Julsgalaxy

My DC is yr6 and so we will soon be embarking on the whirlwind of vocational school applications and auditions which if I’m honest, I’m a bit apprehensive of the rollercoaster ride of emotions I’ve heard it to be. im still unsure whether I’d actually want my DC to attend a vocational school even though they really want to if they were lucky enough to be offered a place. So I’m looking for first hand experiences of the good , the bad and the ugly of your children’s experiences of vocational training at one of those 3 schools (feel free to DM me) so that I can go into this all with open eyes before making informed decisions as we have no experience of vocational schools, what it’s really like living away from home from 11 , the schooling , the training etc so feel a bit clueless as to what we’d really be in for if indeed we were lucky enough and decided to take this route. I’m hoping that by hearing some of your honest experiences , we may have more of an idea of whether to actually even try to go for auditions or whether to decide as a family that it’s not for us. Thanks

Oh what lovely news for you . My DS is week 3 too xx

Ah lovely, I’m sure they are going to have a great time xx

Oh excellent….my son is a bit worried about making friends so it’s lovely to know there’s another y5 boy who will be doing week 3 too xx

My DS is a y5 London JA and is doing week 3….so far , we don’t know anyone who is doing week 3 xx

Amazed it’s a yes of my son! Can’t wait to tell him when he gets home from school. He will have just turned 10 so I thought that being younger might play into the results

This is interesting as we had previously wanted 32 sessions but got allocated 24 but my DS is happy with the 24 currently ....I was under the impression that when changing to year 6 in London, it was automatically 32 sessions for all year 6’s ? Is that correct or is it still split up into a boys 24 sessions and a boys 32 sessions? If a year 5 wanted to change to 32 sessions, would they change from the year 4+5 24 sessions class to the year 4+5 32 sessions or are there any year 5’s in the boys only year 6 classes ?

I was wondering the same as we have a friend who is an older JA and they have a WhatsApp group for their class which would be super handy 👍 xx

I’m glad everyone enjoyed their first lesson so far 😃 We travelled with @BalletBoyMumma which was just so lovely to have someone to share this journey with but as she said, our train journey turned into a nightmare lol but we were just so glad to have at least made it to the class even though we were 20 minutes late (we were soooooo stressed about being late/not making it for their very first class but everyone at Royal were so lovely and understanding) , there was a moment we thought we might not make it at all 🙈 DS came out smiling and though he did say some of the exercises were slow , I think he really enjoyed it and felt extra special and proud of himself ❤️ Getting him to do the homework every day is going to be a bit of a challenge I think once the novelty wears off hehe 😋 I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed having a wander around Covent Garden during class 😍 xx

Good idea , thanks ...I ordered the 2 in the leotard but now wondering if I need to downsize that too 🤪 xx

This is excellent thanks....I’ve just ordered this morning and ordered 9-11 in the jumper but after seeing your pic , I think it’s going to drown DS so will probably have to get 7-8 xx

Brilliant thanks, I’ve ordered the 24 and hopefully they will fit just right as he’s really a 22 . Xx

I’m about to order the uniform....does anyone happen to know if the boys trunks come up small , big or true to size ? Thanks xx

We are JA newbies too ....absolutely great to have this thread as I’m sure thousands of questions will be coming from me and others My DS is in the JA 1 class for yr4 in London from September and I know I’m going to struggle with what sizes to get especially in the leotard and shorts ....I better start looking at it all and start ordering. Thats a great tip re the tracksuit bottoms ...I think we will just get the top then and bottoms elsewhere. It doesn’t feel real yet but I’m sure once the uniform arrives, it will start to feel more real. Xx

Ah ok, I think there were a few boys around you , we were group 4 too number 102 . I wonder how many boys were successful from our group.....my son just loved being with a big group of boys

DS was but I put London as first choice and Eastleigh as 2nd and he got given London. Which was your little boy ? I was the pregnant mum and we were in the side area of the waiting room opposite the doors to the studio, my son has short blonde hair . Xx

Thank you and congratulations to your DS too ❤️

Ah that’s good to know, thanks xx

Thank you 😊 His birthday is 14th June ...I was worried that being younger might affect him but it seems not so don’t worry, I don’t being being one of the youngest is detrimental xx

Congratulations to all the yes’ and hugs to all the not yets 😘 This waiting has sure taken patience but so happy to finally get the email for Eastleigh yesterday....DS got a yes for a YR4 London place 😃So happy and proud of him ❤️ Whats the the difference between the offer of 32 places and 24 sessions ? I’m tempted to think that 32 sessions is given according to talent? Or would age come into play eg the younger ones might be offered 24 sessions? I’m just trying to wonder who they offer 32 sessions to and why and the same for 24 sessions.....probably overthinking it all 😊 xxx