SissonneDoublee

I can also comment from experience, and what we feel as a (diverse) household is that our DC is in a nurturing, progressive environment. There will always be people with different experiences, but ours has been wholly positive. Excellent training, excellent education. The claims in the article certainly ring true with our experience.

It’s good to hear that your Pilates teacher has been given the all clear. I imagine they, like so many others are working out how to navigate the new restrictions whilst keeping their business afloat. My heart goes out to anyone that finds themself in this position again, especially as they really haven’t had time to recover from the impact of the last lockdown. It sounds like your little toe will benefit from this period away from class, as a toe that is extremely painful really shouldn’t be used for ongoing pointe work, and possibly other aspects of your dance regime such as demi pointe/ relevés etc also need to be suspended until it has had a chance to recover. As frustrating as it is to rest, the damage done by continuing to dance on an injured toe will almost certainly be more serious than the original injury, and possibly wider reaching as the body tries to compensate. A vocational student presenting with anything they described as ‘extremely painful’ would be on restricted dance (or possibly no dance) until the school medical team were satisfied that they were ready to return. Wishing you a speedy and full recovery!

On a normal year Mr Annear attends every in-person audition, so I would imagine he is also viewing the videos in the same way. He definitely has a very good overview of who is applying and remembers children from one year to the next.

Learning to manage her time will be essential to your DD as she moves up through secondary school, and this skill will serve her well for vocational training where the pressures of academic work still have to be balanced with the demands of the artistic timetable. 24 pieces of homework is actually less than one a day (Mon-Fri) since 15th September, so the school will not consider this a lot. Lots of Year 7 students find training themselves to get homework done on time difficult, but if she is genuinely 100% focused on a task (ie no TV, no texting, etc) and it is taking longer than the allocated time, she is probably going into more detail than they expect her to. It will feel less overwhelming with a good plan of when things will be completed and keeping an eye on what needs doing first according to the submission dates will help

There are so many beautiful dancers out there. Vocational ballet training is only one way of making it, but is perhaps also the most difficult to access. Talent, anatomy, dedication and passion all need to line up. All essential, and difficult to change if not there. There are lots of ways to enjoy a career in dance though. Ballet is just one of them.

It’s so hard. They have really specific requirements regarding turnout and flexibility, and a child that doesn’t meet these would have to be absolutely magical to watch to get in without meeting these requirements. There was a girl in DD’s JA class with really limited turnout, but she was stunning to watch so they tried really hard to work with her issues. Ultimately, she didn’t make it into MAs, but it was easy to see why they wanted to help her. With so many videos to watch, they couldn’t possibly spend time watching children that do not fulfil the criteria. The £50 fee is for the admin process and for them to be considered, but no one would expect them to keep watching if they know that a place will not be allocated to that child. Children change a lot from one year to the next, and a ‘no’ one year can become a ‘yes’ later. RBS is not the only school, and ballet is not the only dance form, but the process is universally tough, and the first knock backs can be hard to accept.

This! The love of ballet has to be the only reason for being at any of these schools, as the odds are stacked against a career with a top company. A child finishing at RBS is suited to a position at such a company, because if they are not, they will not finish their education at the school. A student finishing at Elmhurst may also be suited to such a career, but children that are not are also allowed to finish their time at the school. This means that the graduate destinations are more varied at Elmhurst. Vocational ballet school is a hugely enriching experience for a child that loves ballet and wants it to permeate every aspect of their life. Not all children capable of vocational training have this level of obsession, and not all children with this level of obsession are capable of vocational ballet training. It requires a ‘perfect storm’ of focus, drive, talent and physiology.

I think the RBS name certainly counts for a lot when it comes to vocational school applications, and most people without a background in dance training have heard of RBS. However, the ‘preferred option’ should vary depending on the child. Not all children will thrive at White Lodge, and not all children will be happy at Elmhurst either. Looking purely at statistics, a child starting in Year 7 and going all the way through RBS has a much better chance of securing a contract with RB. But a child starting in Elmhurst in Year 7 has a much better chance of completing their vocational training. As a parent, my priority is to see my child thrive: artistically, academically and socially. Resilience is needed in spades at any vocational school, as the process is demanding in every way, but I would hope to find a school where she feels valued and challenged.

The subjects with low contact hours tend to require lots of reading and forming opinions and theories, to then discuss and develop during tutorials and underpin with learning from lectures. So the ‘value’ is in the feedback and response to what is produced from the hours of independent work. The hours spent working shouldn’t be any less, just more independent and reflective. No arts student worth their salt would want to be spoon-fed the course.

Also, build in coffee shop breaks to rest feet as you walk between the shops. Otherwise feet can swell and you wind up in a wider shoe than your DD actually needs!

Dancia in Covent Garden have a wide range. And as your DD gets older she may prefer to go straight to Freed or Bloch if she is in either of those, as the individual shops carry even more options within their brand.

If they move you to a different centre it seems to be done via SWL, then a phonecall coming through very quickly (days later) offering the alternative centre. Good luck everyone!

Associate-wise, I know a Swindon based family that travel to Birmingham for associates (Royal Ballet School JA and Elmhurst Young Dancer) and Richmond for Ballet Boost, so I assume both must be doable. There is so much on offer. A good associate scheme is definitely worth a bit of a journey... we used to do 1.5 hours each way for JAs and have never regretted it.

I would be wary of a school that offers ballet but doesn’t do graded examinations, as there is a high chance their teachers are not qualified by any exam board. Unqualified teachers have no requirement for teacher training, no need to keep up any professional development and far less accountability. Unsafe practices can cause lasting damage, especially to growing bodies. That’s not to say the teachers at the other school that you are looking at are unqualified, but it’s definitely something to check out. If you talk to your DD’s current teacher, she may be able to double up on grades in order to increase her training. PBT is fantastic, but if this is not available Pilates is also really good. Quality is definitely more important than quantity. Associate schemes are another excellent way to supplement training. If you give a rough idea of where you are, people in here may be able to recommend a scheme.

Looking at it from a purely financial point of view, Elmhurst and RBS have the highest proportion of MDS places, so not auditioning could be seen as a false economy. It would be heartbreaking to be offered a place without funding elsewhere and wonder if she might have got in. Keeping it all in perspective though, if you do miss a school out in the Year 7 auditions round, you can always change your mind later. There are lots of additions to each cohort over the years.

Don’t rule anything out based on previous auditions. Children progress at such a rate, and so much can change in the space of a year. If Elmhurst is a school you like, it’s definitely worth a try, as otherwise you will be left wondering. There have been new starters in DD’s year that weren’t successful at their first attempt. People are absolutely right when they say it’s a ‘not yet’ rather than a ‘no’.

Congratulations and welcome to the forum! The Elmhurst suppliers are having trouble with uniform due to a backlog at the factory caused by the lockdown, with lots of full-time students on back order too. The school are being very understanding in the meantime. I think the associate uniform is the same as previous years though, so you might be able to pick up a second-hand one on the buying/selling page to do you for now.

Just for exams and auditions is definitely less of a problem. DD is at vocational school, so has a bun pretty much all day every day (although the school encourages the girls to take their bun out for academic lessons to rest their hair).

Gorilla Snot has a bit of a reputation for damaging hair, according to my Mauritian students, as it contains a lot of chemicals... mind you, a similar gel is Eco Style, and that contains a well-known carcinogen. It seems that the more I look into it, the less I know what DD should put on her hair!

I think everyone that is eligible for MDS has funding at Elmhurst too. The other schools offer bursaries and partial fees remission for some children that are not awarded MDS, so it’s a good idea to go in with an idea of exactly what you could afford. Even MDS is a sliding scale, with the parental contributions based on earnings. The MDS calculator on the RBS website gives a really good idea of what this would cost at any of the MDS schools, but don’t forget there will be extras such as school trips that will account for an extra £100-200 per term depending on the school.

Hi, which shade of pink is this, please?

I do agree that it is important to speak up, and I am sorry to hear that your DD’s experience has not been a good one. I hope she is now accessing the help that she needs, and her friends too. I also think it is important, in the interests of balance and clarity, to say that this is not the case for everyone, and that some schools are really nurturing the children and many children are thriving at vocational school. To say this is not to deny or excuse any poor treatment that has happened in other institutions or to other children. Ongoing, frank conversation is essential with all our children, and even more so when we are entrusting them to a school that may be far from home.

While this may be the experience for some, it is really not our experience or that of any of DD’s classmates as far as I know. We have found her school to be very nurturing, and an environment where she and her friends are thriving. Perhaps things have really changed for the better in recent years, but I felt that with so many parents nervous about sending their child off for the first time in a matter of weeks I wanted to reassure them that our experience so far has been wholly positive, and this certainly seems to be the case for DD’s friends too.

Bloch... silly autocorrect!

Black jazz pants size 2a long £5 (+ postage) Florescent pink block booties size child L (£10 + postage) Both in very good condition.