billythewhizz

Hi Richard, I admire your trust and confidence in the system, however does this differ from what we have been exposed to and trust in the ‘system’. It is human nature to trust in official Org’s however what has happened recently in NHS, Government, Police, Local Authority, Private Sector, Public Sector, BBC, gymnastics, other sports, etc……but I am sure the ballet world is totally different and exceptional and therefore does not warrant any form of scrutiny and self questioning (surely this is healthy for our children and should not be white washed on a forum). Who would you trust, what your child is telling you or what an external Org is doing and probably managed to conduct some form of report…you are missing the point by a long way

Hi Richard, there is also the issue of OFSTED reporting on a prestigious school who carries a royal patron…not a typical local school OFSTED report and, call me cynical, I think it must be in their minds as a given even before visiting the school. How would their mind set change from assessing vocational Elmhurst to deprived area of UK school….would their scrutiny and pre conditioning of what to expect change?

Has anyone made a request to their school for all information held relevant to their child and where their child is discussed/mentioned. This would include all communication and data stored (internal reports, emails, internal correspondence like teacher to teacher/artistic director, etc) which you/your child may not be party to but have the right of access. I believe the school should comply with this and respond with all information within 1 month or give good reason for delay and also if they don’t fully comply i.e. they are selective on what they share or say data lost (they should adhere to data retention policy) then further action can be taken.

There was some much more that could have also been covered if time permitted in the programme considering our DD experience which is wrong with at least one of the schools mentioned and also alarming how, until hopefully now, much could not be said considering artistic director acts as judge, jury and executioner with the principle tending to have little authority of him (it was generally accepted and we were told by student in older year…don’t speak out as it could impact DD future). We did speak up and it impacted our DD selection to 6th form (she was originally on the list as we were told by dance teacher and house parent), but we had what we thought would be an open and transparent meeting with artistic director after which our DD was taken off the list. We had ongoing concerns throughout our DD time from year 6 which we always tried to raise, these included student bullying which was always brushed under the carpet with some house parents worse than useless, focus on artistic directors ‘favourites’, including international students, artistic director only attending dance class once in year but making judgement on DD future, select few students being told discreetly they were safe and not being accessed out to critical milestone years (year 8 and also 6th form) before official communication went out to all students, at assessment meeting dance teacher raising physical issues not just being weight related, general acceptance by academic teachers that dance was priority and academics not as equal importance. There is a lot of smoke and mirrors that exist, what they say they do is not a reality…just because you can say something on your website like anti bullying policy, mental health policy and support, etc doesn’t make it happen, your have to actually act on it and have it baked into your school culture. There also needs to be more scrutiny put onto Artistic Director (who are generally regarded as one who cant be questioned or come under scrutiny and everyone runs scared of them as they have some much power over your child’s future, lets not forget all AD’s have grown up through the dance system, their skills and approach have been made forged through the dance system and culture including all the things which are bad and therefore will continue with what they think is the right approach, with impunity.

Just wanted to see what everyones experiences are with vocational artistic directors and their function in the school. My DC's experience at vocational is the AD being distant & unavailable from weekly classes or contact with the pupils, probably the AD attends maybe 1 or 2 classes a year and maybe 1 or 2 consultations a year. If you also consider artistic staff openly say that the AD does not communicate or listen to them, how can the AD make any form of guidance or overarching decision to your DC's development or on going participation at the school. Although I do see the AD role & time would be to reach out to organisations, governors or maybe auditions in far off places, all for the on going image of the school, surely the number 1 priority is the current pupils and their development. The AD bringing their rich, significant experience and knowledge to the school as part of the normal weekly class activity, to the school as a whole rather than for a select few and putting your own image/career progression behind that which is best for the school and each of its pupils....all pupils surely deserve this.

Congratulations to your DD for being lucky to be offered both schools. I would say YDA is your best option if you consider both academic and dance training offered by both. As an example there were at least the same numbers of YDA dancers excepted into the current Elmhurst 6th form than those who were trained by Elmhurst from the lower school.

I wonder who is funding the cost incurred to visit considering Elmhurst do benefit from an element of tax payers money. You would like to think that the Ballet programme from PVP to Vocational Elmhurst run would be sufficient to prevent reaching out to far off places to bring in talent or is this an indication of it not working. Even if cost (including scholarships) has no burden on government investment, it would still mean valuable bed space is being used not for home grown talent.