Fusster Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 I'm pretty sure it was in the week after all the centers were completed for the first round Hello to all, happy 2014, and here we go again..... I've just done a bit of catching up so welcome LittleNutcracker and MVOBE, enjoy the ride. These forthcoming weeks and months can be very tense, frustrating and anxiety filled but at the same time extremely exciting. I wish you and your DC's well. Good luck at Elmurst tomorrow today MVOBE, it's a lovely school and has always left a good impression on us. (I think I know who you are and if I'm right, I'm sure he'll do just fine.) I have to say that the talk of regrets over opting for vocational boarding is a tad un-nerving to us as we're only 4/5 months into that journey and with it being so soon after having made that decision. We, like many others I've read on these forums, would never have considered boarding prior to all this so it has been a dramatic and sometimes traumatic choice for us to make. I am, however confident that it is the right thing for our DD having seen how well she's taken to the life and how much she loves to be there but would add that it's almost impossible to advise others on though as it's such a highy individual choice both for child and parent. now, to matters in hand; Does anyone have any insight into when the WL finals yay/nay letters are due ? I know that there are still some auditions to come but my partner and I were argui..... debating as to whether in the past couple of years we'd recieved the letters before the other centres had completed or not ? We were told it would be the within the week of the final audition. So March 4th I think is one finals dates and then something like 28th but I'm not 100% sure on that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angel Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 (edited) Forgot I'd already said! Edited January 22, 2014 by angel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tulip Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 JA Dad, my intention was not to un-nerve people with their choice or decisions for vocational schools. I was merely responding to a comment made by Fusster. It is ok to share emotions and experiences, especially when I clearly pointed out that every persons experiences are different. A further point was that if you don't go away to vocational school all is not lost, a child can go at a latter date. I also (not that you have said this) did NOT say that my daughter had a bad time away, I simply did not elaborate one or the other. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myveryownbillyelliot Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 Hi everyone Just returned from Elmhurst audition, I'M SO LOVING ELMHURST!!!!!! A very relaxed audition experience today. No crazy warm up/stretching witnessed at all. Just some very gentle stretching, non showy sensible warming up done by all. My ds was incredibly unnerved today, unlike White Lodge when my dh thought he might pass out (mainly caused by competitive warm ups by some super bendy boys) with fear! Ok, the school does not have the White Lodge grandeur but it had a very chilled atmosphere which I loved and the emphasis was definitely on the health/well being of the child. I was impressed! Hello to JA _Dad. You have intrigued me as to how you might know who I am? At what stage are you in the process? Regarding White Lodge letters, I have been told by someone with a dd at White Lodge, that they send out the letters before all auditions are over. I thought it would be within two weeks but nothing as yet. Tulip, I understood your thoughts on vocational school. When my ds was sobbing with fear the night before White Lodge auditions I questioned my sanity in even letting him get this far, and we are only doing JA's! We can all regret decisions we make or wish we'd done things differently but until we have travelled down that road how can we know? It's good to hear everyones' thoughts. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billyelliott Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 (edited) I'm pretty sure it was in the week after all the centers were completed for the first roundOops in never finished my sentence .......and the finals were a problem because some had heard before the Elmhurst finals took place and needed to reply to accept places before the Elmhurst results were out ! So about 10 days for finals ! Sorry Edited January 22, 2014 by Billyelliott Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myveryownbillyelliot Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 Billy elliot - sorry I'm confused! When are you saying White Lodge answers come out then? Do they post all out together do you think or do they send the yes letters out first? I am thinking as we have not heard then it is probably a no for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billyelliott Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 The WL letters from the first round of auditions take ages as they have to wait for all the centers to be done so they can decide on who to invite to the finals .....the letters with yes/ no/ waiting list from the finals are only 10-14 days Sorry if I confused u ???? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myveryownbillyelliot Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 Thanks Billyelliott there are so many different stories regarding WL letters. I have also been told (as said earlier) that they send out letters before all prelim auditions are complete but what you say makes more sense! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billyelliott Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 I am not aware that anyone has ever reached a definate conclusion as to weather or not the yes letters go out before the no letters or weather they go down an alphabetical list or if it's center by center ......in any case it may change and be subject to the postal service ......it's not worth pre- judging .....it a waiting game . Glad you enjoyed Elmhurst , it is definately a child welfare centered environment ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tulip Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 Good luck everyone, have a glass of wine whilst you are awaiting your letters, not long now. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
balletmadmom Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 I thought I should mention the YDA auditions, in case you are not aware. YDA is a vocational day school in West London, with some boarding facilities. Their audition for full time training is on 12th February and the audition for the Associates programme is on 9th February. There is some means tested funding available. I will mention their summer school in the right thread also, but it is in July - 21st-25th age 8-12 and 28th July - 1st August age 13-16. I cannot recommend YDA highly enough. My DD is Year 11 and doing her auditions for Upper School. It was the most perfect solution for her, as she did not want to go away to board in Year 7. They regularly get 2/3 students a year into White Lodge after year 7 and their graduates have all gone on to Royal,ENB, Central, Elmhurst, etc. My DD already has Central and Elmhurst finals and more to come...! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BankruptMum Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Hello to all, happy 2014, and here we go again..... I've just done a bit of catching up so welcome LittleNutcracker and MVOBE, enjoy the ride. These forthcoming weeks and months can be very tense, frustrating and anxiety filled but at the same time extremely exciting. I wish you and your DC's well. Good luck at Elmurst tomorrow today MVOBE, it's a lovely school and has always left a good impression on us. (I think I know who you are and if I'm right, I'm sure he'll do just fine.) I have to say that the talk of regrets over opting for vocational boarding is a tad un-nerving to us as we're only 4/5 months into that journey and with it being so soon after having made that decision. We, like many others I've read on these forums, would never have considered boarding prior to all this so it has been a dramatic and sometimes traumatic choice for us to make. I am, however confident that it is the right thing for our DD having seen how well she's taken to the life and how much she loves to be there but would add that it's almost impossible to advise others on though as it's such a highy individual choice both for child and parent. now, to matters in hand; Does anyone have any insight into when the WL finals yay/nay letters are due ? I know that there are still some auditions to come but my partner and I were argui..... debating as to whether in the past couple of years we'd recieved the letters before the other centres had completed or not ? Glad to hear your DD is enjoying her school JADad - good luck with the auditon. I dont think anyone need by un-nerved by negative thoughts - others may view them as realistic. Isnt it good to have experiences from all angles, thats what makes up the full picture. The difficulty is there is no right or wrong, and its has been said so many times but its true, everyone has difference expectations and circumstances which makes a situation perfect for some and not others. If you only hear of positive it becomes a 'glossy magazine approach' rather than realistic. Just keep in mind these are schools not shrines to be worshiped. You are the customer, and boy do we pay for these opportunities (even with funding there are great costs). Value for money still should be considered and its easy to become wrapped up in the emotion of everyone elses journey when you are walking around these schools. A school is only as good as its leader and their staff, Ofsted reports are a good indication of what lies under the glossy image. Be objective and take each step at a time. Life is never simple, this experience certainly isnt either. 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulieW Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Excellent advice :-) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DancingDays Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 What a great post balletmadmom - I didn't realise there were any boarding facilities at YDA which is why we hadn't even put it on the radar for our DD but on the strength of your recommendation, we definitely would have. Good luck for your DD with Finals Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myveryownbillyelliot Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Tring question please............ is it true that children have to perform a solo piece at the prelim auditions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DancingDays Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Tring question please............ is it true that children have to perform a solo piece at the prelim auditions? Hi, yes - the children need to do a 1 minute dance solo of their choice plus they can do an optional drama / music piece. Tring don't do prelims - it's one audition, after which you receive 1 of 4 possible letters - one that says "unfortunately no offer of place"; one that says "on hold until all auditionees have been seen"; one that says "yes but not possible to offer funding" and final one that says "yes and would like to invite you to funding audition". Hope his helps - my DD said the audition was good - they did ballet class first, then Modern class, followed by a stretch session and then their solos. After that, the optional solos were done before the academic tests. It's about a 5 hour process for lower school and parents get a tour after the children are taken off for the auditions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna C Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 What a great post balletmadmom - I didn't realise there were any boarding facilities at YDA which is why we hadn't even put it on the radar for our DD but on the strength of your recommendation, we definitely would have. Good luck for your DD with Finals I don't think there are boarding facilities at YDA. As I understand it the only option if you live too far away to travel each day is to live with a host family. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pavlala Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Spanner, there ARE limited Boarding facilities at YDA as well as daily commuters and host family students. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna C Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Spanner, there ARE limited Boarding facilities at YDA as well as daily commuters and host family students. Oh! Apologies, I stand corrected. Is that a new thing? When dd's friend joined the school I'm sure the only options were day pupil or host family. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pavlala Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Couple of years ago, I believe 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myveryownbillyelliot Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 I am wondering why everyone seems so calm about the White Lodge letters. Even though it will be a no for us I just want to see it in writing so we can deal with it and move on. The timing couldn't be worse for year 6 (current) hopefuls! At a time when they should be focusing on important forthcoming Sats, they are having to focus on auditions and the anxious waiting game. Oh dear!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Picturesinthefirelight Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Are SATS important? I thought they were just something for school league tables eg something fit teachers to worry about not children Dd didn't do them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LittleNutcracker Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Hi everyone and thank you for your kind welcome to the forum. We weren't expecting WL letters until next week because the prelims are taking place until Sunday. And no, SATS had no bearing on my DD. I think the majority of state schools re-test them within a couple of months of arriving at High School. Given the number of dancing exams our children have done, I'd like to think that they would be better prepared mentally for most kinds of assessment than others. That's what we told ours, seemed to work a treat ;0) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulieW Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Some schools put a lot of pressure on their year 6s about SATS and I do wish they wouldn't. It's just a guide, but it's important to the school for their statistics. My daughter missed her maths SATS as she had to have an operation (ear drum repair) - the school weren't happy but there was no way I was putting that off!! We always played them down in our house as much as possible and my three are pretty calm about most things, so they weren't stressed and our school wasn't as OTT about them as some I've heard of (but that was quite a long time ago now!) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myveryownbillyelliot Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Unfortunately great importance is put on Sats in our school! In fact from year 5 it's Sats,Sats Sats etc. picturesinthefirelight is right but it is difficult when your dc is in a school where Sats are seen as be all and end all. No they are not, but unfortunately that doesn't take away the pressure/expectations placed on dc by teachers etc. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pas de chat Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 I thought I should mention the YDA auditions, in case you are not aware. YDA is a vocational day school in West London, with some boarding facilities. Their audition for full time training is on 12th February and the audition for the Associates programme is on 9th February. There is some means tested funding available. I will mention their summer school in the right thread also, but it is in July - 21st-25th age 8-12 and 28th July - 1st August age 13-16. I cannot recommend YDA highly enough. My DD is Year 11 and doing her auditions for Upper School. It was the most perfect solution for her, as she did not want to go away to board in Year 7. They regularly get 2/3 students a year into White Lodge after year 7 and their graduates have all gone on to Royal,ENB, Central, Elmhurst, etc. My DD already has Central and Elmhurst finals and more to come...! Thanks balletmadmum they sound great. We have also not considered them before because of the non boarding element. Interestingly it says on the application form that they are not residential but I also met a mum last Sunday whose daughter attend the school and she said there were some residential places on offer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
balletmadmom Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Just to say that there is a boarding house/home stay opposite the school, which has 8 students I think. Two are year 11 so will leave in the summer. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Interested Parent Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 Sorry, I know this thread is not about SATs but just wanted to balance out the 'need to do well' in SATS... In those counties that take the 11+, SATs are important. This is because the Headmistress gives your child a score based on how well they have done (including SATs) in previous years. This score is not used unless your child doesn't pass the 11+ and wishes to appeal and then the score and SATs results are very important in being successful at the appeal round. So I know how a lot of you will be feeling around Spring/Summer term with auditions and SATs 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pas de Quatre Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 In this area we still have 11+ exams for grammar school entrance, and I can assure you the anguish for many families is just as bad as for those applying for Vocational schools. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
double trouble Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 I also live in 11 plus area and some of the parents get so stressed about it . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulieW Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 I've made some new threads for people's news from auditions - one each for lower schools, upper schools and associate programmes. Please use them for your news to keep things easy to find :-) 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 I did not realise that the 11plus was still being used in so many places!! I never had that much belief in this exam and in the 50's and 60's when it was more widespread it was very much dependent on the area you lived in as to whether yo would get a pass or not! In Surrey you had to have an IQ (of the verbal reasoning kind) of 115-120 to get into a grammar school....purely because of the high population and too few grammars to meet these needs! Anyway I know too many people who failed the 11 plus and went on to get degrees (thank goodness for the comparatively progressive secondary schools in Surrey when I was growing up) and many who left Grammar School at 16 with very few O levels. Eleven is too young to decide the future of a child's education in my view. From child development point of few Ive always been in favour of the Middle School system so more final decisions about higher education are made a bit further down the line. But this really never took off that well in UK though some areas do still have this system. It's only really going to work though if a whole county at least takes it on. However I feel for those who are having to be over concerned with SATS because of it possibly being dependent on a child getting into a Grammar school. Perhaps some of the secondary schools in the area have GCSE streams so grammar school may be reached at 16 as happened in my case!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi4ballet Posted January 25, 2014 Share Posted January 25, 2014 From child development point of few Ive always been in favour of the Middle School system so more final decisions about higher education are made a bit further down the line. But this really never took off that well in UK though some areas do still have this system. I agree, it makes good sense, and the age groupings are much more natural (up to 8, then 9-12 and 13+). We're lucky, we have the lower, middle and upper school system here and IMHO it works really well. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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