Alleyn's or Emanuel

Hi I know this is an old thread but wondered which you are decided and how you made the decision? We might be in a similar position shortly (hopefully!). Thanks

Totally agree OhCrumbsWhereNow on needing to do training outside school for performing arts or music. I will look into it further, thank you.

I don't - but only because the kids I know at Emmanuel are ones my DD trained with outside school and are older.

The ones I know at Alleyn's are younger - BUT, one of those who is into drama (but not a scholar) has a tiger-mother and I haven't heard any complaints, which suggests that things are fine in that department as I would have done otherwise! 😁

One thing I would say is that if your DC are very serious about performing arts as a potential career rather than just a hobby (serious or otherwise) then it's unlikely any school will be providing the level of training they will want/need. Even the kids at vocational schools like Sylvia Young, Tring etc are doing a lot of extra curricular classes.

My DD is wanting a professional career in music, she's on a music scholarship at secondary and they pay for some of her lessons and provide lots of opportunities, but 90% of the music training she does that has got her where she currently is is private provision outside school. I'd have had to have sent her somewhere like Chethams if I wanted the amount and level of training you need.

Thank you all for the useful info. OhCrumbsWhereNow - do you know if Alleyn’s provides same level of opportunities for drama?

@minipie @alltheleaves my experience of Emanuel is a lot of straight ranking. been there a few years and have heard a number of time that my child xxxth in their cohort. the information is quite generously shared !
also my child comes very often home quoting a certain test class average or the year group class average, highest grades and the likes. there are a lot of comparisons between classes, so not just individual.

A couple of years ago they even sent out grades report that sorted out the children into quartiles for each subject, and no grades ! it caused a lot of upset and backlash from parents and teachers alike so was dropped the following year. they still can't help themselves and publish the cohort average... I have other children in a London Day school higher up the league tables, and I have never been given any rankings, class average, cohort average, they expect the kids to work hard and with the set of cards they have been given, but don't have that recurring obsessions of ranking and comparing them.
they seem to struggle a bit with teachers' retention, but I can't say it is worse than other london day school.

Outside of that it is a great school

These two schools are run quite differently in the spirit:
Alleyn's tend to take children who are very independent and self-starter and let them get on with their lives. I hear they have a fair number of super spiky profile, some super duper intelligent.
Emanuel is a more prescriptive, structured type of school with more accountability I would say. I would venture that they have more rounded/even profile of children. Emanuel is very communicative and give more regular feedback (more parents evenings, more grades reports).
Parents can also easily contact the teachers directly, last I heard at Alleyn's the communication is through the form tutor, so if a parent has a question re biology, parent is not given the means to contact directly the teacher, they have to enquire through the form tutor who will make enquiries and revert to the parents. Emanuel publishes the teacher's email addresses in a termly book sent out to families. worth checking it is still the case, though, it definitely was up to a couple of years ago.
I would venture that Alleyn's is a bit better with SEN.

I have friends at Emmanuel with drama scholarships... and TV and WE credits - I would say that their training is very much supplemented by school and most is done as extra-curricular, and they had agents and training well in advance of going there. For most WE children's roles, those are at Primary rather than secondary as you are finished at 13 or 4ft 10" whichever comes first.

Also have friends at Alleyn's with drama focused kids.

All seem happy with their choices.

Hi all, we are also choosing between the two. We are equidistant between the schools so distance isn’t an issue. DC is very sporty and achieved a sports scholarship at Alleyn’s but not Emanuel. He is also academic (one of the top of his prep class, although didn’t get academic scholarship invites to either school so we are managing expectations on not being top of the class next year 😃). I’d say he is very social and confident but not at all arty/creative/musical which I’ve heard is a focus at Alleyn’s? Any insights much appreciated.

Met a few families with drama scholarship DCs at Emanuel, very high performing and you see them on West end stage, BBC shows and Netflix. Lots of productions etc. They seem very happy with school and academic plus other co-curricular clubs. They mentioned to us that an alumni was a major character in Stranger Things?

Thank you - I will have another look, I had thought they were quite similar

It may be worth considering the differences in the curriculum offered at each - the available GCSE options differ

@minipie both schools are 30-35 mins door to door so distance isn’t really a factor. We like both schools but prefer co-Ed and the fact we have one child there already is quite a big factor in decision making. Not easy though!

Thanks travelturtle that’s helpful and also interesting that you are likely to take it above Hampton which I believe is more academic in league table terms at least … is Emanuel closer for you as it is for us?

PS I meant to add we didn’t look at Alleyns because it’s too far from where we live.

@minipie we are current parents at Emanuel for DS1 and likely to accept place for DS2 (who also has Hampton offer). There are loads of clubs and activities for the kids to get involved in, and a really wide variety so most kids would find something they love. DS1 finds there’s too much choice and would love to have more days in the week to do some of the ones he can’t do because of clashes (eg media or science club)

We love the school and have been really happy with it. To answer your specific question there aren’t loads of tests. In Y7 and Y8 there have been weekly vocab tests in languages but I’d expect that at most schools. End of topic tests in science and humanities but they are pretty low key, and just to check understanding. The kids are in sets for maths and languages but again I think that’s pretty normal. We do get sent children’s grades at the end of each term against year averages so you know roughly how they are doing, but have never known kids or parents to be discussing it other than with their own kids! Hope that helps.

Hi @atotalshambles we are actually holding offers from both and trying to decide! Would you mind if I PM you?

Both schools are great - have kids in both. Alleyns is possibly more difficult to get into and is more academic but both schools get amazing results. They are both difficult to get into and I would apply to both. I don't think you could go wrong with either school.

Thank you. I think she will manage any workload, it’s more that I didn’t want her somewhere hothousey with lots of testing and ranking… got a bit worried Emanuel had gone that way in order to get results up… but doesn’t sound like it has in fact.

Yes, spelling and grammar tests fairly often in Latin, MFL, and English. End of topic tests are usually once every half-term in science and maths, and a written assessment in humanities and English.

I think the work is manageable. My DC do a lot of extracurricular activities (in and out of school) and they're not working insane hours, usually (🙄) in bed by 9, to get good grades. I do think the school has helped give them good independent learning skills so they're able to do their homework thoroughly and well without having to study for hours.

Thank you!

@ash86i and @alltheleaves and anyone else with DC there - any comment on the testing 3x a week that I heard about ? Is it mainly language vocab / grammar tests as a pp says (hope so as that’s much less worrying than what I originally pictured)

If the DC hang out locally at weekends that would work well for DD as we are very local. Guess by definition everyone who goes there can get to Clapham Junction somehow!

Hi, my child is in year 6 in Emanuel and there's definitely no ranking by the school and no discussion about it amongst the parents (that I'm aware of anyway).

I have older DCs there too and I would definitely recommend being close by. We moved when oldest was in yr7 and it helped a lot. Lots of kids are relatively local and the ones who aren't do get together local to school as it's a good focal point. So even at the weekends being local helps.

Overall we're really happy with the school, there's definitely something for everything and the kids easily find their tribe. I think pastoral care is excellent and mine are doing well academically so it's a good fit for us. We didn't apply for Alleyn's though because it was too far from our previous home so I can't offer feedback on that.

That’s good to know ash86

This hasn’t been our experience so far. But DC is in year 7. On the parents’ evening we were given the class average vs. DC’s marks but no ranking. DC can be quite competitive in certain subjects but he never knows what his classmates marks are (I know he asks).