ZooZoo

Hi all My son will probably audition for these two for Sept 2014 entry. Does anyone know if the auditions clashed with February half term this year? I am thinking of booking a holiday in Feb 2014 half term but it would be a disaster if this then clashed with an audition. I know I could/should wait until Sept when the dates come out but just wondered if anyone remembered whether there was a clash this year? Thank you!

Ah that makes a lot more sense then. Gosh year 11s doing an AS. I understand now.......... I thought it was the Upper School.........

Slightly off topic but I was a bit surprised to see in the RBS Annual Report for 2012 that 7 of the dancers got a C for AS Level Dance and one a D. Fair enough, maybe it's a lot of writing and not much dancing, but a C/D?! Surely that's like Einstein getting a C for physics!

Thanks Spanner - I was at the Summer Fair yesterday trying to work out which shoes were which! Your links are great. The ones I borrowed from the dance school look enough like the character shoes I think! I have had to buy the Jazz ones anyway, so I'll get him to take those along too!

Well the highlight for me was watching all the amazing dancers as they dodged the rain drops and performed. Really breathtaking. I know some of the readers on here have sons/daughters at WL. What a truly lovely school and what an amazing opportunity they all have. For anyone hoping to go to WL I would say that there was not an obvious body type on display. There really were all sorts and sizes. Short, tall, very slim, very muscular. Very diverse so I would say, if anyone thinks their son or daughter would like to go, go for it! We will try next year, with an expectation that it probably won't happen. Still, worth a try! I hope we might be able to make another visit sometime. Lovely day, despite the rain! My son is doing the summer school and is now really looking forward to it - he likes the underground passages! And if anyone has a son/daughter about to start this September, you already know how lucky they are! Good luck to all them.

I have just had an email from the dance school to say that he needs split sole jazz shoes for the show. Will they do as character shoes too? They look roughly the same when I google them. DS only does ballet and modern (bare feet) so I am ignorant about shoes!

Ahh thanks all - my son is a size 3 normal shoe. I bought some size 3 character on ebay and they are soooooo small - like a size 1. I then got some from the second hand box at the dance school that look ok so they will have to do. Thank you for all your replies! I might just send him with the blue tights then, if it doesn't really matter! I'll have a think about that!

I think the black tights are just for the boys, maybe? Anyone?

The uniform list says black tights. My son has dark blue tights. Will these be ok or do I need to buy black - does anyone know if it is important that they are black? I am already going to have to buy some character shoes (which he does not have) so I don't really want to buy tights if it's not really necessary! Thank you!

Gosh - do they really expect an 11 year old to sew in all their name tabs?! I am quite shocked about that. My son would not have a clue!

We come up from the South and get into Charing Cross after an easy change at London Bridge. It's only a 10 min walk from Charing Cross station to Floral Street......

Billyelliot - if you don't mind me asking (please say if you do), why do you think your son was not offered a place at WL due to body size/proportion? I thought my son looked similar to yours, but I have never thought that my son was particularly different to any of the other JAs........

Thanks - that might save me some money - great tip!

Hi Billyelliot Welcome to the Forum! I think I may have been the person who recommended it to you when I met you in Brighton! You will find some very kind and helpful people here with lots of information! Most people don't tend to put their children's name on the site, however, so you can get that taken off if you like.... People send personal messages with names I expect, once they know if/when their children have got into vocational school........ it would be my dream for my DS to follow yours to Elmhurst, and if he ever does we are bound to bump into one another again as we are in Sussex too! Best wishes Suzyszoo

This is probably a bonkers suggestion, but for people with a household income of, say, £80,000 would it not be better to drop salary (eg. work 4 days a week) so as to qualify? If you earn £69k, the contribution is £7,000 or so, but is that for everything or everything except boarding? How much does training cost? £30k say? so if you drop salary of £10k do you "save" £23,000 (net?). I think that I have confused myself! If you have to pay for boarding anyway, then how much is that?

Ah so I think I understand. Say, Elmhurst has 30 places for students. It has 20 funded and 10 unfunded. If it takes 12 "rich" students it does not get paid any less, but that year it only takes 18 funded students. It does not want to do this, because it is worried that it will only then be offered 18 funded places the following year. Is this the logic? Apologies for use of "rich" as I know that earning over the limit is not always "rich" etc.

I am still confused about the interaction between funding and being offered a place. If they make you fill in your income before you audition (do they?) then someone earning say, £60,000 must be the most unlikely to be offered a place, no? Because that will "use up" a DaDa place but only for a small governmental payment. Or am a wrong?

Do you have to submit details of your income before you audition then? Could you just explain that you will do it after??!! Alternatively, if you say you "need" a DaDa and then eventually don't, they wouldn't be able to retract your place would they?

Hi all and Ecarte in particular - I am sorry to hear that your daughter has had mean comments. You say Last year she could have definitely held her head up high and know it was awarded on merit, but this year it is much less obvious either to us or to others it could be on merit but it could be that we fit into one of the income brackets. I don't understand exactly what you mean here? Why would someone get in if they need a DADA and not otherwise? Are you saying that people who need full funding get a better chance of getting in? I am confused. If the DADAs stay the same, I doubt we would qualify for one. Does this make it LESS likely that my DS would be offered a place?

Hi all In case anyone is seeking insurance too, I found some with PJ Hayman at £17. If he can't attend due to injury they will reimburse pro rata the £550. Not bad I guess!

Hi amber21 - I used to have a good home insurance policy but now I have the cheapest possible so I don't think that they have it as an "extra". If I went for family holiday insurance for a year I'd be ok but this is just a one off for one child! the rest of us will not be going anywhere!

Does anyone know if it is possible to obtain insurance for summer school against not being able to attend due to illness or injury? It's a lot of money for RBS summer school (£550) and I will be upset if for any reason DS can't go as apparently there are no refunds and we were told to get our own insurance (but I can't find any!). Thanks!

Hi afab - well obviously since my son was picked i would love to agree with you! However, that is just what his JA teacher said! My son has only just finished Grade 2 ballet, so he is not even very advanced in the exams (he is 10). However, they did know that he was/is a JA because although there is no space to say that on the form, it was stamped on the front of the forms that he picked up in his JA class. Maybe that makes a difference - I don't know!

Hi all and Sasha in particular. My son is a JA at the moment. His JA teacher was very firm to point out that being selected for summer school (which he has been) was purely a question of being lucky and should not at all be taken as an indicator that he is or is not suitable for vocational training. It is basically a lottery. After all, who can assess musicality/flexibility etc from a photo? Please don't let this put your daughter off going for further auditions. Not being selected means she has just been unlucky in the lottery of places and is NOT at all them saying she is not suitable for other things.

I always think that if my DS does apply for Elmhurst or WL next year, and did by some miracle get in, it would feel like winning the lottery...................... except that you have to pay for your own prize!