A levels at Central

[Jazzpaws]

DD is starting Central in September and is looking at A levels that are offered. Do many of the students take A levels there or are any of your DD's planning to ?

[Tulip]

There are students who do A levels at Central. My daughter chose not to as she wanted to focus soley on her dancing. She will gain a B A honours after her three years there though. If she had of chosen to do her A levels it would have been maths and physics which are her favourite subjects. However to follow a syllabus in them subjects would have been too much on top of a full days training and assignments for the degree.

[Anna C]

Do they even offer Maths and Sciences at Central? I thought they only offered Art, English, French etc.

[Tulip]

I don't know spanner as our decision was made. I think the idea is, if there are enough students interested in a certain subject, then they will do their best to get someone in to teach it?

[Balletmumfor2]

My dd would love to do maths or sciences but at the moment they have only been offered art, eng lit and dance. My husband did think French had been mentioned and someone suggested they might see if there was enough interest in it at the registration day. My dd considering English and French if offered but is very academic.

[JulieW]

When we visited - 5 plus years ago now - I'm sure we were told that some students did A levels at a local college in the evening. My memory might be playng tricks on me.

[Tulip]

English, art and dance A level is taught at Central premises with French if enough people are interested. Any other subject is done at a local college.

[JulieW]

Thanks Tulip - I'm glad I didn't imagine it!

[Friends]

We tried to get maths last year but they weren't interested even though we had enough numbers of students.

The students do have quite a lot of academics included where they have assignments on the history of ballet, various choreographers and PDP. They do have a list of these and dates for submitting but they involve a lot of research. Jazzpaws try not to overload your DD because they are exhausted during the first few weeks and doing English A level involves studying at school from 4-7pm on 2-3 nights per week which means they get back home late for supper.

My philosophy is for my dd to enjoy this experience and after careful consideration decided not to do A levels. If required these can be done at a later date or another foundation degree can be taken.

[Jazzpaws]

Must admit the A level work load does seem rather a lot on top of their busy schedule. Dad is more interested in the dance A level as it seems a lot of the work is covered on their course anyway. I'm hoping that at this stage she can express interest and make a decision later. Will be interesting to see what the others do x

[taxi4ballet]

Doesn't studying an A-level affect mean you continue receiving child benefit?

[JulieW]

Sorry, can't quote from phone, but re doing about degree later - remember that if you've had a student loan for one degree you won't get it for a second and you may also pay more for a second degree. And you'd have to pay for A levels.

 

But I agree that not everyone should feel they have to do A levels. My son did dance as it was almost covered anyway for the diploma and music which he struggled with (the written bit, not the practical) but now he's dancing professionally it really doesn't matter. Bit of a gamble I suppose. Not sure what he'll do when he stops dancing but an opportunity will present itself in due course ;-)

[Jazzpaws]

I agree Julie W - if the A level study is almost there. why not take it - we'll see  xxx

[spooky]

My dd initially planned to do A level dance and art but realised almost immediately that this was too much for her despite being a high-achiever at GCSE (non-vocational school). She decided to drop dance as she was told the A level would be superceeded by her degree anyway. It was still a huge struggle to get the work done for art and after passing the AS she decided not to continue with the A2 as second year is even more demanding than first. I think most don't do A levels but I do know of at least one student who managed to successfully gain three good passes.

 

As regards child benefit. No you cannot claim child benefit if in reciept of a student loan regardless of any A level studies. It was mentioned in respect of a student doing a dada or self-funded diploma course like at Tring etc.