Trinity / Eltham / Dulwich 2021

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Hi all
My DS has been lucky enough to be offered a scholarship at Trinity and also a place at Dulwich and Eltham for year 7 entry.

We visited all the schools when DS was in year 5 and tbh we liked them all .

DS is really into DT / engineering / science.

Is there anybody on here with experience of the schools and can provide any insight to help us choose?

Thank you everyone

What school does your DS prefer?

The facilities at Dulwich are amazing however I can’t comment on trinity or eltham but have no doubt they will be good too.

The facilities are amazing I think at all the schools. You have to think which fit is best for your son. We went for Trinity and love the school. The DT department is amazing, my son loves the lessons. The science lessons appear engaging and he enjoyed them, lots of variety in teaching.

Goodluck I’m sure you can’t make a wrong decision with either school.

The decison is particularly hard without onsite visits The past year.
Proximity and commute is important for us, as we suspect the ethos is very similar between T and D. HT Alasdair was ex Deputy Master Academic at Dulwich College pre 2016, and had been there a while.

I am struggling to fathom why Trinity ranks higher than Dulwich on league tables for GSCE. Does anyone have insights on the disparity, is there any glaring reasons?

Hi - Thanks for your responses.
DS really doesn't know either and as ElonanotAlone said we haven't been able to visit the schools this year - and so DS can't really remember the schools from our visit in 2019. It's also made harder by the fact that neither Dulwich or Eltham did any interviews so he hasn't even spoken with one of the teachers.
I am leaning more towards Trinity as it felt friendly, diverse and seems to be supportive and he does have a scholarship there too. Plus, DS really got on with the teacher at his interview. Husband likes Eltham as it's now co-ed .

One thing that I am keen to avoid is a school that "hot houses" their kids and piles on the pressure - as this would just make DS (and most kids I expect) miserable. So any views here would be appreciated.

I think it's one of those things that maybe there is no "wrong" decision. It just feels like a bit of a stab in the dark as there are no taster sessions, and very little comms apart from the virtual open days last Autumn which tbh didn't really give you a proper feel for the school.

Thanks all

T is a fantastic school with a great ethos. Friendly, supportive and caring. It expects pupils to do their best but doesn't appear to have the hot housing of some other schools. The DT facilities are fantastic - DS took it all the way to A level and had great support from his teachers. I think all boys find a niche there. Remind your DH it is co-ed at 6th form. We were so pleased with the school for DS, DD chose to go for 6th form and us loving it

@ElonanotAlone not sure I understand your comment re league tables. Do you mean why do T get better results than D?

I'm sort of in the same boat, with offers from Eltham, Trinity (scholarships from both), Dulwich, Olave's and Westminster.

Keen on a well-rounded education and, setting aside Olave's and Westminster, Eltham seems to have the better exam results, at least over the last few years.

I'm therefore wondering why it is that Dulwich appear to send more of their students to Oxbridge when their GCSE/A-level rankings are below both Eltham and Trinity??

Would love to hear feedback.

@Seeline - depending on which GCSE league table you look at, T seems to outperform D, until you look behind the numbers and at University destinations. We are considering the whole child learning experience in making our decision, simply overlaying our instict with the quantative metrics for completeness.

There seems to be a plethera of league tables to review, which one is the most reliable? Or is it a case of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics?

We have been comparing the publicly reported Guardian, Telegraph parent Power for 2019 (as this is the last year results where unaffected by covid) as a base line, with actual school reported data.

D appears to punch as high (if not higher) than other higher ranked senior schools at Oxbridge or other desirable universities globally - being student placements as a % of total students.

Extract:
Telegraph GCSE Results Table 2019
#23 Trinity 89.23% / 123 candiates
#30 Eltham 85.3 /98
#37 Dulwich 83. % / 215

Eltham has a great reputation and great facilities, just too far from us or I would have applied. Dulwich and trinity also amazing exam results with dulwich having particularly stunning building and grounds as a bonus. . Trinity great results and an amazing reputation for music. A lovely choice to have, good luck with your choice!

All on a par - go for the easiest journey with the possibility of local friends.

@ElonanotAlone Most of the league tables are behind paywalls so can't see exactly what you are looking at. Had a quick look of DvT over last 10 years A levels, and there doesn't seem to be vast differences over recent years.

One thing I would say is that D seems to be much bigger than T. In the first half of the last 10 years, the cohort was nearly 3 times the size, and even more recently, it's nearly twice as big. This means in percentage terms, the consequences of a couple of poorer results for T will be magnified more than at D.

THat said, T usually have around 61-62% A*/A passes at A level - not exactly poor!

I suppose it depends what you are looking for, and what you feel will suit your DS. As I said, we have always been more than happy with T.

@Seeline wise words. DH has spent considerable time huffing and mulling over the numbers with several cups of teas and finally drawn the same conclusions, there is a barely a whisker between these top performing schools.

Yes I agree there is nothing really between them - Aaaagh!
They all seem to support the child as a whole - and encourage lots of extra curricular.
They all have fantastic exam results
Trinity and Eltham esp seems pretty down to earth - but speaking with friends who have kids at D, they are all pretty down to earth too (no entitled children)

Without actually visiting the schools it is very difficult to see a point of difference and work out which is the best fit for DS!

The only differences I can see are:-
Eltham = co-ed which I think is a plus but not the be all,
Dulwich = possibly more "prestigous"
Trinity = feels the most diverse, co-ed 6th form , my son has the scholarship at this one!

Commute wise - we are planning to move in a years time - and so we will just move to be close to wherever the school is - so this isn't a major factor for us.

@ThickPlasticWindows

IS your Ds into any specific subjects? Hobbies? Sports? Music? Would any of the schools be able to support these more than the others?

I only have experience of T. It is very down to earth, and 'normal' (in a good way!)

They are all amazing schools and it’s hard to separate them in terms of exam results/facilities/co-curricular provision. We’ve decided to go with Dulwich because my son can just walk/cycle through Dulwich Park to go to school which will his make life and ours so much easier. I do wish it was co-ed but you can’t have everything!

Trinity is incredibly compelling, however, we have heard from many DC nuture and inspire, beyond the text. Interesting that the Head was with DC for 13 yrs before heading up Trinity, understandably why the two schools become strongly compared. Tough decision until you see the full picture.