you make to your current school to make it better?
Academic
What kind of non-fiction do you read outside of school?
What is the perimeter of a rectangle of area 40m2, that has one side of length 4m?
You buy a sweatshirt and a pair of shoes for £150. The shoes cost £100 more than the sweatshirt. How much does each item cost?
How would you calculate the probability of not getting a 6 on a 6 sided die?
Is it possible to write an entire book in poetry?
Can you give me three examples of different pronouns?
