JAGS/Alleyn's: Dulwich, London

[Bonds]

Has anyone had any recent experience of having a child at either of these schools?

They are selective and therefore I would expect them to put emphasis on getting good exam results, but do the children find this unduly oppressive? What is the general atmosphere like in the school? One hears horror stories about cliquey/catty behaviour amongst girls in private schools-as I have a daughter I'd be particularly interested to hear how they fare on this score.

Thanks in advance to anyone who has any insight on either school.

My DD's have about 40 friends between them who have gone to one or the other. As far as I am aware they have all enjoyed their time at either JAGS or Alleyns (they're Years 12 and 13 now).

Had mine not boarded, they would have gone to one of those two, or Emmanuel, which was also a hot contender.

TBH there are cliquey/catty groups and behaviour all over the shop, but I have never heard any horror stories coming out of any of those schools over the past 7 years.

I will certainly be looking at them all again when I get to that stage with DD3, however, she's only 2½, so that will be some time yet, and I have yet to put myself through the whole primary crap....Again.

hmmm totally anecdotal but ds (y10) has friends in both JAGS and Alleyn's - he says under no circumstances should his little sister (now y4) go to JAGS but he's happy for her to go to Alleyn's

He's not been very specific about why ... although he says lots of the JAGS girls smoke

I went to the JAGS open day this week out of interest - the English dept had their GCSE results on display - something like 106 A, 5 A and 2 B ... you really wouldn't want to be one of the girls who didn't get an A ...

am thinking of Alleyn's as a possibility, but dd already has a perfectionist streak as well as being a slightly quirky character so I'm not sure if JAGS would end up bringing out the best in her

That's very interesting to read Basildon. My DS is also Y10 and has friends at both too, but he's not heard anything bad about JAGS, at least that he's not told me...

TBH, plenty of my DDs' friends at both schools smoke - I'd say 50/50 of their friends from primary, but they're both 6th form now. I'm not so sure about DS's primary lot though, his year were a 'good' year iyswim.

I've always had Alleyn's as a more 'all-round' school and JAGS as being more suited to academic, but this was all when I was doing the secondary rounds 7/8 years ago. What about Putney High for your DD, or is that a trek? Very academic, and Wimbledon a close second. I went to Putney High for 6th form about 25 a few years ago and loved it, but it was hard work.