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I thought it could be useful to post this here... or should we start a new thread for 2014? Moderators, what do you think? http://media.education.gov.uk/assets/files/pdf/i/final%20income%20bands%20-%20new%20students%2013-14.pdf Thanks to Jazzpaws for having posted it first.

I'm not sure they take the location you live in into account as we live in France and the same year one DD was offered a boarding place while the other one (the youngest) a day place!!! Commuting everyday on the Shuttle would have been a bit of a pickle...

Nobody? Not even a hearsay?

Has anybody got any knowledge of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland Modern Ballet SS, the one for vocational students, by any chance? Thanks

I don't want to add to your stress Tomuchtalent but when DD2 got offered a place at Tring, it was a day place as they didn't have any boarding place left... even though we live abroad... and even though her big sister had an offer with boarding!!! I just wanted to let you know so you can prepare an alternative if you can... Good luck!

Dd1 is also exhausted. She's in a similar situation to your DD. She gets up before 6, dances 4 to 5 hours a day and has exams at the end of the year... Her tiredness clouds her judgement and she feels overwhelmed by small things... Last night her dad and I listened to her a lot, she tried to explain her doubts and fears... Listening and being there for her with just a bit of pep talk did wonders... She went back to dance school this morning and had to deal with a mini crisis with the teacher disagreeing with an important choice of hers and she then sent me a text message saying "I managed"... Yesterday, in the same situation she didn't manage at all... I agree with Fiz. Just be there...

Very sorry for your no Pastel. Hugs to your DD!

Thank you for sharing Chaperone...

I follow this conversation very carefully because I find it very interesting and close to my heart as most of you know our DDs are going to audition soon for +16 schools and even though they are British, they also come from abroad... I wanted to say 2 things. First to the question as why so many foreign kids try and come to the UK to train, I don't think it is only because the schools are excellent... I believe it could also be because schools like that don't exist where they come from. In France for example, for a would be professional ballet dancer, there is 1 school, maybe 2, one can apply for at 16. POB school is out by then and one is left with National Conservatoire in Paris where lots of foreign kids audition too. France simply doesn't have the plethora of schools the UK has so for kids who haven't join the vocational system before, there are no real choice but trying abroad, in the UK but also in Germany or in the US... Secondly, to the question of how many hours serious 10-15 years old would do, some of you know we have been trying to go back to the UK for a while and consequently, I'm always on the lookout for good local schools... I have rang a few, some very well established, and the number of hours a week offered to my 14 year old has nothing to do with what she does in France. To be able to match that number, she would have to join 2 or 3 schools and be an associate somewhere. The driving you all do to find the number of hours needed is staggering to me! When DD1 & DD2 started ballet at 8 (one cannot start before in France), they did 3 hours of ballet a week and 1 hour of contemporary. Now that DD2 is 14, she dances about 13 hrs a week in a local school plus extra hours when needed for something special. DD1, who is 16 and in full time A'levels preparation, dances (ballet, contemporary, jazz, tap) about 25 hours a week in a vocational school.... I hope I am answering the question someone asked as to how many hours a week kids do in other countries. What we don't have in France though and which I'm very envious of are all the Youth Ballets and kids productions one seems to find quite easily in the UK. They are great! Hope it helps the discussion...

A very big thank you to you Oldermum as, without you, we wouldn't have even known about this programme!!! DD2 applied and was accepted. You made a young dancer very happy...

That's what I think too, PdQ, but being the first is always worrying...

Time to rejoice at our place as DD2 has been accepted at the very first Summer Programme at the Vienna Opera Ballet School! Yeah! Now of course since it is the first, we've got no idea if it's going to be any good... Any idea anyone?

RBS does only when sending answers abroad...

Is that for the Finals BMM?

Exactly! You are so much clearer than me!

DD's Gaynor Mindens have the 2 ends of the elasticated lace that you tie in the inside of her shoes so that one doesn't see them at all when knotted... I don't know if I'm being clear there? Anyway that's how they have a left and a right. The left shoe has the lace on the right and the right one on the left. To me the 2 shoes look different as well...

Good luck Spax!

The corps in POB is the reason sizes and heights are so restrictive to get in POB school as the school aim is to produce a uniform corps...

Gaynor Mindens have a right and a left too...

No LinMM, exams are still in June. It just means the kids are slightly younger than in the UK when they take them... No flu then!

Hi Dancersmum, yes DD will have done her Bac when she applies for Upper Schools in the UK. Being born in the autumn and since the French school year goes from January to December, she started school a year earlier than she would have had we lived in the UK but then she was also accelerated at school so she's one year ahead of her peers in France and consequently 2 years in the UK. That was one of the reasons she turned down her Tring offer 2 years ago as she would have had to go back 2 years academically... The problem will sort itself when she's 16...

It's interesting as in France auditions, black is a total no-no as one cannot see the shape of the body properly. Leotards have to be pale colours...

I agree with you Aileen about free training in France but that only applies to POB school and National Conservatoire where they take lots of foreigners for free too and only from 14 there. The other places that are free or nearly free, i.e. small conservatoires don't have a good enough level to hope for a ballet career, they are mainly aimed at recreational dancers... So that leaves us with POB and no intake after the age of 13... Not that good either...

Thank you all, that's what I thought... Something less to worry about...

Sorry to be thick but school years in the UK are still not perfectly clear for me... Does it mean that being born in October, one does GCSE's when already 15? Hence auditions are when already 15?