BlueLou

Agreed. Dd spends around 6 hours a weeks travelling in order to fit enough non-voc hours of training in, many quite late. There is no route that doesn’t involve dc being exhausted at some point. I suppose I feel that I have lots of contact with my dd so I know when she needs a night off and I make sure she gets rest when needed. I have no experience of voc school junedancer, but my advice would be to make sure you are totally confident that the pastoral carers at the school would make the same decisions as you would if (or when) your dd gets a little run down.

Will pm you Farawaydancer.

Was it Doormouse? Or Dormouse?

Does anyone have any information about or experience of these schools? One of the KSD graduates secured a contract at Northern Ballet last year, but until that I had never heard of the school. I have perused the websites ( http://ksd-online.co.uk ) ( http://www.chantry-school.org ), but wondered if anyone here had actually been there or knew anyone who had? They are non-residential so wondering if anyone knows where the dancers generally live? Are they happy? Also, anyone any idea of fees? Or teaching faculty? Or standard of acceptance? We will be applying for upper school this time next year and finding it difficult to choose where to apply to! During GCSE year so don’t want to apply to too many schools, I’m thinking 3 or 4. Dd has a 1st and 2nd choice already (Central and Rambert), but beyond that ……….??? UCAS forms for university seem so much easier because you have so much more information about required grades, course content, etc …. I am currently trying to compare KSD, Chantry and Ballet West.

Yes you do! I’m no adjudicator, but I have sat through a fair few dance competitions over the years. I sometimes think very expensive tutus on under 10s are used to distract from the lack of technique. Similarly, routines with excessive use of props. Get the feet and port de bras right, smile and enjoy I like the tutu your daughter likes ScottishDanceMum, and the one Cara suggested looks very like my daughter’s first tutu (when she was 8). On a related point - ballet shoes should be fairly snug for comps so that the shape of the feet can be seen. And if you’ve not done ribbons on shoes before I’d practise in advance of your first comp day! Good luck

Personally I would not recommend spending more than £30 on a first tutu for a child under 10. I have been amazed and amused by the total tutu value on show at the end of some juvenile and junior sections. It’s the dancing that’s being judged (or it should be), not the tutu. Also, dancers may love the competition experience (hopefully!), but many just don’t like it, so why spend a fortune until you know you’re in it for a few comps?? My dd didn’t get her first pancake until she was nearly 14.

I agree that the school’s main motivation is money generation, but I don’t have a problem with that. I’m sure many schools put on an excellent training programme, which is very beneficial for the students who attend, but the primary motivation for the school is the income. They are a business so they have to do whatever they can to make the books balance. If they weren’t providing a good service though, people wouldn’t buy it.

Wow! A year 6 who researches her plot (using an assistant)! Sounds like a fabulous storyline too

Funding - I believe everyone who is offered a place on any CAT scheme pays fees according to a means-tested scale. You don’t have to audition separately for a bursary. If you are offered a place you just have to fill in some extra paperwork to access the funding. The amount you pay varies between nil and about £3800 per year depending on your income. There may be significant uniform and travel expenses to consider on top of this! My dd is on a CAT programme but not Birmingham. She is 14 and does about 15-16 hours per week, mainly with other dancers around her age and level, in groups of about 10-15. Younger dancers do fewer hours (For example, I think a 12 year old would typically do about 11-12 hours per week). She does mainly ballet, some contemporary, pilates, and some classroom based work (nutrition, physiology, audition preparation etc…). They do not have to re-audition as such, but they are formally assessed within class twice a year and could be ‘assessed out’ at the end of the year if their progress is not deemed to be satisfactory.

Sounds like we have had a very similar few days! On 2 days I had to leave my 14 year old dd there without me, and for much of the time there were no other dancers from our dance school there either (small school!), but all of the other children were so friendly and welcoming that she had an absolutely lovely time and made lots of new friends. She normally trains seriously 15-18 hours a week, so the 3 festivals a year that we do are really fun light relief for her.

It did look very crowded to me, but dd didn't seem to mind. At the end of an hour long workshop there'd be 50 odd dancers all flat out performing 30 seconds of fairly challenging choreography, which was impressive! I would say all of the dancers looked very happy to be there. Have you checked out the Facebook page? Lots of video clips, pics, info on there.

Dd did Leeds CYD a few months ago. She really enjoyed it and we will go again next year. The classes were well run and the standard was good, although they were quite crowded! Stalls selling dance wear and kit like foot stretchers. Not a lot to buy really. Some college stalls - Chantry, Phil Winston ....... The college showcase was very good, although again crowded so you need to get your seat early. I believe there were scholarships awarded, but that process passed us by! Quite a few high level competitive dancers were there who knew how to be seen! Overall it all felt very vibrant and fun and dd enjoyed it very much.

I think that seems a very reasonable conclusion sarahw! Got to be income generation when it comes to dancers they know well. They probably don’t even look at the forms/photos - why would they?? They must know which associate dancers they really want on the SS, but they’d like the £25 off everyone anyway! It’s not so much the money that would bother me as the whole process they encourage you to go through, with all the waiting and all the (probable) disappointment, when they probably know what the answer is going to be before you even submit your form.

I did not know of this use of calamine! Thankyou - sounds very useful , I’ll be buying a bottle Invisiblecircus - dd averages about 3 hours a week on pointe and her shoes last about 4 months, although I buy a pair every 3 months so there is an overlap between the pair being broken in and the ones on their way out. For her, they are at there best after about 6 weeks.

Oh now that is fabulous news - thank you BadBallerina! Central is currently my dd’s first choice

Good point Aileen. I was really just thinking of which upper schools my non-voc dd should apply for this time next year. Obviously, ideally, she’d apply for 7 or 8 and see what happens. But realistically, she’ll be in year 11 and have lots of academic stuff to concern herself with too, so I’d rather avoid too many ridiculously long shots! Current thinking is to limit applications to Central, Ballet West, Rambert, and one other to be decided. With this post I’m researching the ‘to be decided’!

Does anyone have any actual statistics on this? For any specific upper schools does anyone know the percentage of applicants who don’t come from vocational lower schools, and/or the percentage of successful applicants? For research purposes I’m curious if non-vocational applicants have a better chance at some upper schools than at others.

Me too! Let’s just hope you haven’t re-ignited the voc versus non-voc bunfight as well

Oh dear! That’s got to be bad news for everyone else surely?? I mean in terms of number of places left available. Also, assuming WL families can afford further training during the holidays, I would have thought diversifying a bit would be beneficial and therefore encouraged by RBS??

You could, but I think you’d lose your deposit, which I think was £100 per week last year. I’m pretty sure that the deposit was non-refundable if you were offered a place, scholarship or not. The places were awarded based solely on application form and photos (like RBS), but you had to audition to be considered for a scholarship. Last year there were auditions at Rambert and in York. There was no additional fee to audition.

Grade 2 to intermediate is a big jump, and in my experience only the very strongest 12 year olds are in intermediate. On the other hand, grade 2 does seem a bit low for a 12 year old! I suppose grade 4 would be typical. Perhaps the teacher is intending for them to spend a long time in the intermediate class ‘catching up’ before actually being prepared for the intermediate exam? At dd’s school a dancer who has done all of the grades would usually take about 18-24 months to complete the intermediate syllabus - maybe your teacher is looking more at about 3 years spent in the intermediate class? That would make sense! Nobody new to ballet should be put straight onto pointe, regardless of age. Are all of the girls in the pointe class actually doing pointe work? I think it is quite common for dance schools to encourage girls to start attending pointe class at around age 12, although many may spend quite some time on demi-pointe or in soft blocks.

I don’t think chances are any better this year than last for the 2 week course at White Lodge. Yes, there are now 2 x two week courses, but they now cover ages 14 and 15 as opposed to just 14. So surely twice the places but twice the number of eligible applicants too? Would love to be wrong though! So, here we go again …………. You’ve got to try, haven’t you?! We have a couple of back-up plans that dd would also be happy with, so nothing to lose I suppose ……….except another £20! Really looking forward to taking that developpe photo

I’m bewildered. How can the head possibly think she will do well in the subject she so desperately wants to ditch?? Surely the most likely outcome is that she will just ‘mark time’ in those classes, putting in minimal effort, and getting a low grade. That’s what I’d do! And then just omit that one from my CV. Edited to add …….. Have you considered contacting the governors?

I’m starting to think that the sole reason some schools seem to massively over-estimate the importance of Geography is that a disproportionate number of heads and deputies seem to be Geographers…….

Chantry in Grantham http://www.chantry-school.org