Evie

Yes, my young and wise 20 year old dd would agree with that. As she often reminds me.....mum, some children just dance for fun, they don't want to go away to vocational school or become a ja, she certainly never did! She loved performing in panto's and festival's, she loves dancing still. Infact I think it was easier with her, than with my ds at vocational school.

I'm not getting at anyone .......but would like to point out that my friend earns £70,000+ and hasn't got a degree, whereas my friends son works in a surf shack and he's got a 1st in history from Oxford Uni!!! Generalising never proves anyone's point!!!!

I have 2 children that dance, one at vocational school on mds funding, his ds sister has travelled to Paris and Mexico entertaining. I have a son at university studying an English Literature degree. He wants to travel and possibly move to New Zealand/Austrailia. I have a son with Aspergers, who is socially inept, with minimal education and a disabled daughter who will find any work difficult. 2 of these children will possibly have to rely on the benefit system for their entire lives, through no fault of their own. Please do not be narrow minded and judgemental. My children and their children will all have very different lives, some will be able to support their children in their hobbies and interests better than their siblings. None of them are idle, they all lead very busy lives. The strong should help the weak and this is what I have taught my children.

There were 20 boys at RBS finals least year and about 15 at Elmhurst.

My ds danced from the age of 3, by the time he auditioned at 11 he was quite good with lot's of 'potential'! He's a hard worker, loves ballet and has lot's of passion for it. He was a ja for 3 years and his dream was to go to WL. I recognised that he was 'quite good' and let him follow his dream. He didn't get into WL, but did get a place at another excellent vocational school. His friend another ds, who was a ja for only 1 year and had danced for much less time than my son, did get into WL and I could see why. He had natural talent and I think that if he had only been dancing for 6 months, WL would have taken him. There will always be these dancers, who havn't done anywhere near as much dancing as your child, will have never been a ja (this happened last year with a girl who went to WL) either. I have told my ds to cary on doing what he was doing before he went away, working hard and enjoy it, what the future may bring, who know!!!!

He's had a brilliant day, all the girls love him, he said!! (Well for today anyway, he'll be annoying them again tomorrow!!!) He felt a bit homesick this morning, but his friends were all there for him, especially the girls. He had a fab ballet class and the M&S cake went down a treat with all 20 odd of them. I feel happier. Thank you all for your kind words and thank god for forums like this.

Thank you all, for your kind words. It's now almost 8.30pm, and a pre arranged skype between us hasn't happened, I can't contact him at all. He's not picking up his mobile either. So we havn't spoken to him at all today!! We speak every day, so this is very unusual. So I am feeling even worse now. Roll on tomorrow. Edited: at 8.40......just skyped....feeling better. He's had a fab day and is totally unaware of my day!

Today is my ds 12th birthday, he is away at vocational school and we are too far away to see him today. No cards at home, no birthday cake, no presents here. His siblings are feeling sad also. We had a family get together, when he was home last weekend, we did presents and cake and candles then. It does not make up for him not being here today and I feel so sad, just like his first term. Well, if he's still there next year, I will be going to spend the day with him, no matter what, don't want to feel like this again.

Hi Fiz, no, Richard does not have red hair! My ds did a workshop with Horizon in the summer, which culminated in a live performance at our local theatre! My ds is classical through and through and had never experienced contemporary dance before(except Mathew Bourne's Cinderella, which he said wasn't proper ballet!), but he absolutely loved every minute of it! Richard and Kai's enthusiasm and energy rubbed off on my ds and his young friends. We hope for a repeat performance next summer!

I have been accused (mainly by my family!) of being opinionated! Guilty...as charged! I love opinions, I love it when people disagree with me because I enjoy debate. But seriously, if we give our opinions we should be able to accept other peoples opinions too. I value everyone's opinion and appreciate that we may have different points of view, but at the end of the day you don't have to agree with them! This forum has been invaluable to me, this year, thank you. I discovered Graze boxes too, although I don't think my ds is so impressed after delivery of his first one this week!! But I digress, sorry!!

No, he's at Elmhurst!

Hi Spax, my son is at vocational school year 7 (not WL)! It's a rollercoaster ride from beginning to end, with no way off really , once it starts! From ds point of view he's happy and it's all that he dreamt of! I can't help feeling sad that I've lost that daily contact with him, coming in from school with his siblings, making a noise, teasing the dog, playing football, taking him to dancing 6 days a week, where a lot of my social life was! It still feels like a loss to me and I guess it will for a long time!

I wouldn't worry too much about the singing, when my ds auditioned he sang ' the monkey' version of happy birthday! He said the two that went in before him for the singing part of the audition had amazing voices, he knew he didn't and besides he didn't have anything prepared. So he improvised and even finished on a daaaadaaaaahhh!! He was offered a place!

Well done to all the dancers from YDA. I would be interested in knowing more about your decision to turn down a place at Elmhurst though!

I agree, I think if a child of 11 is going to live away from home the most important thing is their happiness. I'm not thinking about rankings at this point. There is such a long way to go before he finally decides that he wants to be a dancer, so much can happen along the way. I have heard negative things about ALL the schools. Infact i would imagine negative things have been said about every school in the country....regardless of whether they are academic or dance....by parents.

Hello to new parents, my ds will be starting in September too. We received our letter today too. He will be in year 7. It's starting to feel a bit more real now, looking forward to the 7th July and watching the show too. He already has two friends from JA classes there in year 8 and knows 4 other of the boys that will be starting too.

I think a debate is a good thing, after all we do live in a democracy. However, naming teachers or schools that you are not happy with is a personal opinion and we all have them!! I had 5 of my children at 5 different academic schools for 4 years! Why! This was because each child was an individual, with their own personality and their own gifts and challenges! Each school was the right school for that particular child, but not the right school for all!! My ds is going to vocational school in September, we feel it is the right school for him now. Things may change in the future, he will change too! Be prepared for change and be open-minded, your child is an individual, make decisions based purely around your child!! All teachers have favourites, its the way of the world and there will always be a pecking order! However, good teachers should always be interested in every pupil.

Oh dear, maybe I should encourage my ds to do something else!! Am getting cold feet now that he is going to vocational school in September!! Maybe he will never be good enough!! Can't be easy for a child to have to accept constant criticism!! I remember how I felt as an 11 year old, when I failed my 11+ it stayed with me all my adult life!!! He loves it though, guess we will have start saving now and his dad will have to carry on working till he is 70!!!!

Well done to all you new ja's. My ds has just one more class left after 3 years as a ja. Now it's time to move on, we have made some really good friends, both of us, and we will definitely keep in touch! It feels like an exciting time with lots of his friends moving on, to vocational schools or MA's or new secondary schools! It was worth all the travelling and shuffling dance school exams and shows etc!

5 Years training at vocational school, what happens then to the children, are they all chasing dada's?

What age should a girl be before going on pointe?

My dd only grew to 4ft 10ins but loved performing, when all her taller, thinner friends went off to dance schools at 16 and 18, she was left floundering! What to do now! Thank god for Disney, she was ideal for playing all the shorter characters and danced in the parades and had the time of her life!!

The issue with children dancing and the change in shape at puberty is a difficult one! Most of these dancing children start dancing as very young children, way before puberty kicks in!! What are we as parents to say when genetics dictate that a classical career or even a dance career looks like more of a dream than reality!! What happens if this child loves performing and dancing, it becomes a way of life and all your friends are dancing friends!!! It would take a brave mother indeed to put a stop to their childs dreams and ambitions! I dont know any mother that brave!

My ds was at ss last year as a year 5 pupil and shared a room with a year 6 boy, who was there for the second year running. He was from overseas and only did one ballet class a week and no other dancing! He had a lovely feel for ballet,but technically was miles behind and lacked strength! My son has been a ja for 3 years and this will be his 2nd year SS but, he didnt make WL finals and was on the waiting list for a MA place! He has however been offered a mds place at another vocational school! I really dont know what you can read into, getting a place at SS! From our experience absolutely nothing!

My ds was on the waiting list last year and we had a phone call offering him a place only a couple of weeks before! This year he was given a year 6 place outright!