Is Alleyn's School a cuckoo?

[Jah Lush]

Ed Simons of the Chemical Brothers and Jon Marsh of The Beloved.

[James]

That's a bit better

[lenk]

Um, Jamiroquai :(

[James]

Seriously? No!

Not another Jude Law/Guy Ritchie/Norman Cook-style "I'm a geezer me" posho private schoolboy pretending to be working class. Ugh, how irritating.

[Jah Lush]

lenk Wrote:

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> Um, Jamiroquai :(

Definitely not.

[Ted Max]

Here's the page. To save it being pasted in here word by word.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alleyn's_School

Jay Kay and Jack Penate, I see.

[ester]

i believe it is pixie and not peaches geldof who attends alleyns. 18 applying to camberwell art school as opposed to, 20 and messing up her life with this ridiculous us engagement/divorce hooha.

[James]

Have to say, that school does seem to be a haven for over-privileged tossers. Although I'm sure there are nice kids there too.

[Jah Lush]

Are you thinking of Dulwich College James? Now that is full of over priveleged tossers.

[lenk]

James Wrote:

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> Have to say, that school does seem to be a haven

> for over-privileged tossers. Although I'm sure

> there are nice kids there too.

You could say the same about Cambridge surely.

Over-priviledged tossers have to go to school somewhere, as do regular oiks.

[James]

Agree about Cambridge. Now let me get back to my Socialist Worker.

[antijen]

It did use to have great bootsales, but did notice that a lot of the parents of children from the school didnt quite grasp that generally you do not get half your money back to what you paid but that all changed when the rain came, I do miss these bootys.

[Dez]

James Wrote:

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> Have to say, that school does seem to be a haven

> for over-privileged tossers. Although I'm sure

> there are nice kids there too.

As opposed to schools full of under-privileged tossers, presumably?

[AllforNun]

"Alleyns is one of the best schools in the country/planet"

while i agree Alleyns is a good school numbered in the top 100 mixed, unfortunately it is rather a poor poor neighbor to Jags which, well pissed all over it ! 4th in the country of all denominations Eton 6th ! So kid yourself not Dulwich (east) Mum, you need a little bit more cash to get where you really want to be X

[Amelie]

My brother went to Alleyn's and is not an over-privileged tosser, I went to JAGS. As for Derek Fenner he was so hated by the pupils that the sixth form used petrol to born what they thought of him into the front law (4 letter word beginning with C). In the right light you can still see it.

[AllforNun]

Amelie i hope meant burn and not born and lawn an not law, if you did in fact spell those words wrong then i would like to see you in my office asap !

clap, carp. cool, curd, cult, coot, cafe, cage, cape, ...oh i give up...

[bawdy-nan]

First of all I thought Norman cook was from hull - or at least the northish- (London nil hull 4)

Secondly - I'm feeling all "julie myerson you are a very vain wrong woman" and thinking it's pretty futile to blame the children who are sent to this school (in their war outfits - not quite the same as the child soldiers my daughter had been taught about in primary school - though I found it tricky to explain the distinction).

The children are just children - some of them crap and some not - I don't hold the the school responsible.

The charitable status thing I find troubling. Inequality too. The fireworks less so. The witterings of the pro-alleynians on this posting I find tedious and unimaginagive. the existence of bursaries and bit of highly trumpeted outreach is not enough. They, and the otherschools, have a large footprint and, in my opinion should engage a big more vigorously with

the people around them and they just don't.

Also - what's with the Cambridge baiting? as I set off from my crappy comp it didn't feel like destination shangrila

[boswell]

bawdy-nan Wrote:

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> The witterings of the pro-alleynians on this posting I

> find tedious and unimaginagive. the existence of

> bursaries and bit of highly trumpeted outreach is

> not enough. They, and the otherschools, have a

> large footprint and, in my opinion should engage a

> big more vigorously with

> the people around them and they just don't.

I'm not entirely sure where the 'highly trumpeted' part comes from, unless Alleyns is taking out self-aggrandising ads in the local press I'm not aware of. Myself at least, I was not attempting to suggest whether what they do is enough or not, I was merely providing an answer to the question in the first post 'what does Alleyn's do for the local community?'. I shall attempt to do so in a more enlivening and original manner in future.

I can't say that I have a particular opinion on what schools like Alleyns should do (or whether they deserve to have charitable status at all), but I would generally be interested to know what you think it is they should do and what you mean by having a large 'footprint'?

[Moos]

What bawdy-nan means is that if someone attacks an institution with which she has an affiliation (Cambridge) then it's offensive and inaccurate but if somone defends a local school she doesn't like they are tedious and unimaginative. Come on, boswell, keep up.

[bawdy-nan]

apologies boswell - the "much trumpeted" is from a quick look at their website

alleyns website

The footprint I refer to is geographical - the schools occupy a large area of dulwich and east dulwich and, of course, are major landowners beyond the playing fields.

I guess that I think they could do a lot more with their vast resources and facilities. Having charitabe status is importnat to them and I think they could be a lot more creative with what they've got. They could, for example, open up the thetares and host touring companies for kids and adults, make their facuilties availabel for evening classes, clubs societies etc, they could organise and host events on their playing fields .. I'm sure there are lots more things too.

What I mean is that there is an opportuity to be creative and proactive and interesting and genuinely engaged but that would require a shift in their perception of what they are for. (A big ask, I realise).

Moos - I don't recognise your portrayal of my views. attitude or opnion. I genuinely don't understand the accusations of privelege hurled at Cambridge. I can certainly see that it helps you get in there if you are from a priveleged background (pupils of fee paying schools are still disproportionately represented in the intake) but you don't have to be wealthy or well connected to get in there (though of course access to an education which almost guarantees good exam results helps).

I also don't think the people who defend a local school are tedious and unimaginative - I think the arguments used about bursuries and the like are.

[Jamma]

I was walking past Alleyn's on Monday night and there was lots of kids with suitcases clearly waiting for a coach to take them on some foreign exchange. I was in my football kit and lots of them wolf-whistled me. I think it's a great school

[Moos]

bawdy-nan, I was amused by your making free use of pejorative terms regarding other posters but getting huffy when someone attacked an institution you are obviously fond of - and one, which you admit is indeed in the majority the playground of the privileged. The rights and wrongs of each argument aside, my view is that when you start using cheap and easy insults but protest when others do the same, you look rather silly.

[bawdy-nan]

I wasn't huffy. How do you know I'm fond of said institution? I didn't understand the proposition that was being made.

Delighted to have amoosed ...

[Amelie]

The schools (Dulwich College, Alleyn's, James Allen's and St Olave's) are not major landowners. The Edward Alleyn Foundation is the landowner.

I apologise for my spelling error, the result of a long day and sore eyes.

The schools exist primarily for the benefit of their pupils, if they choose to make their facilities available to non-pupils they should do so voluntarily not because they have been either forced or subjected to threats. The persistent attacks on private schools in this country, which do a wonderful job, are unconscionable.

[shoshntosh]

i'm not going to get into all this because, well, i'm totally biased (one kid there and one starting next year) however i will say, because it's a fact rather than an opinion, that in my daughter's class out of 18 children only two do not live locally (one in clapham and one in beckenham). most of us live in east dulwich or dulwich village.

do we really care about fireworks? seriously? wow.