Alleyn's 7+ for quirky boy

[ridinghighinapril]

Another Alleyn's thread.... our son sat the 7+ for Alleyn's and Dulwich College, results will be posted at the end of this week.

DC is our preferred choice and initially we weren't impressed with the way Alleyn's managed the whole process - DC were very child-centric, all about making sure the boys enjoyed the experience, lots of snacks to keep the happy etc, whereas Alleyn's were much more clinical.
We also felt that at DC there would be a massive pool of boys from which our son would find someone he could click with. Also it is much much more ethnically diverse (we are not caucasian), not artsy/celebs, our son is not sporty.

However, we would love to hear from parents with children/boys at Alleyn's in the junior school and above about how they have found it.
TIA

Hi and well done to your sons @Macaroons, @ridinghighinapril and @Invinoveritas20.
We have an offer from DC and I'm glad to read that other parents have similar expectations re. atmosphere and values (down to earth , with variety of backgrounds, cultures, ethnicity, lots of activities for the boys..). :)
The few families we know with sons there are lovely and relaxed.
One point I'd like to check with the school is the provision for languages for bilingual speakers. Have you heard anything about this?

For DC - there is not opportunity to revisit this week, is there? my other half visited with my son, but I missed it. Will probably give them a call.
Re. commute, I think we'd use the coach service, but I'd miss making friends with other parents at drop off like we did in his current school.

Before you decide, ask to see the breakdown of GCSE/A level results by girls v boys. Girls generally outperform boys in these exams and so they bring the statistics up (they may claim that they won’t release these stats but they do exist!) If Alleyns is only slightly ahead then you might find that DC boys actually perform better. I used to be a marketing bod for an independent school so I spent every summer spinning the exam results to make my school look good.

Do remember that exam results are only as good as the cohort. If your son is quirky then look for extra curricular activities that will appeal to him where he will find his peer group.

Interesting! I never suspected that this even existed ... I must be very naive..

@birkenstok well done to your son too :)

I don’t remember the school mentioning any additional help with bilingual kids but with a smaller class size of 15 at year 3 (gradually increasing to 20 at year 5) I believe the teacher can understand each boy’s progress better and offer additional help if / when needed.

I spent some time looking at the senior school websites of both Alleyn’s and Dulwich College and think we will go for DC. We are 99% certain now! It’s a difficult decision as both are outstanding schools!

@Macaroons, @Invinoveritas20, @Etinox and anyone else I have missed out - do you know what time the school drop off is at DC and if there is a breakfast club. I can't find anything about this on and the website and this may make a significant impact on our decision, all else being equal.
TIA

Typically, just found this on the DC website:
www.dulwich.org.uk/uploaded/documents/Junior/Introduction/The_Junior_School_2018-2019_An_Introduction.pdf

No breakfast club, drop-off 8.00-8.25.

@ridinghighinapril that's a really good question. Can't find info re breakfast club on their website...

@Macaroons - thanks for replying but I think you missed my post just before yours... no breakfast club and drop off is 0800-0825

@ridinghighinapril thanks for the info.
To those of you visiting Alleyn’s today, hope your visit will help you make the decision :)

Went to Alleyn's today and will feedback about that once I am on a computer.

In the meantime, is there a significant difference in national reputation between DC and Alleyn's?

Hello - we visited today and have decided to accept Alleyns. Tough choice as DC really tempted us with a scholarship as well...

Good luck to all others, hope to see at least some of you at Alleyns in September..

I wonder which of the parents you were, @Invinoveritas20?!

My view of Alleyn's improved a lot on the tour - the head seemed more personable, there was more diversity amongst the current Y3 and Y4 - probably about 5 out of 22 were obviously non-caucasian in each class. Doesn't sound like a huge number but it is definitely better than upper years and also from when I saw it a few years ago for DC1. I am comfortable with that ratio.

Grappling with the decision!
@Macaroons - have you decided yet?

@ridinghighinapril

We have decided to go for DC. Both are outstanding schools so it really is a difficult choice.

Good luck with the decision making!

I just visited DC this morning (I had not had the chance yet, it was my other half who went to the open day) and we confirmed our choice.
I really like the emphasis on "being caring & kind" and on exposing the boys to a vast variety of knowledge types, clubs, sports etc. So, happy with the offer and looking forward to meeting fellow parents before next September! @Macaroons , @ridinghighinapril maybe? :)

@birkenstok - we ENT for Alleyn's in the end, I ended up really torn, having been previously all for DC, and had sleepless nights (ridiculous, right). Finally the decision came down to logistics, which would significantly affect our school run and stress levels. We will keep an open mind and will move for 11+ if need be.

@Invinoveritas20
Looking forward to meeting you and your son - PM if you want to meet up at some point with our boys

@birkenstok Glad your visit this morning confirmed your decision. The school's core values really echo with us too, and I like how they let year 5 boys be the Junior School guide and year 13 boys be the Senior School guide, they all did a good job and we were well impressed by how well spoken they are.

I think the school will arrange some parents evening in June, as well as a settling-in day for the boys, so will see you then :)

@ridinghighinapril both are really outstanding schools so I can see why you are torn and started this thread. Now, the decision is made, you can have a good night's sleep tonight :)

@VanillaSugarr interesting you mentioned the boy/girl exam result gap. There's an article on BBC today that on average the GCSE pass rate for girls is 7-9% higher than for boys! www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-51313438

The article also has a link to the latest league table - I've taken a screenshot for easy reference. Interestingly, the average result is slightly higher for Alleyn's whilst the % achieving AAB or above is slightly higher for DC.