Alleyn's 11+ 2019

Trying to revive this thread and see what comes out of it. I see a lot of post from parentsr of dauthers going to Alleyns but I am interested in views of parents of sons. We are in the fortunate position of having an offer from Alleyns and DC. Both local school with A slightly further away but that is not a deal breaker. Son from state school with no streaming and no topsets/extra work for more able also no homework- big achievement for him to get offers with no support from the school. He is also very sporty. As Alleyns is CoEd I guess in a class of 10/11 boys with mostly coming from the junior school and others from prep schools, he might be the only one or maybe one of two from state? While in a classof 20 boys at DC there should be a bit more mix? I would be interested in views from parenst of sons from state that joined Alleyns ( as it seems they mstly prefer DC while girls might choose A over Jags?) as I might have the wrong impression- also intersted in their sport dept. Thank you

Last year there was an alternative exam date for Alleyns which they didn’t reveal but it obviously existed as quite a few sat on the alternative date so you may find the total numbers sitting the exam were more than you thought! Good luck for the interview. Your DC has done well!

Hope everyone had some good news from Alleyn's yesterday. We have a Saturday interview here - reading through the thread it seems fairly relaxed. How is everyone else feeling? It felt like there were more than 900 kids taking the exam this year.

It depends on schools. You need to call the school and see if they can arrange another date. Of course, only call the least preference school.

Last year, SPS & Dulwich College have the 11+ exam at the same day. I called DC to see if they are able to reschedule the exam and they did. On the exam day, there are about 25 children and most of them were on SPS exam as well.

Hope that helps.

We may have a similar issue with Latymer this year. I've just checked and they also have their exam on the same day as Alleyn's....

Has anyone had this experience in previous years?

to be honest thought they are quite different schools - I'm not sure either school could have anticipated someone would apply to both?

Alleyns specifically say "All candidates are expected to sit the entrance examinations on the published date and it is not possible to offer alternative arrangements. Please inform the Registrar of any examination clashes"

City say "Please note our exam date is set by liaising with other London schools, so there should not be any clashes."

so doesn't sound like there's any wriggle room there? Maybe work out whether you prefer co-ed/single sex and larger campus vs city location and then apply accordingly?

Thank you Gingercat1223. It’s unfortunate that they do that. :-(

Sorry dd not ds!

@Moni5 - many schools have clashing exam dates, sometimes on purpose to force parents into making decisions. Nearer the time ie late November ring 1 of the schools & ask for your ds to be allocated the back up date instead. In some instances but perhaps not for these 2 choices it might mean you are no longer eligible for a scholarship if you select the back up date.

Hello All. Lots of great thoughts here, so thank you all for your messages. My DD would like to go Alleyn’s next year, but we also consider CLSG as option. However, both schools have exams on the same day. Does anyone know how the schools deal with these situations? Appreciate any help/advice. Moni

Hoping you have good news soon birkenstok. Both were boys.

Thank you dinosaurinmybelly, you keep my hopes up! Your message made me call them to have a feel of what to expect, and while there's no offer at this point for us, the lovely registrar said DD is "well placed" on their non-existent ranking list...
So still a spark of hope for future weeks or months... sigh. Can I ask if the offers were for boys or girls? (Alleyn's has a 50/50 intake rule)

Another offer from the WL today from Alleyn's.

Thanks dinosaur! We haven't heard anything here but it m means WL is moving a bit ..for some at least. Hey ho...

Child from DD's school was offered a place from the Alleyn's WL yesterday. Hope those of you on the WL also get a call soon.

Thank you @MumOfLL for your kind words, much appreciated... We're waiting patiently :) I wish your DS all the best in his future school!

birkenstok, I am sure that the waiting list will move soon. Alleyn's send out a reminder email today for parents who might have made decision and we unfortunately have to decline the offer as DS prefers all boy school. So, Good luck to you.

@MTRT to be honest I would never use exam results as even part of my decision process. We selected schools we liked for our kids - some were very high achieving, others less so. We then made our choices made on gut feel.

Even as statistical pointers, I don't feel that historic public exam results has much bearing on where my kids will thrive.

Each to their own eh?

@DarlingOscar - Data is available for GCSE and A level from gov.uk website year wise, if interested download ks4underlying data, I looked up last 2 years to derive statisical mean or euclidean distance from mean for deviation, etc. they give fair view of every schools but i would caution on sole use, they are statistical pointers, important is every child's intrinsic bearing towards particular topics. these are foundational years for our kids, surely with technology advancements, specialisation and career options will evolve.

Thank you for your responses Beaky001 and Vargas... Time can feel so slow while waiting sitting on one's hands.
At least I've learned a LOT about 11+ processes and schools this year.

Hi
I'm not sure how many are on the waiting list and how it works etc but having spoke to the Lower School this morning they are taking a slightly higher number of children this year due to not taking any in Year 9 in the future. Of the parents at the prospective on morning today many had kids with multiple offers so there will obviously be some movement. The Head encouraged parents to try and make a decision ASAP. Not sure it helps at all but there will be some movement.

Hi, I have been following this thread with great interest. Congrats to all the DC who bagged offers and scholarships!!
Our situation is slightly less successful as DD is on the waiting list. (still very proud of her as she spends only half her school time on British curriculum, and in a state school and we're not an English speaking home). She's really keen on Alleyn's and is pretty disappointed.
Any idea experience on chances of eventually having a place? Any experiences / knowledge from past years?
No chance to have our headteacher call to support her application. I send a couple of emails and DD wrote a letter with her best writing to confirm that we'd accept a place at Alleyn's immediately. But I'm worried of boosting her hopes, that might be followed by bitter disappointment.
I found a past thread on the topic, but there's no testimony of outcome or first hand experience. Any advice or knowledge is welcome! thanks!