Eltham College feedback

[mummabear0909]

Hello,

Looking for some feedback on Eltham college urgently - we will be moving for the school but it appears that it’s not a popular choice in the area. We loved the school but a bit confused and concerned if we have missed anything. Would really appreciate any feedback or advice from parents who have kids in Eltham College or have considered it for your DC. Thank you so much!

Ha, no I'm not, feel free to check out the league tables (based on GCSE and A Level results) for yourself: https://www.thetimes.com/best-schools-league-table

2024:
Eltham College 38th
Dulwich College 51st

2025
Eltham College 45th
Dulwich College 59th

2026
Eltham College 43rd
Dulwich College 46th

The idea that Eltham is "not as academic" as Dulwich is very out of date. Plenty of bright kids now turn down DC for Eltham.

Also on league tables my thinking has shifted a lot from when we started the 11+ process a year back. While earlier I was concentrating on where the school is on league table but now we are realising how some of the schools trying to "game" the system by either having more kids from abroad to bump up the league tables or trying to manage the "underperforming" kids out of the school. At the end of the day you will have your own feel of the school and the DC will have their own thoughts. Also there are bright kids who are not as happy at higher ranked schools like alleyn's while bright kids at "lower ranked" schools like DC thriving. It's a tough decision for parents and kids but league tables are not the be all and end all in their education journey. I wish everyone all the best in making this decision. I know we are waiting anxiously for 13th feb!

Two of my friends sent their DC to Eltham. Both did very well there - went in as not very high academic achievers and came out with top RG places. They were very happy there

@Blackheath1858

I have already sent you images from the schools’ official websites showing their own published results, so I don’t feel the need to provide any further explanation.

If we do a general search, there are many different lists like this, and the rankings can vary between them. Additionally, it makes no sense to have a 2026 list when the 2026 GCSE and A-level results have not yet been released.

Try typing “Eltham College world known” and “Dulwich College world known” into Google, and I think you’ll understand what I mean. By the way I have no DC in Dulwich. Good luck to everyone with the applications!

Sure, someone could look at one year’s GCSE results, or google randomly, but they could also look at The Time list, which is based on each school’s actual results in A Levels and GCSEs every year.

I’ll leave it there, happy for people to draw their own conclusions from the evidence posted.

You can read anything you like into league tables - depends how each source cuts the information?

Fundamentally Eltham is coed and DC is all boys. And Eltham recruit a lot of v bright girls at 16 so you would expect Eltham to perform better in exams? Not that they always do by any stretch of the imagination

Try comparing on university and course destinations - DC wins hands down.

The GCSE results are so close to each other, it's practically meaningless. Any of the top 50 on the Times ranking are academically excellent and leave no room for error. One or two students may have a bad set of exams and the numbers will go up and down. What you need to look at is the culture, facilities on offer and overall feel for your family and child's personality.

Well the results are the results, but sure, people can come to different conclusions. My posts were in response to the assertion that EC is "not as academic as Dulwich or Alleyns and the really bright kids go to the grammars if they can get a place" which the results would show is just objectively untrue.

My child is at junior, we might move.

@chamonixsnow Hi, may I learn why you are considering moving? My friends daughter is at EC juniors and also would like to move for secondary x

DC is happy about the school overall (friends, sports field). DC complained about the toilet not being cleaned regularly. Among parents there’re some discussions about certain teachers and lunch not very good quality (tiny portions and food sometimes very simple, like pasta, sausages). Given the tuition fees are similar to some top 10 private schools, people do have some expectations on the facility, teaching quality imo. The entry exam is not very difficult, the students are mainly from surrounding areas. They do take in some students to boost A level results, the school really should review the teachers’ performance, based on how pupils academic results are improved. (Rather parents tutor their children at home) Some teachers who don’t know how to teach children at young age in a compassionate and encouraging way should go.

May i ask which schools are you considering ?

@chamonixsnow yes, you are right. My niece also attended Eltham Junior School, and my sister says that by 7+ most children have had tutoring to get into Eltham College, so you don’t always see as many naturally bright pupils. Because of that, some pupils moving up from the junior to the senior school can seem a bit less strong academically. She also feels Eltham is very selective at 11+, but she didn’t feel the junior school was particularly academic. When it came to scholarships, she often complained that the school seemed more focused on attracting external candidates rather than awarding scholarships to internal pupils. She felt they didn’t really push the junior pupils to reach that higher academic level, and she used to say her child came home exhausted most days. I’ve only ever heard my sister speak positively about the chess clubs and competitions at Eltham College

indeed, the academic scholarship seems to be only offered to those who take exams(especially external or internal who got offers somewhere else) I would expect teacher to inspire children and bring out their best (each child is different, no need to be a hothouse) unfortunately I don’t see it happening at junior school, the feedbacks in the school reports/ parents meeting are often generic which feels there’s not so much observation on the individuals and the parents are still the ones doing the hard work. Many of external students who got scholarships will continue to be tutored privately, so the academic result may not tell you much about the school itself.

We would consider local grammar schools in Orpington and private schools like Alleyns but not Dulwich college (it’s quite similar to Eltham I think :))

Hello, i would lo e to know more behund your thought process. My younger ones a junior at eltham and i absolutely love it. I think the new head is incredible and i cant fault the school. We're now in a position where we have to choose between Eltham Senior school or Alleyn's for my older one. Eltham is an easy commite, a short drive for us whereas Alleyn's would be a train ride. On paper Eltham checks everything on our list - local, sibling is there, rugby, co-ed. However, I know nothing about the senior school and how it works and how different it is to the juniors. Alleyn's does football and not rugby so that ans the commute is the thing holding us back although I know he will be really happy there in either case and i cant confidently say that about Eltham.

@11mummy Alleyn’s!

Congrats on Alleyns. Ditto with new head from the city junior, she’s fab, lots of positive changes since. I’d love to say Eltham is better but if you look at Oxbridge intakes, Alleyns is much ahead and there must be a reason for that. Pastoral care is key factor when I chose junior school for DC (I can’t complain in this regard)but moving to secondary I would like DC to be challenged intellectually. Definitely Alleyns, there’s a reason why you let DC take the exam I guess..

We also got an offer from Dulwich but my boy chose Eltham.

us too - was this for 7+?

My boy is in year 9. To us, saving commuting time is the key of our choice which can significantly save time for extracurricular activities and homework. My boy does a lot of swim training in his local swim club and sailing in the area. EC, DC and Alleyns are all excellent schools, pretty similar in my view in terms of quality of teaching and reputation (perhaps Dulwich has earned its world wide status since it has a larger campus and worldwide presence in SG, China etc which is not my major concern) The course work is tough and demanding at Eltham (not surprised they have relatively high ranking academically despite some parents said one cannot fully rely upon. It nevertheless serves as a useful reference). EC is a small school compared to the other 2 in terms of student numbers which could be factor to consider, not necessarily positive or negative. A lot of smart kids would switch school after GCSEs for selective 6th form college or selective grammar for better chance of Oxbridge intake anyway, we would also let him if he does well in GCSE.