Is Alleyn's School a cuckoo?

[Townleygreen]

Sillywoman, for information, those scholarships were funded by the old ILEA, and they ceased in 1970 when that authority (which ran all the schools in the inner London boroughs) decided not to pay for places at non-state schools.

There were at least 30 of those free places in any one year I think.

Similarly, others could attend the school (until the direct grant was abolished in 1976) and only needed to pay what they could afford, based on their parents' incomes/outgoings. This covered the rest of the pupils in any one year. So the "only" thing that applicants had to do was to pass the entrance exam. If their income was low, they'd pay no fees at all. The government funded these costs by the direct grant.

After these free places ceased, the school had little choice but to go Independent from 1976.

As far as I am aware, Alleyn's had no desire to become a fully fee-paying school. It was forced to do this effectively by the Labour government in 1976. That was when the school also decided to become co-educational, which has made it today probably the top fully co-ed school in the country. Quite a credit to good old ED really!

[Mabel2001]

Sillywoman, your snide comment reminds me why I rarely read or post on this forum.

My boyfriend was born in 1976 and went to Alleyn's in the early 90s, long after any local ILEA scholarships ceased as the previous poster has noted. He stayed friends with around ten of his classmates there, many still live in the area and in fact he's working on projects with two of them at the moment.

Everyone's experiences are different, and I meant to strike a note of positivity here. Your negative echoing/mocking of my comment is not appreciated.

Signing off, sayonara forum.

[edhistory]

sillywoman Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> My husband born and bred in Camberwell was given a

> scholarship to Alleyns on academic merit and says

> it was pretty horrible always being the poor boy.

Can your husband remember the school doing anything for East Dulwich when he was part of "The Experiment"?

[JaneAusten]

If the field opposite the school is under-used by both Alleyn's and local state schools, why isn't a corner of it turned into a coach park so they don't clog up Townley Road? Just a thought...

[Townleygreen]

>>JaneAusten asked: If the field opposite the school is under-used by both Alleyn's and local state schools, why isn't a corner of it turned into a coach park so they don't clog up Townley Road? Just a thought...

Southwark Planners wouldn't allow it as it's MOL Metropolitan Open Land.

[edhistory]

Was the Croft theatre built on MOL?

[Townleygreen]

Yes EDH but that took an appeal to the Secretary of State and rested on a strong educational case.

Don't think that would apply to a coach park.

[edhistory]

The planning appeal documents are available on the Southwark Council web-site.

People can read the "strong educational case" there.

[Townleygreen]

Why are you being so snide about this?

[Jennys]

Some years ago a local councillor told me they had tried to persuade Alleyn's to provide parking on site for the coaches but the school refused to do this. I don't have any proof or details though and it was a long time ago.

[eChapman]

The pupils I've seen/spoken with have always been polite. However the rubbish outside can sometimes be frustrating!

[grabot]

Seems a bit harsh calling Edhistory snide. Why does a school need an architecturally disingenuous theatre with facilities that would put most professional theatres to shame? How many bursaries could have been funded by the money spent on the theatre?

[bawdy-nan]

Michael Croft, the person after whom the theatre is named was an extraordinary person whose theatrical work at Alleyns had impact well beyond the school

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Croft

Which is to say I can see exactly why the school felt that a really very good theatre named after him was a good idea. Would be good to see something of his spirit extended to its use however ...

[grabot]

Yes, you are right. A remarkable man:

"Even more vaguely, I hoped that the Youth Theatre, as I was already calling it in my mind, would develop a real sense of community by bringing together young people from diverse backgrounds to work in a group where even the humblest mattered. I hoped too that the work would encourage them to look upon the theatre as being as much part of their lives as football or dancing, instead of something reserved for the precious or privileged few."

And now part of his legacy is an eponymous theatre...