We have a DS at DC who is now in Y9. He came from a local state primary and we applied to Trinity as well as Whitgift. He was not offered a place at Trinity after interview but was at Whitgift. I had to admit at the time I was thoroughly taken by Trinity and was sad that he never got a place, even though Dulwich is almost on our doorstep.
However, we were still delighted with Dulwich and so far have remained so. We really liked Dr. Spence, who has since handed over (with a minor blip in the middle) to Mr Milne (who I had previously met at Emanuel interviews for my DS) who I had very much liked at the time, so am equally pleased he moved to Dulwich.
My son knew no one at arrival, was not particularly sporty and pretty 'nerdy' on the whole, but has never felt as if he didn't belong. He's played hockey, been in school and house plays and has carved out a good group of friends who are fanatic about the things he is and seemingly coped pretty well academically without much prompting from us as regards homework and the like, which is exactly what I'd hoped from going private at secondary.
I'm not sure that I could really say that DC is 'down to earth', but that's more because I feel that no upper tier academically selective private school really truely is, there is always that air of expectation (academically and pastorally) from parents who are paying for education. But that is not the same thing as saying that our experience hasn't been incredibly friendly and welcoming across the board, from staff to parents, for which we are very grateful. Our DS now looks across at the DC buildings when we pass out of term term with a sense of pride that that's his school! I do sometimes catch myself worrying if that has a sign of arrogance or priveledge attached to to it, but, knowing him, more feel that he is happy and proud of the place he goes to school which is heartwarming and am glad that there is no fear or trepidation attached to the sight of it!
On a final note about distance, our other real option was Whitgift, which is a similar distance from us as it would have been to Trinity. The decision over Whitgift for our DS was likely made with more than a little influence regarding distance to the school. I can't stress now how glad we are we picked a school 10 minutes drive, 35 minutes walk away, rather than 30-40 minutes drive away! It makes his and our life just that little bit easier, and those little bits all add up in the end!