JAGS vs Alleyn’s – Which is the Better Choice for Secondary?

[TurboTangerine]

We’re deciding between JAGS and Alleyn’s for our daughter, who is outgoing, sociable, and confident. Both schools have strong academic results,
Would love to hear on how these schools compare. Thanks!

I thought the deadline had passed already for confirming ?!

No the deadline is until 5th March,2025 to accept the offers

Run for the hills from JAGS. Terrible school. Terrible bullying. Unimaginative teaching.

FWIW I have a child in both.
DD is at JAGS and absolutely loves it - seemed not to have much homework in the first couple of years but ramps up a bit in y9 onwards as you would expect. Doesn’t seem to feel pressured at all. Has a lovely small group of close friends. I suspect she is not in the “cool group” but it doesn’t seem to bother her. No issues with bullying so far. Ethnically diverse.

DC in Alleyn’s- comparatively much more homework and testing from year 7. Perhaps a larger range of clubs to join but many are invite only. Lots of new things happening around the school - various hubs being built etc. Plenty of opportunities to perform esp if you are musical.
No issues with bullying here either so far, Ethnically diverse but perhaps not as much as JAGS.
Saturday morning sports commitments.

Plenty of families with children in both schools.

Hi,

A Dad here.
Apologies for the rather long post.
Our DD got offers for JAGS and Alleyn’s and we are also looking for a bit more information to help us decide also. These are my thoughts FWIW.
On the school open days both the school and students at Alleyn’s came across relaxed and quietly confident. JAGs was more intense with both school and students exuding a lot of pride and confidence. Both were great to see and we didn’t feel that either one of them was better in that regard.
Apparently Alleyn’s Y7 intake has a greater degree of variability (rumors of an informal sibling policy ?? ).
Looking purely at exam results for a student going in at Y7, A level results will skew the level of teaching to the upside. From the website ‘a large majority’ of JAGs girls stay on for the sixth form, while ‘almost all’ of the students in Alleyn’s stay on. As both of these schools are highly sought after, we can assume that the incoming ‘new’ 6th formers will be academically very strong- as strong as if not stronger than the existing cohort moving up.
So I prefer to concentrate on the GCSE results. 2024 GCSE results below:
for JAGs 92pc scored 9,8,7 Vs Alleyn’s 88pc
for JAGs 82pc scored 9,8 Vs Alleyn’s 72pc
for JAGs 59pc scored 9 Vs Alleyn’s 46pc
The lower result at Alleyn’s was a bit of a surprise considering how much harder it appears to get into than JAGs. I have heard different parents talk about results ‘massaging’ at Alleyn’s (asking underperforming students to leave) but the GCSE results doesn’t bear that out. The only other major reasons I can think of is a)mixed schools underperforms single sex schools academically b) lower standard of teaching at Alleyn’s (hard to believe) c) rumours of informal sibling policy is true .. creating a greater mix of cohort ability and thus results.
The Alleyn’s results are more scrunched up in the middle 88pc got 9,8,7 and 46pc got 9s. Whereas JAGs 92pc got 9,8,7 and 59pc got 9s. This kind of looks like Alleyn’s was focusing on getting the students into the 9,8,7 category by lifting up weaker students, whereas JAGs did better getting more students in the 9s category without disadvantaging the 9,8,7 category. (I hope that makes sense!)
Overall we will be delighted with whichever school our DD decides on and for us it’ll really be just an issue of which clubs/sports and lessons are on offer, and whether or not she wants to share the next 5 years with boys.
If anyone has any insight into how many students leave before GCSE for either schools, please can you share.

Sorry one final comment if I may.
There doesn’t seem to be a JAGS ‘type’. I was told from a reliable source that most of the girls that she had helped to get there were all very different and that there wasn’t a JAGs type. They all thrived.

I'm not a parent, but a person who runs large-scale volunteering exercises for teenagers doing DoE (state and private). Just happened to see your thread OP. I've been doing my work for five years or so and see a lot of kids. If it was my child, I'd choose Alleyn's over JAGS. There is something quite special about the kids there, their outlook and their ability to get on with different adults and teens that I haven't seen from teens at JAGS or any other school; a kind of confidence and even-handedness. I wouldn't hesitate.

From the open day, Alleyn’s students seemed more naturally confident a, whereas JAGS had a more intense, high-pressure feel. For those with experience at either school, do these impressions hold true in the long run? Would love to hear from parents or students about how the day-to-day experience compares

Also to add, JAGS has always been referred to academically strong, but Alleyns has delivered similar results if not better , hence it is so confusing

I have children at both and posted up thread and so far my experience has been that JAGS has been much less intense work-wise in years 3-9 at least. It certainly isn’t the hot house that people speak of and that maybe a reputation from a couple of headteachers ago that persists unfairly and is perpetuated on MN by people who do not have any current experience. I emphasise this as some parents may dismiss what is the right school for their DD on outdated hearsay.
I haven’t got a comparison for GCSEs years as DC2 is not that age yet.

Very happy with both schools. Peer pressure is difficult to gauge, as it really depends on the cohort in your DC’s year, the friendship group they hav fallen into and the personality of your DC. Mine have not had any issues with peer pressure, social media, bullying etc (yet) but no school is immune and it would be naive to think that.

@halfandhalfagain has looked at the GCSE results in more detail. JAGS seems to have slightly better results, contrary to your post, but it really is much of a muchness - at this level it really a few global percentage points won’t make a difference to your individual DC’s results.

You can’t really go wrong with either school so it comes down to the intangibles - “the feel of the school” - and whether you/your DD prefers single sex to co-ed.

Reading between the lines, I sense you prefer Alleyn’s so you should go with that esp if your DD feels the same.

Could you kindly elaborate on the invite only clubs pls, is this to do with scholarship s? Why are they invite only? Thank you 🙏🏻

Scholarship and higher ability pupils e.g those that are grade 8 music

If you have a child of colour I would look elsewhere. I worked on Reception here for five years and experienced/ witnessed a very hostile racial climate, even towards minority children. I have quite severe PTSD and depression from the experience.

I personally would not recommend it.

I had a child at JAPs who was shy. She was bullied mercilessly and the Headmaster at time behaved appallingly. He ended up having to apologise to our family. Our daughter had an offer for JAGS but we tan for the hills

Ran

Im interested in when this was, because the Heads of JAPS and JAPPS for the last 20 years have all been female.

Male Head and in 2000s

So over 20 years ago. Hardly relevant then, to be fair.

I think the school is still as awful as ever.

Full of precocious brats with their very pushy parents. I still see it. I’m not a stranger to that school

My DC is very obviously a POC and has several friends that are clearly ethnic minority (and those that are not) and I am friends of their parents. We have been at the school for several years (spanning both the junior and senior) have not had any race related issues.

I can understand how a bad experience that still affects you 20 years later may cloud your judgement into the present time.

My DD is happy there and the school seems to be taking a lot of care when it comes to not placing undue pressure on the pupils. Obviously, the nature of the school (as with all selective schools) is such that there are expectations from parents, the school and the pupils, themselves.

Historically, pastoral care was non-existent or minimal across the education system (I experienced racists comments from teachers when I was in primary school) but I think we have come a long way from those days, in my experience, and especially in a diverse place such as London.

No school is without fault and so there will always be those that have good and bad experiences.

My daughter has thrived since leaving that school. There was NO pastoral care when she was there. And no member of staffed cared about the bullying.

Her brother had a very different experience at another London school. I very much hope JAPs has improved and that the girls aren't just there for being machines to tot up their ratings

even though each school will have a certain culture, class cohorts can affect the classroom environment and experience.

so what works well for one child won't for a sibling 12 months later.
at some point though "strong academic results" rather than being a prize is more of a red flag.
our family saw it as a red flag, not the experience we were looking for. education can be for many a long journey and a poor experience can have devastating effects, assuming a uni level education, year 7's are barely half way through.
family found the buildings at Alleyn's to be tired and needing refurb.

Our DD got an offer from both. We ended up going for Jags. I would say that the kids at Alleyn’s radiated a relaxed but very self assured vibe. The girls at Jags were a more forthcoming and a different type of confident. Both are excellent schools both for results and pastoral care. A good education isn’t just about good results, but it doesn’t mean they are exclusive either. I think you get both at Jags and Alleyn’s.