Alleyn's or Emanuel

[SW11Mummy]

DD is currently in Y5 and Emanuel is very local to us so we will be applying next year. I have heard of people who live locally and have opted for Alleyn's over Emanuel. Given the tricky journey I wondered what the reasons behind this might be..?

PS I meant to add we didn’t look at Alleyns because it’s too far from where we live.

Thanks travelturtle that’s helpful and also interesting that you are likely to take it above Hampton which I believe is more academic in league table terms at least … is Emanuel closer for you as it is for us?

@minipie both schools are 30-35 mins door to door so distance isn’t really a factor. We like both schools but prefer co-Ed and the fact we have one child there already is quite a big factor in decision making. Not easy though!

It may be worth considering the differences in the curriculum offered at each - the available GCSE options differ

Thank you - I will have another look, I had thought they were quite similar

Met a few families with drama scholarship DCs at Emanuel, very high performing and you see them on West end stage, BBC shows and Netflix. Lots of productions etc. They seem very happy with school and academic plus other co-curricular clubs. They mentioned to us that an alumni was a major character in Stranger Things?

Hi all, we are also choosing between the two. We are equidistant between the schools so distance isn’t an issue. DC is very sporty and achieved a sports scholarship at Alleyn’s but not Emanuel. He is also academic (one of the top of his prep class, although didn’t get academic scholarship invites to either school so we are managing expectations on not being top of the class next year 😃). I’d say he is very social and confident but not at all arty/creative/musical which I’ve heard is a focus at Alleyn’s? Any insights much appreciated.

I have friends at Emmanuel with drama scholarships... and TV and WE credits - I would say that their training is very much supplemented by school and most is done as extra-curricular, and they had agents and training well in advance of going there. For most WE children's roles, those are at Primary rather than secondary as you are finished at 13 or 4ft 10" whichever comes first.

Also have friends at Alleyn's with drama focused kids.

All seem happy with their choices.

These two schools are run quite differently in the spirit:
Alleyn's tend to take children who are very independent and self-starter and let them get on with their lives. I hear they have a fair number of super spiky profile, some super duper intelligent.
Emanuel is a more prescriptive, structured type of school with more accountability I would say. I would venture that they have more rounded/even profile of children. Emanuel is very communicative and give more regular feedback (more parents evenings, more grades reports).
Parents can also easily contact the teachers directly, last I heard at Alleyn's the communication is through the form tutor, so if a parent has a question re biology, parent is not given the means to contact directly the teacher, they have to enquire through the form tutor who will make enquiries and revert to the parents. Emanuel publishes the teacher's email addresses in a termly book sent out to families. worth checking it is still the case, though, it definitely was up to a couple of years ago.
I would venture that Alleyn's is a bit better with SEN.

@minipie @alltheleaves my experience of Emanuel is a lot of straight ranking. been there a few years and have heard a number of time that my child xxxth in their cohort. the information is quite generously shared !
also my child comes very often home quoting a certain test class average or the year group class average, highest grades and the likes. there are a lot of comparisons between classes, so not just individual.

A couple of years ago they even sent out grades report that sorted out the children into quartiles for each subject, and no grades ! it caused a lot of upset and backlash from parents and teachers alike so was dropped the following year. they still can't help themselves and publish the cohort average... I have other children in a London Day school higher up the league tables, and I have never been given any rankings, class average, cohort average, they expect the kids to work hard and with the set of cards they have been given, but don't have that recurring obsessions of ranking and comparing them.
they seem to struggle a bit with teachers' retention, but I can't say it is worse than other london day school.

Outside of that it is a great school

Thank you all for the useful info. OhCrumbsWhereNow - do you know if Alleyn’s provides same level of opportunities for drama?

I don't - but only because the kids I know at Emmanuel are ones my DD trained with outside school and are older.

The ones I know at Alleyn's are younger - BUT, one of those who is into drama (but not a scholar) has a tiger-mother and I haven't heard any complaints, which suggests that things are fine in that department as I would have done otherwise! 😁

One thing I would say is that if your DC are very serious about performing arts as a potential career rather than just a hobby (serious or otherwise) then it's unlikely any school will be providing the level of training they will want/need. Even the kids at vocational schools like Sylvia Young, Tring etc are doing a lot of extra curricular classes.

My DD is wanting a professional career in music, she's on a music scholarship at secondary and they pay for some of her lessons and provide lots of opportunities, but 90% of the music training she does that has got her where she currently is is private provision outside school. I'd have had to have sent her somewhere like Chethams if I wanted the amount and level of training you need.

Totally agree OhCrumbsWhereNow on needing to do training outside school for performing arts or music. I will look into it further, thank you.

Hi I know this is an old thread but wondered which you are decided and how you made the decision? We might be in a similar position shortly (hopefully!). Thanks