DLD College London

DLD College London is a co-educational independent day and boarding school for students aged 13 to 19, founded in 1931 by tutors Davies, Laing and Dick (the source of the 'DLD' name) originally to prepare candidates for Oxbridge and Colonial Service entrance exams. After decades in west London, the college moved in 2015 to a purpose-built vertical campus at 199 Westminster Bridge Road on the South Bank, opposite the Houses of Parliament and beside the London Eye, with classrooms, theatre, media and science labs, art and photography studios and a student residence stacked above the school.

The academic model is British and sixth-form-weighted: one- and two-year GCSE programmes, 20-plus A Level subjects, BTEC diplomas (including business, digital media production and music technology), an International Foundation Programme and a Year 9 entry point. It does not offer the IB. The intake is markedly international, drawn from dozens of nationalities, and the college runs structured English-language support, requiring students below an IELTS 6.5 to take English alongside their chosen courses, plus a dedicated Academic Preparation Course for those who need it.

Boarding is the school's distinctive 'urban boarding' proposition: around 250 students live in en suite rooms in a purpose-built residence directly above the school, an experience closer to managed city-centre student living than to rural campus boarding. Pastoral life is organised into five houses with 50-plus co-curricular clubs. The most recent published full ISI inspection, in October 2019, judged the quality of pupils' personal development 'Excellent' and the quality of their academic and other achievements 'Good', and found the college fully compliant with independent school and boarding standards.

Fees for 2026/27 are published transparently and run, excluding VAT, from £29,850 a year for UK students up to £39,105 for non-EEA international students at the main programmes, with boarding adding roughly £24,710-£31,290 a year depending on room type. The proposition suits internationally mobile families who value a central-London location, flexible entry points (including one-year GCSE and 18-month A Level routes) and creative-media pathways more than a large peer cohort, extensive playing fields or a long blue-chip league-table record.