Farawaydancer

3 hours ago, mart said:

The school is staying in Hortensia Road as they have signed a new lease on the building. Although the studios are not as good as in Canning Town the environment and accommodation is far better than in the east end .

i would think that Q A house will still be used . 

Is that staying permanently at the old premises or just another temporary delay?

7 minutes ago, Asta said:

It was the same at my girls dance academy. My DD was offered finals at WL last year but instead of joy she only got disbelief from the others.

My dd is still waiting for a congratulations from her teacher nearly two years after she got her ‘yes’ letter! We see her all the time but she’s never been able to bring herself to say well done and it’s never been publicly acknowledged within the dance school.   

53 minutes ago, PrancingMum said:

There may have been recent changes but a friend of DDs who went to Elmhurst was assessed out and she has another who has been on their warning list where they have to pass elements of their assessments and have if they don't they have time to improve.  These are DDs words so I will leave it up to someone with inside knowledge of their assessment system to correct me.

 

Elmhurst have changed their assessment system completely in the last 18 months, and it’s a definite commitment to offer five years now, unless there are very major issues such as very long term injury. 

17 minutes ago, Pointytoes said:

Gosh there seems to be as many urban myths and misconceptions as ever about assessing out at RB. 

Pupils can  not continue their training even if they have the money as the body needs to suit their particular style of training and why would you leave your child in an establishment where the teachers felt their training was not working for them? 
Not all students who are told the Royal style of training no longer suits them go to YDA. They redirect their focus to a wide range of establishments. 
Other schools use the fact they don’t assess out as a selling angle, but from personal experience this brings disadvantages too. The lack of rigid  assessments and meeting these  means the  retaining of pupils who don’t meet the expected marks in assessments from term to term. As a result, there is a very wide spectrum of abilities over time which effects the overall standard. The approach is to have a nice dance environment and this serves its purpose too but can be frustrating for other pupils.  

On balance parents rarely turn down RB( though it has happened) but praise highly other schools who retain for 5 years. 
There are advantages and disadvantages to both, it is the British system of vocational training. 
 

However, not assessing out gives time to those who are ‘slow burners’ like my ds. Not all children develop at the same rate. Each school is very different, if you’re lucky enough to have a choice you really just have to go with the one you feel will be right for your child. 

3 minutes ago, cotes du rhone ! said:

If anyone is curious about “extras” this is an example of what appeared on our 6:2/6:3 Dada invoice termly. I can’t find an old MDS, must have burned 🔥 them 😂

It shows the total full fees prior to the Dada discount so don’t panic 😟 
There is no uniform/pointe shoe etc allowance with a Dada as there is with an MDS. 

The 6:2 is boarding and the 6:3 is a day student, then you pay rent and bills. It is not my intention to frighten anyone, I wish I had known a bit more before entering the vocational world. 
https://ibb.co/PtsDxQF
https://ibb.co/ZmqRPCG

 

 
And then there’s the mysterious ‘miscellaneous’ items that are added each term, that no one ever explains! 🤣

3 minutes ago, cotes du rhone ! said:

Dd flew to Florida last February to audition for 3 companies. Her brother was already at one of them. She was offered a junior contract at another and the ballet company applied for the visa petition in March. It cost us just short of $1000 and took until October to come through.
Ds flew home at the end of March following the closure of his company due to Covid. His visa, for this season, was paid for by the company and his petition came through in May. The US embassy in London, where you have to arrange a face to face interview, following receiving your visa petition, more £££, kept rescheduling his appointments until they finally closed with a proposed opening date of August 2021. So nether could fly to the US. Dds company have been performing since before Christmas and Dss have not yet recalled their international dancers and continue to perform with the 12 local ones they kept on. I can’t see anything changing in the US for some time yet. 
Also, flying to the US for auditions isn’t cheap and most are very very busy open ones. You need to do your research thoroughly before getting in a plane. I am happy to share our experiences xx
 

 Thank you, it sounds like a complete nightmare tbh! I’m really not looking forward to it. 

How easy/difficult is it for U.K. dancers to get US visas? Slowly realising graduation is on the horizon in the next two years and I know nothing about all of this! 🤦🏼‍♀️

1 hour ago, margarite said:

Funding decisions aren’t always right. One of DDs friends didn’t get an MDS for year 7, which DD couldn’t understand as she was clearly one of the best at ballet (and other genres) and hardworking, too. I saw for myself at parents evening how good she was. Luckily it was rectified as she was awarded one further up the school. 

Maybe she didn’t perform as well in the auditions? Or her potential bloomed between auditions and starting year 7? Who knows. 

Yes, who knows is quite right. I can’t work it out so I’ve stopped trying. Luckily my two have been on the right end of the decisions but I still don’t understand them sometimes. 

It’s impossible to second guess what will happen. My ds didn’t start until he was 8, three classes a week when he auditioned at 10 and got an mds from one and no finals anywhere else! Dd has an mds at her school but looking at her classmates I see few reasons why some of them got funding and others didn’t.  

Might be worth contacting NIDMS and asking their advice about next steps?

15 hours ago, Raquelle said:

Just wondered, as we might not have much time to prepare for finals, do tring or hammond expect them to perform their solos again in finals? Wondering whether she needs to practise it! Or is it only in prelims x 

 
Hammond’s funding finals didn’t require the solo again. It was a ballet class, a creative movement class and a musical theatre workshop. If it’s not in person this year this might change of course. 

Just now, Raquelle said:

Thanks so much. Does anyone know how many mds places are available this year? 

Sorry, I don’t have any insider information from the current year 11 group 🤣

1 hour ago, Bunny said:

Can I ask what might be a silly question to anyone who has already filled the form in? Filling this form in doesn’t confirm that you’re choosing The Hammond and definitely confirming that your child would like the place does it? And is it asking for payment of any money? 

Once you’ve filled in the form and sent the £150 then they will assume that you are going unless you tell them otherwise after the funding audition. Every year there are lots that drop out at that point due to lack of funding. 
 

The number of mds places varies year to year; when my dd auditioned there are only 8 and they weren’t all given to the incoming y7s, one went to a y8. In the current year 7 there were about 13. The number available is determined by how many mds pupils there are leaving that year, as they ‘recycle’ them to the new year group joining. 

7 minutes ago, cotes du rhone ! said:

This is so true, Dd used to feel very guilty for all the money we had spent on her training and all the sacrifices we have made as a family. It was never an investment that we expected to reap a return from, it was about pursuing a love and passion for something and being realistic about what the end point would be x 

This is something I’ve been so careful to tell our two dc, I would hate for them to think that they had to continue because they owed us something. At times I have also needed to remind their teachers of this too, that it is just school, albeit a very different sort of school! 
 

Your dd is amazing, and will be fabulous in her newly chosen career. I wish her all the luck in the world. 

1 hour ago, BellaF said:

What does the means testing look at? Just income or does it look at other assets like property or company assets? Note that funding drops off completely after a certain amount. A place at any of the schools is a long shot but not sure we could afford to send DD anyway looking at the calculator. 

 

 

It is income - all income, pre tax and deductions - but not other assets. The calculator is fairly accurate. 

It’s worth asking if they’re wildly out but from my experience of looking at lots of students marks at our school, vocational grades bear no relation to any grade exam they might have done before. They’re almost always lower. And I’ve heard the same from other schools too. 

Yes, so long as you meet the residency criteria. 

We had this issue last year, although not for MT. We replied to the offer saying thank you very much but we’re not in a position to accept any offers as yet due to the long audition season this year, and said no more than that. They kept the offers open without us having to explicitly ask them to do so. 

10 hours ago, Peony said:

Tier 2 allows group exercise classes doesn’t it?

“organised indoor sport, physical activity and exercise classes will only be permitted if it is possible for people to avoid mixing with people they do not live with (or share a support bubble with). There are exceptions for indoor disability sport, sport for educational purposes and supervised sport and physical activity for under-18s, which can take place with larger groups mixing”

Depends on your definition of “mixing with” I guess? 🤷🏼‍♀️

They’re looking for potential so don’t worry about it too much. My boy couldn’t do any splits comfortably at 11 and got an mds place. He got a number of upper school offers last year and still can’t do box splits! 

38 minutes ago, abitwornout said:

As a parent of a child at upper school I strongly disagree with your comment. They are in no way struggling to attract students to their school . I can assure you that the process is just as competitive as ever. If not more so as students look to have a back up of Alevels as well.All vocational schools are upping their game with marketing themselves, it’s called moving with the times.  The standard of the students in the current upper school is exceptional. Students have left because their dance needs are better met at other schools ie a more contemporary focus and sometimes after 5 years at one school you are ready for a change . This happens across all schools . For new parents looking at upper schools for their children I can honestly 100% recommend Elmhurst . I can only speak from my dd experience and she feels that there is a very “positive vibe” in the school . Being a healthy dancer/athlete is very much at the forefront and the school . This includes looking after children’s mental health as well as physical. We must remember as parents we have to work in partnership with any school to get the best for our children . No school is ever going to be perfect and sometimes schools are not the best fit for your child. I am very sorry for any students who have been unhappy there for whatever reason. Perhaps living away from parents doesn’t actually suit a lot of children. 
As I say this is my point of view from my current experience of the school . 

I agree completely with all of this, also with current experience. 

4 hours ago, Pas de Quatre said:

Part of it may be that there is a wider choice as there are more establishments that offer post GCSE training than there are for Yrs 7 - 11. Also finance can play a part in the decision. Much of the 16+ training is on degree courses which gives access to student finance. At a Vocational 6th form there is less help with finance and even those who are awarded DADA or MDS funding still may end up paying quite a lot themselves.

Yes to all of this, funding plays a huge part in decision making, and I think there is also an element of after having been there for five years, some want to try a different environment for their US training. 

I have two dc at different schools. There is definitely a different ‘type’ of pupil at each one. Not just physique but personality type too. 

My ds has dyslexia and sensory processing differences, which bring lots of executive functioning challenges for him in the studio and the classroom.  He has been at vocational school since he was 11. He has struggled with the teaching style of some dance teachers but in general school have been really supportive and understanding. The needs won’t go away and if someone is going to be successful in dance then they need to work out strategies that work for them in the studio.  Teachers have always been willing to work with him on this, once they know what the needs are.  Academically, school made lots of the needed reasonable adjustments and he did extremely well in his gcses last year. These have continued into upper school and staff have been nothing but supportive. 

1 hour ago, Pas de Quatre said:

Have I missed something? Is White Lodge advertising that it is available for dance teachers to hire?

https://www.royalballetschool.org.uk/information/venue-hire/