Belljul

Yes, there are no hard and fast rules. I dont think the 50% is correct for the current year 10 at Elmhurst and certainly of the few that did leave, not all were assessed out but chose to leave. It is true for Elmhurst though that you cannot be assessed out until after year 9, but this is not true for White Lodge where you can be asked to leave after each year (although not year 10 due to GCSEs ). It is a lot to get your head around and pretty stressful for the kids but it is a part of this life. It's certainly not time wasted if your child does get assessed out though. It's all a great experience. That's the way we chose to approach it anyway.

Yes, what a great read Anjuli. I could feel the magic. Thank you for the link.

Haha hfbrew! That is funny. Have you heard the tounge-in-cheek term "ballet-rhino" for a male dancer? My son is called this at home Better than ballerina!

Oh that really is a magical story Anjuli. I tend not to believe in "fate" but someone or something was watching out for you that day. Hope you kept the special shoes. The teacher could tell the story in another way, where she found a beautiful professional ballerina to coach, and shoes to match!!

Good luck to your little DD balletmum20. Hope it goes well. Let us know how she gets on.

Oh the tension is mounting! Don't worry mad house.. It is a lovely day. I would recommend staying over if you can Lifeafterballet. The Ibis hotel is cheap but clean and modern. There are two in Brum and both are central and only a few bus stops from the school. Love this time on the forum and thankfully we have another year off auditions til it all kicks off again for us next year with upper and lower schools! Good luck with Elmhurst everyone.

Lovely post katymac. Enjoy every moment like this. Really special xx

Oh yes, forgot to mention the huge knowledge and experience you all have to offer in the way of advice. Am I getting ott yet? lol, I mean it though.

Just felt the need to say a random but huge thank you to our moderator team. You all do such a great job and give up your time to keep this forum running smoothly. Sometimes your job is difficult but I for one appreciate the effort you make to be balanced and respectful and uphold the fair policies of balletcoforum. Some of us only dip into "doing dance" but there is a huge amount of other activity going on in the other forums and reading everthing must take some doing. Thank you!

Hi Clara. Go for it and see what happens! To do all 4 schools is expensive and challenging logistically as you may end up with 8 auditions (first, and finals) but all the schools offer different things and if you can do all 4 then you will get a feel for what will suit your daughter if she is lucky enough to get offers. Have your finances clear as it fees etc will likely be more expensive than you hope. If your daughter is primarily classical, then RBS and Elmhurst would be top of the list (in my opinion) and then Hammond and Tring offer more in the way of jazz or musical theatre options alongside classical. I dont think you will be too late to apply at this stage but you may have to act fast on application forms and photos. Huge luck. Welcome to the madhouse

Thanks Anjuli. Very interesting.

Really enjoyed this too Stirrups.

I think the two threads should now be merged as this one is no different....

Hi Happymum. Elmhurst don't hold open days but aim to treat the audition days in a similar way. You have a chance to see round the school and ask questions, although you don't go into the boarding houses until finals. The children get a better look around during finals, as do you. Hope that is of some help.

They usually try to keep them at school if unwell happymum unless they are really poorly. They can sleep in the med centre with staff on all night. The medical staff at Elmhurst are really great. They only have to go home if very contageous or really ill. Also, yes they can go home every weekend but only after rad classes so it makes for a short weekend. You don't have to do rad though although I think everyone seems to.

On the whole they are supervised pretty closely in year 7 (at Elmhurst) but it is amazing how quickly they become organised. We did have a slight problem with DS remembering to go to his music lessons or booked physio sessions but by the end of year 7 it had all fallen well into place and year 8 was much easier all round. They mature hugely over the course of year 7.

Hi fusster. I would personally be wary of auditioning if you know you will not accept a place if offered mainly because you can become very swept along by the process. If offered a place, it is very difficult to turn it down as the investment on all sides to reach that point is quite high. Your DD might really want to go by that point but if you feel in your heart it is not right for her emotionally you could end up with an expensive and stressful mess to deal with. We initially turned down an EImhurst place as we had not worked our finances through and it was very difficult for my son. l will be facing the same situation with my DD this time next year and deep down I know she will not be ready to go away although she says she wants to try. If it was the emotional maturity aspect then you could discuss it with your daughter at each stage and see how things develop. It's tempting to audition to see if they have potential in the eyes of the schools but if you may end up too far down the road to turn back easily. Saying all that though, there are places that are turned down each year. Good luck making your decision.

It was a fantastic evening with an amazing atmosphere. The winners were all hugely deserving (although I would have liked to have seen a silver for John Rhys rather than a bronze) and we were thrilled to see Ballet West's Natasha Watson win a bronze. Loved Padua Eaton's choreography. Great that John Rhys also went home with the audience vote. I spent the intervals chatting as there were so many familiar faces. Great to see a few balletcoers too.

Glad things feeling a bit better katymac. As for more songs that reduce us to emotional wrecks, "The Letter" from Billy Elliot just makes me fall apart lol

I have often thought that "Vocational Schools" could be a forum unto itself, rather than have it all under " doing dance". Might be a more simple way of sorting out the info?

Aw shame Katymac. Sometimes it just hits us that they are growing up and don't need us so much. Listen to " Slipping through my Fingers" from Abba in the movie Mama Mia and have a good howl lol. I hope the sadness will pass soon and the pride in her independence will return x

Really great reading everyone's honest feelings on this subject. It is always an emotive topic. The bottom line is that it is different for every child and every parent. I almost persuaded my youngest son to leave when he failed to settle and was very unhappy. I really thought it was wrong for him. However he refused to leave and is now loving his life and glows with energy when we see him. Thank goodness he knew his own mind. Billyelliot, glad to hear you have come to an arrangement that will keep you sane. I do believe it is important that our kids learn to be thoughtful about our needs as parents, as it is healthy for them to remember "its not all about them" all the time. Hope it gets easier. I'm pretty sure it will.

Yes, get well soon x

We are all going (apart from eldest son who sadly has to head back to school on Sunday morning). Will try to find you in the interval nana lily. We saw Scottish Ballet last night and it was WONDERFUL celb! Hope your daughter and her ballet teacher have a fabulous weekend.

Be kind to yourself, especially if you have just had a baby! If it helps, I had a terrible class with nursery kids today (I teach music and creative movement). I couldn't get them all to focus at the same time and almost yelled "ok ok, I give up". Just one of those days!