Picturesinthefirelight

Ds is in year 10 and is finding the pressure hard. he's just had to give up some of his dance classes as he can't cope (his main focus is music however and that's what he hopes to study. Dd found GCSE's fairly stressful, especially as dh was taken ill in the middle of them, but she seemed to cope very well.

I think partly its a practical thing. When going straight from a ballet class to a jazz or modern class (or vice versa) there isn't time to remove one set of tights and put another on so the black ones go over the top and the pink ones stay under.

Black tights over the leotard at vocational school.

Yes, dd just used whatever tracks she could find on YouTube apparently.

I'll ask my dd if she ever got hold of copy (but I seem to recall she was having difficulty getting hold of it).

In fact the coat got lost at the Year 7 carol concert. Turned up again during the summer of Year 8. Was worn maybe twice then relegated to the back of the wardrobe!!

We had a scarf in Year 7. it got lost within the first month, never to be seen again for the entire 5 years!

To be fair I have known lotsw of "normal" schools and colleges encourage those who are struggling to do A levels encourage them to drop them in favour of a more vocational course. At my dd's school there is at least one Btec available, it would b egreat of there could be more options to suit those who are and are not academically inclined but within the very small numbers of students at vocational schools I appreciate this is difficult. A levels do not suit everyone.

Some universities have “fit to study policies” where they say they will intervene if a student becomes physically or mentally ill to the extent that their studies are not helping which may include contacting the next of kin. So it absolutely CAN be done. Friends who who have children doing what might be perceived as normal academic studies say that in many/most cases their child is being supported better at university than they ever were at school (in terms of SEN/mental health etc). The problem with many of these vocational degree colleges is that they simply do not have the understanding/set up/inclination to provide this support in many cases as the many stories I have heard (both on here and in real life) testify. My husband is an “educator” on a degree course. He has never felt that his responsibilities lie only in educating that student.

I’m currently researching music courses for my son and have noticed that at one or two universities in their policies they say that in exceptional circumstances when they believe a student to be at significant risk or vulnerable. they can over-ride confidentiality and contact parents or health professionals. (Pertinent to me as son has an asd)

I couldn't agree more taxi

Interesting that the SFE form asks " Have you started an undergraduate or postgraduate course of higher education in any country since leaving school? " Technically speaking the Trinity diplomas at institutions such as Elmhurst, Tring, Hammond etc were NOT started "since leaving school" but commenced whilst at school. A technicality? And of course that wouldn't apply to the Bird/Laine etc type colleges.

Not all young people are suited to A levels though.

Olivia - is it a college offering a Diploma or is it a degree course? Most of the colleges offer in the Level 6 diploma communicate with parents whilst their young person is under 18, the degree offering institutions can have a very different attitude.

Why shouldn’t they? A couple of my daughter’s teachers encourage the boys to do the girls work and vice versa to give versatility/extra strings to their bows so to speak.

Especially for Year 11 parents who will be needing to take days off for Prize Giving & Prom and stuff and who have possibly already used annual leave to traipse their child to auditions that year.

I also see no reason why they have to have both Thursday and Friday matinees, they sell poorly, surely they would be better letting the kids rest on Friday then having two Saturday performances as Saturday is the easiest day for most parents.

The ticketing provider is appalling. There are much better ones out there I've ended up paying too much money for the MT show and struggled last year on the dance show becasue of how it won't let you select a mixture of full price and concession tickets.

"Join us in Year 7 and subject to your good health and behaviour, we’ll make a 5-year commitment to your training. You can of course join us at a later stage too. Throughout your time at Elmhurst, you’ll be assessed regularly. If, at any point, we’re worried about your progress we’ll talk to you and find ways to help you improve." This is interesting too.

We got an email this morning that they were going on sale. I was thinking of going (dd not in it this year as she is MT) but have ebents on at my son's school that week too.

But back to topic, I’ve never attempted to clean a tutu but my first port of call with anything tends to be either carpet cleaner mousse or soaking in the bath in cold water and Vanish. For alterations i tend tend to just safety pin stuff and hope for the best.

Bit cheeky of them expecting you to get it altered and cleaned.

Do you have a teacher who is checking that what you are doing is correct as it would be pointless doing all those repetitions and gaining the wrong muscle memory?

I have read of children who have been sucesful not having trained full time between 11 and 16 (I think there was a Genee finalist or winnder from KSD a few years back for example ) but I think it depends on a lot of factors. Availability of high standard classes/teachers within a reasonable commutable distance of home The money to pay for such classes An academic school that is understanding in supporting this with regards to amount of homework etc given and the timescale given to complete it and/or compulsory after school revision classes etc An academic school that perhaps allows a reduced number of GCSE's to be taken (8/9 rather than the 11/12 some schools till insist on) or to finish early to travel to dance classes. An academic school that is understanding in regards to activities such as PE where the risk of injury might be increased. I'm sure there are more.

I work for a construction company and we’ve just had the loss adjusters in about a workplace accident. Our employer and public liability insurance quotes quotes are given once we’ve provided lots of information about qualifications, training, risk assessments etc. Why can’t the insurance companies who provide Public Liability & Professional Indemnity insurance to dance school carry out more stringent checks. (Or is it just st that parents are bullied out of making claims so they don’t care?).