meadowblythe

Well, we are in shock.

Musical DD is off to Wells Cathedral School on an MDS.  

We haven't even applied for the place, she went to have a look with a long term view of auditioning for 6th form (she is currently year 9), as she had been very ambivalent about the other musical schools.  She loved Wells from the minute she walked in the door and saw the rugby pitches, and so much open space.  As it is 5 hours (gulp) drive from home, they had let her have an informal play with the head of brass so he could say whether he would be interested in the future.  

To cut a long story short, the offer of the MDS arrived out of the blue last Thursday, less than two weeks before the end of her current term, to start in September.  I am in a totally selfish way devastated that she will be going so soon, cried all the way through a brass band concert (no mean achievement), although obviously thrilled for her.

So I am to be an unexpected empty nester.  I have informed all three children that they can now expect regular visits.  I can't pretend they were delighted at the thought of my three week rotational programme!  Anyone know any good coffee shops in Somerset?

have you looked at airbnb?  people who rent either a room or their whole home out by the night/week/whatever.  Not sure they'd want a 15 on her own but if its more than one of you may be a reasonable cost.

may be worth a look at airbnb - people who let out their spare room or whole flat/house   for a period of time.  We are trying it for the first time this summer in Copenhagen ..

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/s/Glasgow--United-Kingdom

You might also want to check your festival rules - I seem to remember a couple of local festivals, in the description of those who could compete, stating students in full time vocational training were not eligible.

Following on from what Munchkin said, another consideration is are you "academic"  - A levels are hard!  The only A level of the three I have any experience in is English, but to get a really respectable grade you need to do an awful lot of wider reading.  They take a huge time commitment ..  Do you prefer exams or are you good at coursework?  They both require huge amounts of effort and discipline, but maybe a different skillset.

I was pleasantly surprised how acceptable my son's Extended Btech Diploma was when applying for university places (technical theatre).  He got offers from everywhere he applied, and his "hands on" experience of having undertaken, for example, professional work in a full panto run, worked on outdoor large scale musical theatre events, and stagemanaged events for local semi-pro companies as part of his Btech means he is still considerably ahead of his coursemates who took the A level route.

Please don't feel dance is an add on - would they really have built those studios if it was?  

Students have to work in multidisciplinary teams as part of their course, and it is the mix with other creative types which my son loves so much.  His group, for example, consists of trad,classical and jazz musicians, a prop maker, an actor and a musical theatre student.  He lives with students of all ages and backgrounds from all over the world, studying a huge range of creative disciplines.

I don't think that RCS would claim 100% employment - and no I don't have facts and figures - but I do know my son feels his training is really equipping him to compete for employment at the end of the course, and that it is a good place to be.

And surely there are no more vocational students there than at ENB, Central, Elmhurst .... 

Meadowblythe

There are older students there, mainly from overseas.  Certainly when DS auditioned I got the impression that 16 is considered a good age to start.  In fact although he has an August birthday he is not the youngest on the course as the scottish age/term dates are different.

Obviously most of the RCS students are older as the musicians tend to be 18+, as do the costume/props/actors/stage manager students.  Not sure about musical theatre - has anyone auditioned for this at all?  

I have a very happy DS on this course - the pastoral care is particularly fantastic.  

Dance wise, an external company have recently commented on how significant the improvement his technique is since they saw him in the summer.

Can I suggest being pro-active may help?  

The school at which I work (not as a teacher) has very high achieving dancers, show jumpers, olympic rowers and musicians, all of whom have been supported - the showjumper is juggling sponsorship commitments with the 5 A levels etc!   Taking her as an example, as soon as she has qualified for any national/international shows she works with the teachers to make sure she is ahead of her work, and checks for any upcoming coursework deadlines.  Were the school made formally aware that you had a major performance coming up, and would appreciate their support in combining this with the schoolwork?

Yes they should support you, but perhaps you and your parents could make it easier for them to support you by planning for upcoming performances (I know you can't help funerals) rather than dealing with problems when deadlines have been missed.

However hard it is, let them say their piece before you react - are you listening to them as well as carefully as you are expecting them to listen to you?  Are you offering them the courtesy that you expect from them?  

In any walk of life, and perhaps especially as  professional dancer, you will not necessarily have the chance to change to a teacher you like, and slamming doors will never get you very far in the long run.  Maybe the trick is to learn to recognise you have no personal relationship with a teacher but that changing course or teacher may not be in your interest in the longer term.

Just a different point of view

One of the year 11s at our school who is doing GCSE PE is a SA - and she is counting dance as one of her sports.  A previous A level student was a world standard Irish Dancer who performed the most amazing solo routine as art of his assessed work. 

However, my non DS only got a D despite being a county hockey player and roller hockey player - you do have to do well on the theoretically based coursework and assignments (he didn't!)    Also, the four sports have to display different skills, so he could only count one of the hockey and roller hockey.   

Musical DD is considering options at the moment, and is in favour of PE - I'm not because I'm worried about the amount of time she may need to devote to sport out of school .  

Meadowblythe

Edited to add:  I don't think it will make a huge amount of difference which she takes - the one she enjoys most would seem the most practical option, it's a tough enough time already!

Does anyone have any experience of the 16+ Northern ballet summer course?  Afraid a lot of the more exotic summer schools are entirely out of our financial reach ...  

DS has always enjoyed the Intermediate summer and Easter schools - not sure how they compare.

Mrs Pingu is my role model - bawls her son out then backs up with a hug every time ...

Don't know a lot about the summer school, but my DS went to a couple of days of  the Easter school as part of his making-up-my-mind-which-offer-to-go-for exercise.

If you are considering RCS it may well be worth it from that point of view - many of the students at RCS stay for the Easter and Summer schools, and certainly the Easter school was taught by their own staff in their own rather gorgeous studios.  

Edit - we also got to meet with Kerry Livingstone, who runs the BA programme day to day, and to ask as many questions as we wanted, and whilst DS was dancing, to look round the accommodation which is about 15 minutes walk away in the centre of Glasgow.

My DS very nearly went to London Russian Ballet for sixth form, in the end it was a "go with your instinct" decision that he so wanted to go to RCS.

The 'A' levels are taught by tutors bought in by the school.  Harriet is very insistent that they take high quality courses so subjects like history, classics, mathematics are encouraged.  She also actively encourages all students to take languages to A level.  They also try to help with finding accommodation for non local students.

Hmm

As a parent I remember sitting in despair watching other children stretching, splitting, spinning as a warm up.  Means nothing!  Particularly if your DC is still at KS3 entry level.

Eventually I learnt to trust my son to do his own thing in his own way, and to accept that a lot of it is bravado and mind games.

Am more envious of having a travelling teacher - my son's teacher never turned up to a festival, let alone an audition, or performance at vocational school.

chin up!

meadowblythe

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society for me.  

As the lendee said, a "nice" book in the best sense of the word - sound historical basis (it tells the story of occupied Guernsey), beautifully written and a little gentle romance along the way.

It occurs to me one reasons the printed book has a future alongside other media is that the e-book lacks the social aspects of reading - you cannot lend a copy of a book in the same way, and as a school librarian it is very common for a child to return a book accompanied by a friend, who then immediately takes the book out.  I hope so anyway - I continue to grapple with the licensing intricacies of e-books and still find that there are huge issues.

meadowblythe 

Also

Please don't forget there is no "right" answer - you have to do what is consider the needs and desires  of  your daughter, yourself and the rest of your family.  I agree you need to make an informed decision, but all you can do is your best.

You won't know for some time if you have made the correct decision - I know I have made some dreadful ones in the past, especially when I have followed the "correct" path rather than what my heart told me - until sometime later.

Good luck to you!

Meadowblythe

Travelodge in Covent Garden was fine when we used it - great value for money  but a few years ago now.

Tring - we always used the Holiday Inn Express at Hemel Hempstead.  Highly recommended although again haven't been there for a while

Hmm this is a tricky one.  

My husband wanted to study automotive engineering.  His father persuaded him, with the best of intentions, to study physics instead because it offered far wider employment opportunities.  He regrets not following his passion, or at least taking the opportunity  to study the subject he loves, to this day.

None of our children are blessed with the sensible gene that means they want to go into well paid careers.  Instead two are study for degrees in stage management and ballet, and the third dreams of becoming an orchestral musician.    Whenever we have discussed the need to gain employment at the end of the course, his argument has been that at least they are preparing themselves to seize the opportunity should it arise.  If not, well, at least they have had the chance.  

As mentioned before the friend who studied dance and arts administration found her experiences at Leicester - being involved in organizing dance events, and part time work as a chambermaid - meant she was able to find work as a conference organizer for a large hotel chain.  She now travels the world and loves her job.  

An inspirational head teacher once told me the problem that 16 year olds have in planning for a career is that it probably hasn't been invented yet - think back 10 years and how our lives have changed.  What we should do, according to him, is develop a skill set and qualification set that enables us to embrace whatever opportunities life presents to us.

Here are the links

http://www.dmu.ac.uk/Study/Courses/Undergraduate-courses/arts-and-festivals-management-ba-degree/Arts-and-Festivals-Management-(Joint-Honours)-BA.aspx

http://www.dmu.ac.uk/Study/Courses/Undergraduate-courses/arts-and-festivals-management-ba-degree/Arts-and-Festivals-Management-(Joint-Honours)-BA.aspx

for de monfort - this is the combination my friend undertook.  Scarily the dance degree doesn't mention the need for any dance qualifications.  My friend took A level dance but had limited "formal" training.

Lucky you - they are just wonderful.  Friend of mine has just got a place at music conservatoire and she is convinced it was her ability to rhapsodize about them that swung it. 

Non dancing DS had his first session of casual work at Birmingham Symphony Hall - "get in" and "get out" for JWO.  Yes that grade 8 did come in useful (possibly).  We were unspeakably jealous because he got paid for setting up their mutes!

How about Arts Administration - I think Leicester Uni did a course on Dance Administration and Dance.  I assume it was Modern as certainly the person I knew who took it (can't remember the name) had taken A Level dance but never had a ballet class in her life ...

Ended up running a scheme co-ordinating community dance, then hotel conference administration now taking a gap year in Australia.

My non dancing son is following a vocational degree but even that didn't accept his alternative UCAS points - but it was a very useful tool to emotionally blackmail him into practicing for his grade 8s   .  He also found that having the Grade 8 pieces of paper meant he could back up his claims he was musical with written evidence - and he was challenged on this at interview.

However, in terms of your personal statement getting the exams does show that you are dedicated, disciplined and able to offer both academic and non academic skills.  I suspect this is where their true value lies in terms of university entrance.  

meadowblythe

the thought of the carnage he could create with a frying pan (although he does own one ...) doesn't bear thinking about.  An omlette maker will at least contain the damage.

Thanks all - looks like we may be knee deep in chicken recipes over Christmas as he adds that to the repertoire - and an omelette maker has just been added to the Christmas list.

I must admit the blurb for the Nutrition for the Dancer book made it look very female biased - glad to see it covers males too.

Love it when they learn to cook and all get to do is try the results!  Unfortunately elder non dancing DS has a master baker masquerading as an actor in his flat so he is less likely to cook himself - only complain my baking is not as good as the flat mates!

Meadowblythe