Alleyn's School is a 4–18

co-educational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

day school A day school — as opposed to a boarding school — is an educational institution where children and adolescents are given instructions during the day, after which the students return to their homes. A day school has full-day programs when compa ...

and

sixth form In the education systems of England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepare for A-l ...

Dulwich Dulwich (; ) is an area in south London, England. The settlement is mostly in the London Borough of Southwark, with parts in the London Borough of Lambeth, and consists of Dulwich Village, East Dulwich, West Dulwich, and the Southwark half ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, England. It is a registered charity and was originally part of Edward Alleyn's

College of God's Gift The College of God's Gift, often referred to as the Old (Dulwich) College, was a historic charity founded in 1619 by the Elizabethan actor and businessman Edward Alleyn who endowed it with the ancient Manor of Dulwich in south London. In 1857 it ...

charitable foundation, which also included

James Allen's Girls' School James Allen's Girls' School, abbreviated JAGS, is an independent day school situated in Dulwich, South London, England. It is the second oldest girls’ independent school in Great Britain - Godolphin School in Salisbury being the oldest, founde ...

(JAGS) and

Dulwich College Dulwich College is a 2–19 Independent school (United Kingdom), independent, Day school, day and boarding school for Single-sex education, boys in Dulwich, London, England. As a Public school (United Kingdom), public school, it began as the Col ...

. It has been a member school of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference since 1919.

History

Edward Alleyn

In 1619, Edward Alleyn established his 'College of God's Gift' (the gift of love) with twelve poor scholars. Alleyn's School is a direct descendant of Edward Alleyn's original foundation and was established as a boys' school in 1882. It still exists as part of a foundation alongside

and JAGS; For the original College of God's Gift, 24 students had to be chosen from the four parishes with which Edward Alleyn had been connected. Saint Giles, Camberwell (in which Dulwich was situated), Saint Saviour, Southwark (where the Bear Pit stood on Bankside), Saint Botolph, Bishopsgate (where Alleyn was born), and Saint Giles,

Cripplegate Cripplegate was a gate in the London Wall which once enclosed the City of London. The gate gave its name to the Cripplegate ward of the City which straddles the line of the former wall and gate, a line which continues to divide the ward into ...

(home to the Fortune Theatre). Alleyn's became a public school with the election of the Headmaster to the

Headmasters' Conference The Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC) is an association of the head teachers of 361 independent schools (both boarding schools and day schools), some traditionally described as public schools. 298 Members are based in the Uni ...

(HMC) in 1919.

The Lower School

The 1857 ''Act for confirming a Scheme of the Charity Commissioners for the College of God's Gift in Dulwich in the County of Surrey'', also known as the ''Dulwich College Act'', mandated that the

be separated into an "Upper School", which became

, and a "Lower School" which became Alleyn's. It was redone in 2018 to provide extra classrooms, an assembly room and a play area.

Separation from the College of God's Gift

In 1882, the upper school moved to a new site further south and the lower school stayed put, becoming an independent boys' school. In 1887 it moved to its own site, where the school currently stands. The original school is now the foundation chapel and the offices for the Dulwich Estate, which belongs to the foundation schools.

Independence and co-education

It was one of 179 direct grant grammar schools from 1958 until the abolition of that status in 1976; at which point the school was still boys-only. The Governors then opted for outright

independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...

and co-education; Chairman Lord Wolfenden explained the decision in the House of Lords on 12 November 1975:

As a responsible body of Governors, we were confronted with an extremely difficult decision. The dilemma is this. Should we, as the phrase goes, "take our place within the pattern of the local education authority", or should we, on the other hand, go independent? In relation to the former of those alternatives, there are two relevant considerations. The first is whether the past history and present nature of a school fits in with the overall structure of the pattern of the local education authority for children in the Dulwich area. The answer is that it clearly does not. A long-established grammar school, annually recruited to carry out what has for long been recognised by a substantial number of LEAs as its specific academic purpose, does not easily transform itself overnight into a comprehensive school to serve a limited catchment area. Even if it could do that, with extraordinary metamorphoses of staff and objectives, there is no evidence whatever that any local education authority would be prepared to absorb it. So the dilemma is resolved, your Lordships may say. Yes, but at what cost? Alleyn's School has no option, whatever its wishes might have been, but to go independent.
Doctrines and ideologies apart, what does this mean in real life? It means that there will now be in Dulwich two independent day grammar schools, one of 1,300 boys and the other of 800 boys, within a couple of miles of each other. It also means that in order to maintain Alleyn's as an independent school its fees, with the removal of direct grant, will have to be put up to something like those of its consistently independent neighbour, Dulwich College. What sense does it make to have over 2,000 places in independent boys' grammar schools, at independent school fees, in one district of South London? We, the Governors of Alleyn's 1847 School think it makes no sense at all, so we are intending to make Alleyn's into a co-educational school. Then, in the Dulwich area, there will be an independent boys' school, Dulwich College, an independent girls' school, James Allen's School, and an independent coeducational school, Alleyn's.

Development

Alleyn's started developing a new theatre complex, named the Edward Alleyn Building, on 10 February 2007. The £8.5million building was completed in 2008 and had a Grand Gala Opening in 2009.

Extra-curricular activities

The school has one of the largest Combined Cadet Forces in the country, where students can choose between joining the Navy Section, Army Section or RAF Section. Also, the Alleyn's CCF offers JNCO CADRE, a leadership training programme, as well as visits to European Battlefields, military bases in England and Wales, and a recent arctic survival course in Northern Sweden. As well as the CCF, DofE is also offered, with students taking part in volunteering, skills based activities and a final expedition at the end of the year. Music and Drama also form a large part of life at Alleyn's with the Michael Croft Theatre (MCT) being a point of pride for the school's Drama department who put on shows there. The music at Alleyn's is equally distinguished, with performances at the Royal Festival Hall and at

St John's, Smith Square St John's Smith Square is a redundant church in the centre of Smith Square, Westminster, London. Sold to a charitable trust as a ruin following firebombing in the Second World War, it was restored as a concert hall. This Grade I listed ...

, as well as music tours to Italy, France and Poland.

Heads of the school

*1882–1902: Rev. J. Henry Smith (head of the Lower School at Dulwich, 1875–1882) *1919–1940: R. B. Henderson *1945–1963: S. R. Hudson *1963–1966: Charles W. Lloyd *1967–1976: J. L. Fanner *1976–1990: D. A. Fenner *2010–2020: Dr Gary Savage *2020: Mr Andy Skinnard *2021– : Jane Lunnon

Alleyn's Old Boys and Girls

School alumni are known as ''Alleyn Old Boys and Girls'', or ''Alleyn's Old Boys and Girls''. This should not be confused with ''Old Alleynians'', the name of

alumni. * Felix Barrett, theatre director * Stuart Blanch, Baron Blanch (1918–1994),

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, 1966–1975,;

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, 1975–1983 *

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(born 1974), actress * Jack Chalker (1918–2014), artist * Ray Cooney (born 1932), playwright and actor * Sir Henry Cotton (1907–1987), golfer * Peter Darling, choreographer * C. S. Forester (1899–1966), novelist *

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(born 1935), actor * Harry Guntrip (1901–1975), psychotherapist and

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minister * Sir Joe Hooper (1914–1994), director,

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, 1965–1973; Government Intelligence Co-ordinator, 1973–1978 * Sir Michael Houghton, 2020

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laureate and co-discoverer of Hepatitis C *

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expert; Professor of Natural Philosophy,

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, 1946–1981 * Baron Ajay Kakkar (born 1964), Professor of Surgical Science,

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and

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; Headmaster, Witham Hall School * James Bolivar Manson (1879–1945), painter and director of

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(1908–1988), biochemist; first Master of Darwin College, Cambridge, 1964–1976 *

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* Cyrus Chothia * Jonathan Clark (bishop) * Donal Coonan * Francis Cubbon *

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* Mike Edwards (cricketer) * Kenneth Farrington * Rich Fownes * Pixie Geldof * Victor Groom * Eddie Hardin *

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* Michael Hastings (playwright) * David Hemmings *

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* Douglas Higgs * Zezi Ifore * Reginald Victor Jones *

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* James Bolivar Manson * Ben Preston * John Pretlove *

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* Colin Robbins (software engineer) * Robin Shroot * Kenneth Spring *

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* Frank Thornton * Cullum Welch *

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* Tilly Ramsay * Louis Partridge *

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* Eden Cheng

Gallery

File:AlleynsSchoolMainBuilding.jpg, Main entrance File:Alleyn's School, Dulwich, front of main building.jpg, Front of the main building of Alleyn's School File:AlleynsSchoolBuildingWorks.jpg, Building work commencing on the new Edward Alleyn Building File:Alleyns School Student Playing Fives.jpg, Two Alleyn's students playing

Fives Fives is an English sport believed to derive from the same origins as many racquet sports. In fives, a ball is propelled against the walls of a 3- or 4-sided special court, using a gloved or bare hand as though it were a racquet, similar to ...

File:Alleyn’s School, Lower School building.jpg, Lower School building File:St Barnabas and Alleyn’s School, 2020.jpg, Alleyn's main building (right) and Saint Barnabas' Church (left)

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

* {{authority control 1882 establishments in England Church of England independent schools in the Diocese of Southwark College of God's Gift Dulwich Educational charities based in the United Kingdom Educational institutions established in 1882 Independent co-educational schools in London Independent schools in the London Borough of Southwark Member schools of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference