Willow04

It's a Yes for us too! To be honest I am in complete shock as we started to think dd didn't have what it takes after the rejection from Tring. Just goes to show you should never give up and not all the schools will be looking for the same thing. Well done to everyone else who has a yes :-)

I agree Hammond is certainly not a musical theatre school. They do some singing and drama in lower school but from my discussion with the school it is mainly ballet. I certainly hope this is the case anyway as we would not even be considering it otherwise. My dd was offered Tring TA and we turned it down as there was not enough dance so I am relying on Hammond now!

I just feel it's important to stress here that ANYONE who is offered a place at Tring or indeed any of these schools have done extremely well. Even those with parents who can pay the full fees still had to get through an audition to be offered a place, so they still deserve to be there and hundreds apply from all across the world! It's just very sad and wrong that some children who have undeniable talent don't get the chance to follow their dream simply because their parents can't afford it.

The deposit is £2500 if you want to accept the place after the first audition! This is the reason we waited before accepting because although we can afford full fees (albeit we will struggle) I would rather wait to see if she was offered funding places elsewhere. I have also heard most of the boarding places were full after the first set of auditions which is why a lot if children who auditioned later on (Jan, Feb) would have less chance to get in :-(

Dancing Pickles I checked with her school today and they definitely haven't received them. I'm now worried as well Clara!!

Thank you both. Tring have actually been extremely patient so I was expecting this to happen. Just hoped it would be after all the other results were in and we could put all options in the table. Feel slightly sad turning the Tring offer down as I know they are like gold dust and apart from the course not having quite enough dancing for dd we loved everything about the school.

Tring offer is for Theatre Arts course which we still like the sound of but wanted to wait until after Hammond & Elmhurst finals before making a decision. Tring have said if we don't accept by tomorrow her place will be offered to someone on the waiting list. Honestly do not know what to do!

Yes I did wonder that as well Clara. I am being chased by Tring at the moment and need to tell them yes or no by tomorrow which is stressing me out!

Apologies for asking this question again but can anyone who has been offered a lower school place at The Hammond confirm if the Maths & English papers have been sent to your child's school yet? My dd has still not done them and I am getting slightly worried as the offer letter does state the offer is "provisional pending satisfactory academic results". She has been offered places at two other vocational schools and I don't want to decline their offers and lose her place if there could be a problem with Hammond. Does anyone have any thoughts? I'm sure she will be fine with the academic side by the way but just don't want to take any risks!

Sorry to hear about all the No's. Remember though they have done incredibly well to even be invited to finals! My dd wasn't and that was very disappointing (especially when she has got through to Elmhurst finals!) I feel it's impossible to know what they are all looking for.

Yes you are right, my dd was offered place at Tring but no funding audition. I have also heard that all the children attending for funding are added to reserve list.

Personally I can't wait for it to all be over!

We are going to Elmhurst finals for Year 7 and I know of at least three more girls that have been invited. Are the MDS scales on the Elmhurst website generic or just related to Elmhurst? Trying to work out how much we would be eligible for as wasn't even sure we'd get anything based on my husbands earnings.

I was worried about the academic tests as well but have had an email from Elmhurst to say they do them when the join (if they are offered a place that is!) Has anyone's dc with offers for The Hammond been asked to do academic tests yet? Our offer letter said they send them to their current school for completion, but dd hasn't done one yet?

Hi Unzabun . Goodness our daughters really do sound similar as my dd also has scholarship audition for Redroofs. I almost wish we didn't have so many offers as I am going out of my mind trying to decide where to send her. I love all the schools for different reasons and none of us (dd included) can decide if she should follow a dancing path or focus more on acting and singing. Like many of you I feel dance training needs to start now while she is young and is not something you can catch up on later. However I also do not want her acting/singing compromised and let's be honest there are many more career options available at the end of all the training. The dilemma continues!

Thank you for all the replies. This has been really useful, particularly getting an insight into what each school offers. DD definitely does not want to be a Ballet Dancer “when she grow up” but she does love dancing and is very good at it, so we know it has to feature in whichever school we choose. At the moment my gut feeling is that Hammond sounds more suited to her, but she loves Tring and my husband is veering that way as well so it may well come down to funding and a good look at our finances. Thanks again and well done to everyone else who has been on this journey and also has offers to consider.

I have never posted here before but really need some advice regarding my dd and vocational schools. Like many of your children she has been auditioning for a Year 7 place over the last few months and we are delighted that she has been offered a place at both Hammond and finals for Elmhurst. However she is not one of those girls who has a dream to be a classical dancer and I would say although she is very good at ballet and has the right physique for it she is much better at contemporary dance and is a real “all rounder” so can sing and act very nicely as well. Because of this she did two auditions for Tring – one for the Dance Course and one for the Theatre Arts course. We received a letter from the Theatre Arts course almost straight away offering her a place which we were over the moon about. However we found out yesterday that she has not been offered a place on their Dance course. This is where my confusion lies, because if she has already been offered places/finals at Hammond and Elmhurst it must prove she can dance and is capable of following this path and therefore why did Tring not want her on their Dance course? It’s not that I particularly mind as I am so grateful she has offers, but more that I want to make sure I choose the right school for her and I’m now unsure which way to go as each school is giving me mixed messages! If I choose Hammond or Elmhurst (not that I think anything will come of Elmhurst) is that the wrong choice because it won’t give her as much opportunity to sing and act which she would get on the Theatre course at Tring? Or if we choose Tring Theatre Arts will she get enough dancing, as I would hate for the past few years of training to be for nothing and especially when the other audition offers have prove she is a good dancer. I would really appreciate your thoughts on this and especially from anyone with children at the above mentioned schools. It’s such a huge decision to make and I am starting to feel very overwhelmed by the whole thing. Thanks :-)