How much does Alleyn's school in Dulwich really costs?

[Luna9]

Got a friend whose DS got a place at Alleyns senior school, 11+. and is going through the finance to make sure they can afford it; they were hoping on a scholarship but nothing was offered. I know it is 16.5k a year but how much are the extras?

Anyone with kids at Alleyns that can help?

I know also someone from my daughter school who is coaching her children really hard trough state primary as she is hoping on a bursary at Alleyns when they sit the 11+. I know these are offered to the best 10 performers in the exam but believe they are only given to them if they can't afford the fees; can anyone confirm please? are they means tested? or only given on academic merits?

I can only give you a generic answer. Hopefully, someone else will come along to give you a more specific one. Bursaries are means tested. The level of household income thresholds will vary depending on the school. Scholarships are awarded on merit regardless of income.

Alleyns school give very specific information about its bursary scheme on their website.
I have copied the link for you.
www.alleyns.org.uk/alleyn/documents/Admissions/Admissions%20Policies/2015_Financial_assistance_policy_June_2014.pdf

www.alleyns.org.uk/page.aspx?id=76

It looks like families with an income up to £55k pa will be considered for a bursary but a strong performance in the examination is required.

Alleyns is one of the London independents which have seen their fees rise at amazing inflation busting rates every year. The result is that it will soon be completely out of the reach of middle class parents whose income is derived from paid employment rather than from family wealth or City troughs: www.ft.com/cms/s/0/719acac2-9b09-11e3-b0d0-00144feab7de.html

If you are salaried professionals and you calculate that you can just about afford the fees now, no way will you be able to afford them five years after your DC starts at the school: the fee hikes will have outpaced your salary rises year after year.

It's a disgrace. The Dulwich schools used to have such a good reputation for their accessibility.

The dulwich foundation schools bus is expensive (c.£900 per year) but if your friend's ds can get there by a normal bus that's free with an Oyster card

Lunches are on top of the fees, dd is quite frugal and usually spends no more than £2.50

There's a trip to Derbyshire in Y7 which is about £300, and there's the odd day trip for about £15. There's only been one other trip for Y7 and plenty of them didn't go

All the extra-curricular clubs are free, music or LAMDA tuition is extra

The scholarships are a fixed amount so as the fees increase so the value of the scholarship will decrease so while one is very nice to have it definitely doesn't make the difference between being able to afford the fees and not

Is it worth it? Well it depends what other commitments your friend has, what the alternative schools are like and if she'd be able to find extra cash when (not if) the fees go up

Very useful information; thank you; good point about the fees increase.

The extras don't seem a lot, apart from the bus, but her son can walk to school as they live in Dulwich. What about sports, uniforms, trips?

When asked about the fees the schools usually state that they pay their staff well & that they are the greatest cost. Did the rate of employers' pension contribution to teachers' pensions increase substantially during this period?

eatspoint
NO
www.teacherspensions.co.uk/news/employers/2014/06/publication-of-the-valuation-report.aspx

That's a pity - I was hoping there could be some upside for the teachers in the fee increases. I had a look on the NUT website after I posted & could only see teachers being down financially pensionwise.

Eastpoint It's the heads of private schools who have seen big pay rises, not the teachers: www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/8768937/Private-school-heads-pay-doubles-as-parents-spend-more-on-fees.html

Answering your question basildonbond the family doesn't have a lot of commitments; they don't have a mortgage and they only have one child; they are not rich though and depend on the husband salary; the mother will need to work full time to afford the fees. I suppose it is difficult to decline a place at Alleyn's when 600 children did not get a place.

The alternative schools are the state schools in Dulwich; Kingsdale and the Charter school.

I think you've had an answer re: trips. As for uniform, the shirts, trousers/skirts and jumpers can be purchased wherever you like. The Alleyn's blazer must be purchased, but you can sometimes get these cheap at the nearly new sales. Uniform comes from John Lewis so you can check prices on their website. The priciest bits are the sports kit (which is purchased through school blazer.com), depends how sporty the child is but I would reckon I spent £200 in Y7 on sports kit that will hopefully last 2-3 years.

I would say the uniform is at the low end of price compared to other independents like Whitgift or Dulwich college.

I would be very reluctant to put strain on the family finances to pay huge fees when there was the option of going to two very good local state schools. I don't know Kingsdale so well, but I would feel pretty confident that a bright motivated boy with involved parents would do well at Charter. He would be in the top sets, do all the enrichment stuff (Latin, mandarin etc) and have a good peer group of other bright, motivated children who live locally. Why put your family under such strain when that is an option? And if you feel sad about not having access to the amazing facilities of the Dulwich schools you can put some of the money saved from fees into joining Jags or Dulwich sports clubs, music lessons, local orchestra, holidays... whatever extra curricular stuff you think he'd benefit from, without being tied to 16k a year in fees. That's how we've seen it anyway, but guess your friend may have different reasons for choosing to pay fees.

I can't see the price of sports kit to compare, but from online prices today, DC is cheaper than Alleyns for blazers and ties (and also has good second hand shop), and rest of DC uniform can be had from supermarkets (as logo jumper is optional).

Just want to resurrect this thread.
We are about to register for the 11+ at Alleyn's.
Would appreciate a lot if anyone has any updated prices on the extra costs already mentioned above please? Like lunch costs and trips

Thank you! :)

lunch seems to work out about £5 a day - although it might be included in year 7 and 8, can't remember.

uniform remains reasonably priced and second hand sales are frequent and well stocked.

school trips have been non existent because of the pandemic so not sure where they are now price wise tbh.

My DS had a scholarship to Habs but it was the price of the bus (or coach as they like to call it) at £36 a week that turned me away. And guess what, he survived and thrived in a state school.

@ChnandlerBong thank you for the update :)

@Moominmammacat the nearest schools to us that we are sure to get in based on distance are mostly rated "3 - Requires Improvement" apart from a couple of Harris Academy schools. But after DH witnessed a student in Harris uniform spitting on an old man at a bus stop a year ago, he feel strongly against putting it down as one of our 6 options. It seems we are very unlucky with our local state schools. So now, for DD to get to a good school is to go for selective state places or private schools.