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Questions about Lower School auditions


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  • 1 month later...
3 hours ago, AuditionIngenu said:

Dear All. 

Does anyone know if Elmhurst has a waiting list for Year 7 entrance Sept 2019?

 

 

They usually have a ‘reserve pool’ not strictly a list. If places become available they meet up and discuss who to give the places to. They said in the last that it depends on things like beds and class numbers too which is why it’s not a strict list. 

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I gather that there was no reserve pool last year, as they re-opened the audition process in early May and held an additional ‘finals’ of sorts. I think students would have been told if they were in a reserve pool, so a straight ‘no’ would be unlikely to yield a place, although I might be wrong. I think the additional round had already been advertised by this time last year, though. A lot can happen in a year, though, and it is definitely worth trying again for Year 8.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi everyone!

I have a question regarding the MDS. I'm currently in two minds regarding whether I would like for my DD to board. We live not too far away from Tring so being a day student is definitely an option. If DD gets offered an MDS boarding place, is it possible to change your mind during acceptance and become a day pupil?

Also, should circumstances change in the following year and DD decides to board, would the MDS fund a boarding place if a bed is available?

This is for Year 7 so we'll be auditioning next year.

Thank you!

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14 minutes ago, Jen51 said:

If you don’t live far away, I would suggest being a day pupil. 

 

Absolutely this. I have one DC already boarding and another about to go. We live far too far from either school for them to be day pupils but this is what I would have chosen had we lived nearer. 

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By "not too far" I meant we're not really that close either. It's about 20 miles and given how early they tend to start it will probably take a lot of adjustment at the beginning (also with regards to how I will juggle it with work!).

Truth be told, 20 miles is nothing in terms of how long it would take to get there (max 40 mins drive) vs for example WL which is only 12 miles but would take twice as long to get to!

But this is more to do with the question of how the MDS could be used and whether it can be offered for either (should there be beds available of course).

Same for Elmhurst or Hammond for example. Should DD be offered a place, we could move to Birmingham or Chester for the 1st year, and for Year 8 move back to London and let DD board - is that an option at all?

 

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I’m not sure with the mds if they let you switch from a day place to a boarding place (if there is one available). You can definitely decide at the outset to be a day pupil. At 20 miles I would make being a day pupil work. For comparison we are 180-200 miles from our dc’s schools. 

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2 hours ago, AdageKitty said:

By "not too far" I meant we're not really that close either. It's about 20 miles and given how early they tend to start it will probably take a lot of adjustment at the beginning (also with regards to how I will juggle it with work!).

Truth be told, 20 miles is nothing in terms of how long it would take to get there (max 40 mins drive) vs for example WL which is only 12 miles but would take twice as long to get to!

But this is more to do with the question of how the MDS could be used and whether it can be offered for either (should there be beds available of course).

Same for Elmhurst or Hammond for example. Should DD be offered a place, we could move to Birmingham or Chester for the 1st year, and for Year 8 move back to London and let DD board - is that an option at all?

 

Yes, it’s definitely an option! You can change about with a mds at the end of a school year as long as you give plenty notice ( a term at least). My Dd had an mds and chose to be a day pupil. We were told that it was fine to change our mind. Tring is a great school to be a day pupil as there are around 65 or more day pupils ( dance and mt) so plenty of people to hang out with. Because there is such a large number of day pupils, they are catered for very well with their own house parent and changing facilities. Correspondence from the school always includes special circumstances for day pupils should it be appropriate ( eg timetable and pick ups) which is more than can be said for other vocational schools!! The downside is that day pupils are kept separate from boarders when they are not in classes ( academic or vocational) which can feel a bit weird. Everyone is different in what suits them but being able to talk to my child every night ( car journeys are great for this) and for them to unwind, have a quiet bath and offload in their own time (without the pressurised ‘phone call home’) was valuable, as was providing a nutritious diet! I guess travelling becomes more of an issue in yes 10 and 11 with the work involved in GCSE’s. 

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My understanding is that if you are awarded an MDS you can choose to use it either way. However, in Tring's case it does often seem to be short of boarding spaces so probably better to apply for boarding and then change to day at Tring in particular.

 

Regarding whether to be day or not; it's an overall balance for any family - issues such as your job, siblings, costs, other responsibilities, child's preference allow to be taken into account. Personally i think 80 miles daily driving plus a job for you is a lot. You would need to do Saturdays as well. Weekly boarding may work?

 

Other issues - these are essentially boarding schools and non boarders can feel a bit left out sometimes. I don't know proportion of day pupils at Tring. A lot of travel on daily basis is exhausting for child on top of dance and school schedule.

 

A lot to think about.... But personally I wouldn't worry too much about it until you (hopefully) have offers and know what your options are. Tring usually has the fewest number of MDS available out of all the schools.

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51 minutes ago, sarahw said:

This is a guess but I suspect a higher proportion of dancers might be boarders?

Yes, definitely more MTs are day students than dancers but not sure how numbers of dancers compare to MT students overall.

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  • 2 weeks later...

This is a really long thread so apologies for not reading all 40 pages! But, apart from RBS which other schools offer full time dance training from year 7? My daughter is at the end of year 5 and is currently working on something with studio Wayne McGregor. They have suggested she could go full time at 11, but I’m a bit lost as to the options, as RBS seems a long shot at best!

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It depends on whether you need MDS (means tested) funding or not.  If you would need an MDS there are four schools Elmhurst, Hammond, RBS, Tring.  If you can  the training fund then you have more options.  Different schools will suit different students.

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  • 2 months later...
On 28/05/2019 at 18:38, Sally-Anne said:

This is a really long thread so apologies for not reading all 40 pages! But, apart from RBS which other schools offer full time dance training from year 7? My daughter is at the end of year 5 and is currently working on something with studio Wayne McGregor. They have suggested she could go full time at 11, but I’m a bit lost as to the options, as RBS seems a long shot at best!

I'm interested in this too. We know about RBS, Elmhurst, Tring and Legate (if the new dance director is more ballet oriented than the outgoing one). I'm not quite sure what is happening at Hammond at the moment and we decided against Young Dancers Academy. Are there any others we should be thinking of?

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1 hour ago, Meglorien said:

I'm interested in this too. We know about RBS, Elmhurst, Tring and Legate (if the new dance director is more ballet oriented than the outgoing one). I'm not quite sure what is happening at Hammond at the moment and we decided against Young Dancers Academy. Are there any others we should be thinking of?

 

There’s Moorlands too. What aren’t you sure about at Hammond?  If you need MDS funding then it should be considered alongside the other three schools which have mds too. 

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2 hours ago, Farawaydancer said:

 

There’s Moorlands too. What aren’t you sure about at Hammond?  If you need MDS funding then it should be considered alongside the other three schools which have mds too. 

I was told this weekend that there was some sort of closure, and that they focus more on contemporary than in classical ballet. I'll read through the thread to see what people say about the various school before asking more questions 😉

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