City of London School Fees: Complete Cost Breakdown for 2026

City of London School is a boys' day school, so its fees are day-school fees, with no boarding charge to factor in. The headline tuition figure is the main cost, alongside a modest registration fee and a small number of optional extras such as individual music lessons. This guide breaks down the published costs for 2026, explains the charges that sit outside the tuition fee, and covers the school's transformational bursary route, which can cover up to the full fee for families who need it.

The City of London tuition fee

Because City of London School is a day school with no boarding, the fee that matters is the tuition fee. The published figure is £9,462 per term, inclusive of VAT, which comes to £28,386 across the three terms of the year. Because school fees are reviewed and published year by year, you should confirm the current figure directly with the school for your son's year of entry, but this gives a clear sense of the level. As a day-school fee it sits well below the cost of the leading boarding schools, which is part of the appeal for London families seeking a top academic education without boarding fees, though it remains a significant commitment in the context of central London independent schooling.

Registration and assessment fees

A small registration fee falls at the start of the process. The standard registration fee is £160, with a non-standard fee of £250 where particular arrangements apply, and the school may charge an additional assessment fee of £250 in certain circumstances. These are modest sums set against the annual tuition fee, but they fall before your son has started, so it is worth checking which apply to your application when you register. The school's admissions team can confirm the exact charges for your son's circumstances, and it is sensible to clarify them at the point of registration rather than being surprised later.

Extras to budget for

As at any senior school, some costs sit outside the headline tuition fee and vary from family to family. The main published extra at City of London School is individual music lessons, charged at £411.60 per term if taken, alongside the usual variable costs such as some trips, examination entry fees in the public-exam years, and personal items. None is large on its own, but for a boy who takes individual music lessons they add a meaningful amount across a year, so it is sensible to leave a little headroom in your budget rather than planning to the exact tuition figure. For a sense of how City of London School's costs compare with other leading London schools, our ranking of the best private schools in London puts the fees in context.

Planning for fee increases

One mistake families make is budgeting only for the fee at entry. A boy joining at 11+ in 2026 will be at the school for seven years through to the end of the Sixth Form, and over that time the fee will rise. With independent school fees climbing faster than inflation in recent years, and VAT now applying, it is prudent to plan for annual increases rather than assume the entry figure holds. A sensible approach is to model the cost across all seven years with a realistic annual rise built in, plus any music lessons and extras, so the later years do not come as a shock. If that full picture looks stretching, it is far better to know at the outset, when the bursary route can be explored, than to find the fee unmanageable midway through.

Bursaries and scholarships

City of London School runs a substantial means-tested bursary programme, its transformational bursaries, and this is the route that matters most if affordability is your central concern. Bursaries are assessed on financial circumstances rather than talent, and they can cover up to the full fee for families who would not otherwise be able to consider the school. A strong candidate from a family that cannot meet the fee should still apply. It is important to understand how the school handles scholarships: its academic, music and sport scholarships carry only a nominal financial value and are essentially marks of distinction, tenable until the end of Year 11. The real financial help comes through the bursary, not the scholarship. Our guide to City of London scholarships explains this in full, and our overview of school bursaries and scholarships covers the wider funding picture.

Is it worth it?

Whether £28,386 a year represents value is a judgment only your family can make, but it helps to know what the fee buys. City of London School offers an exceptional academic record, with results that place it among the strongest schools in the country, a central London location of real practical value to commuting families, and the breadth of a large day school. Set against that, the fee is high, as it is at all the leading London independent schools, though lower than the boarding alternatives. The honest position is that City of London School is an expensive school and a strong one, and the decision turns on how those two facts weigh against each other for your family, and on whether the bursary route brings the cost within reach.