Stirrups36

my son first went at to RBS SS at age 10, he was little homesick at first, but as long as he was kept busy, it was fine. The phone calls seem much worse than the reality in my opinion but if you have any worries, hose parents are usually very good at sorting things out. I am sure he will have a great time.

I would save my £600 SS costs for the costs of White Lodge! and if he has done summer school before, then you know pretty much what to expect. Congrats on getting the WL place.

But look what someone paid for an old RBS prospectus - £50! so in 20 years time, I shall be selling a vintage 2010 RBS prospectus (plus supporting documentation, auditionletters and wait list letter... it will be in a thick envelope!) if you're interested, you can have it now for £35...

this today in the news: 71% of September-born pupils are in the top stream vs just 26% of August born. http://m.guardian.co.uk/education/2013/mar/08/summer-born-children-educational-inequality …

Best wishes to all today, And remember, regardlessof the contentsof the envelope, the journeys will no doubt continue.

With the summer born/autumn born, any such statistics are always 'on average', so there will always be exceptions. The Times article about the 9 year old footballer yesterday was very reflective of the discussions we see here.

Matthew Syed's brilliant book, Bounce, has some discussion of why autumn born children achieve more in some sports than summer born. Well worth a read, for dance parents as well. I wonder if at age 11, summer born children have an advantage in vocational dance auditions because of a liklihood of smaller/slighter build... One for someone to research I think. And tomuchtalent... The things we do! Good luck to both.

our philosophy is not to look too far ahead, trying to think of all the options as otherwise we would never end up doing anything! (I think the manager-speak term for this is 'analysis paralysis'). of course, some things you can't avoid, such as how to pay for things, but then that's the choice we have made. Our son wants to dance and we shall do all we can to make sure he can do that, as well as look after our other 2 children and the things they want to do and still pay the mortgage. Some make the decision to send their children to Eton, some easily afford it, others struggle to afford it, and for the vast majority, it isn't even an option. But we have been fortunate enough to have children who are dancing at the level that means vocational school is a choice (not a right) that we can make. But ballet was a new thing for us and we shall just try to enjoy it as much as possible. We know he is enjoying it. To all those still dancing and reading this, then good luck and really, enjoy every moment, but be prepared for sometimes difficult news (on future, on casting, on injuries...). To the parents, try not to analyse too much. We can't know everything that goes on and although we would love to be able to control every aspect of our children's lives, it gets to a stage where we can't. And yes, it sometimes seems unfair.

Our son chose ballet. He could have maybe chosen another route... so all those costs aren't mounting up. So the appraisal system isn't so stressful. So there are more chances of being in a professional system. So there are less 'foreigners coming over and claiming our school places' so it isn't so dependent on body type and physique or at the whims of an assessment panel Football maybe. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/4938593/Football-academies-kicking-and-screaming.html er... maybe not! so, in the meantime, we are enjoying every minute we can. He is enjoying every minute he can. There are imperfections. How we shall afford 6th form if he doesn't go to Royal with MDS awards, I have no idea. Maybe abroad? who knows. Will he get to 6th form? will he get a company? who knows. but he loves dancing and we shall cross those bridges as and when we get to them.

well, with many thanks to Jay Jolley, we called it a 'school with dance' as opposed to a ballet or dance school. The dance classes would build up from year 7 - as by law, Free Schools cannot be selective (It's also why it was boys only. My vision was for a school for boys that used dance, but we would not even have been able to use a 'quota' system - 50% boys/girls... unless of course, we were a boarding school and only had places for that percentage of each... now there's a thought...), so we would have to assume some would start having danced very little - and include dance appreciation, choreo and introductory technique. What most on here would think of as formal ballet lessons would start in year 8. By year 11, there would have been full ballet, contemporary and choreo classes. The RBS had designed a nice plan for this activity. But of course, some would have ballet lessons in addition to CLASS. Those who were 'gifted and talented' (to slightly out of date terminology now) may be on associate schemes, or CATS at the weekend. The school was not meant to be an alternative to vocational school. Rather it would use dance as a medium for ensuring all studies benefit. The motivation, discipline and such like that dance and in particular ballet classes offer, would permeate throughout all classes. (Now I'm getting confused as to which tense to use, present or past) Tim

The boys classes are great and well recommended - My son did these a few years back. he also did the summer school - then there were very few boys (I think only 2 or 3), but he did enjoy it. maybe they'll have more boys now. But the boys classes are excellent. keep an eye out for them next year.

you may see a link between my name and the name of the dad in the BBC article! We got quite a long way into the process of setting up a free school. My background is education, and we had a strong steering group. However, I think it is almost impossible to set up a free school whilst you have a full time job yourself. Most (not all, I imagine there would be at least some exception and I accept that before I get any responses as such) free schools that have been successful have had significant support from consultancies, or were set up as part of a charity or another school. So we have had to put the project on hold. You can see the philosophy and other aspects of the school at www.class-dance.co.uk. as to some of the questions, yes, it had to be non-selective, but you are allowed to set up single sex schools. A co-ed school would by its very nature be about 80% girls and my vision was to use dance as an educational support for boys. Note it was not meant to be an alternative to RBS, Elmhurst, YDA, Tring etc etc etc. It would have been inclusive, disabled pupils would have been welcomed, and there was a super dance schedule (with 1.5 hours of dance per day in addition to the academic schedule) worked out by the Royal Ballet School, who were very supportive. If a boy was able to leave and go to a vocational school at some point, then great. But we were equally concerned with ensuring boys leaving at 16 were able to choose whatever course they wanted, be this dance or physics. It would not have had a sixth form, as there is sufficient CATS scheme and DADA schools in London and we wanted to feed into those rather than be an alternative. We also had a really innovative academic and pastoral curriculum. Maybe things will happen again, but at the moment I don't think so as work is increasing rather than decreasing. Finally, DS was very embarrased to have such a young photo used! as he is now a young man.

PupsMum - exactly, and that brings me back to my football/rugby analogies. Many do not make it into Arsenal first team. some make a good a career at Leyton Orient or others. For the vast majority, a Friday night kick round, Sunday morning maybe as well and a training session or two gives huge enjoyment. Then they go onto coaching and start mentoring the next cohort of young players. Did they waste their time being an Arsenal schoolboy player... probably not. but then while they are training then indeed, aim for the trees. You WILL get told pretty soon if playing first team unlikely to work out.

another football analogy maker! we could start a club Vonrothbart. anyway, yes, it is tough. But one of the qualities of anyone successful is hard work and determination. The first hurdle has a lot of hurdles following (athletics now), and as Gary Player said (Golf now) 'The harder I practice, the luckier I get".

Rhys Yeomans - former Billy Elliot in the musical.

Just don't leave without your DS/DD's ballet shoes and only remember when on the train... ah! memories! best wishes to those auditioning, and to those who are not, well, there are other opportunities and as many on this board will testify, there are a huge number of routes ahead.

Yay to Daniel Jones for making sure ballet is represented on GTD. One day there may be a show like this prime time show from Russia - in the meantime, making sure all the street dancers have some competition is great. and to go back to my often overdone sports analogies - look at Superstars. Different sports all competing against one another. I'm sure people won't say the Brownlea brothers are demeaning themselves. It's just a different challenge. Look at the negative coverage 'Splash' has got - but then I bet every diving club in the UK is having more enquiries than it ever had before. Prime time diving... that would not have happened 5 years ago. Good on em! How about having a ballet version of Strictly Come Dancing? that would be interesting. Carlos Acosta partnering Karen Gillan, Benedict Cumberbatch partnering Sarah Lamb. What other combinations could there be? and of course, everyone is entitled to their own view - even when watching the same show. After all, I voted for the superbly talented John and Edward! (Ok, I didn't really...) finally, if you haven't seen it, take a look at www.boysdoballet.com along with all the other super boys ballet sites. Let's get more boys dancing, oh and GO Daniel!

Cash's name tags for us - Dancing son has lasted 3 years so far with few coming off - even after he sewed them on!

Doesn't the MDS scheme already have the possibity to run until 19? that is what the DfE website says -http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/toolsandinitiatives/b0068711/mds/rationale So if a school is not offering MDS to sixth form, then presumably that is at their own discretion.

savings... what are they exactly? now if they took into account interest PAID... Be prepared not just for the costs of the school tuition and boarding, but also the extra costs - some schools MDS cover physio, RAD exams and training, 2 different music lessons, dance clothing and footwear, others don't. Those alone are probably £3-4k. then also add in costs of travelling at start/end of half terms, and costs of coming home/returning for leave out weekends. And then also costs of activities (often about £25-30 a pop, maybe once/twice a term). and they will ask for ALL details. You do get some allowance for other dependents at home. If they earn anything (interest from savings, fees from performing - well, you never know, that gets asked for as well). is it all worth it... YES.

Is this what you were referring to Nana? two Evaluations from 2003 and 2006 and a strategic review from 2009. lots of bedtime reading for all... don't have nightmares!

Many many thousands of boys would love to play professional football for a '3rd division' team. They will still be getting paid for doing what they love day in day out, and there are many stories about players making the leap to 2nd, 1st division, premiership.

maybe they are including time spent as a Junior associate, at White Lodge and at the Upper School? that would work out correct - although Royal Ballet School not technically Royal Ballet. EDIT - and I just checked and in an interview Liam said the following “It is such an honour to be made Artist in Residence. For the past 16 years The Royal Ballet School and The Royal Ballet have been my home and it is with immense pride that I accept this position." sunday silliness - the google translation of Sergei Polunin's bion on the Kultura TV Ballet competition show is as follows "...and at 19 became the youngest prime minister in the history of the theater."

Russia's version of so you think you can dance... and if you look at the list of performers for the 21st, the answer is probably a huge yes! 'It's a 110% yes from me' all 2 hours of each one. . . The dancers are Anna Tikhomirova, Artem Ovcharenko (Bolshoi) Sergei Polunin (Stanislavsky) Kristina Andreeva and Oleg Ivenko (Tatar Theater of Opera and Ballet. Jalil) Andrei Ermakov, Viktoria Tereshkina (Mariinsky) Christina Shapran (Stanislavsky) Alexander Taranov and Xenia Barbasheva (Perm) Larissa Lyushina, Andrey Sorokin (Yekaterinburg Opera and Ballet) Olga Smirnova, Vladislav Lantratov (Bolshoi) I would love to know what the judges panel are saying to these incredible dancers. And to know their scores Each week they do different variations, some solo, some duets. TV audiences then vote by SMS. Polunin is in second place at the moment with 12.5% of the vote. Any takers for predicting the current leader with 20.8% of the vote? or which dancer will fall in the middle of their variation on the 28th?

and we send a weekly 'GRAZE' box to our son, who loves it, and loves going on their website and rating the different contents, liking some things, unliking others etc. although we still have to give him his Haribo fix every now and again. (and the ONE food I physically can't stand - bananas, after an unfortunate episode at infant school with bananas and custard).