Moneypenny

Not sure where he's based, but Tim Cross does a lot of Elmhurst photography.

Sasha, definitely don't give up just because your dd wasn't chosen for summer school. Summer school selection is so different to everything else as it is based a lot on photo selection. As for RBS summer school, it seems to be very much international, especially as they get a bit older and for the two week course ... Last year dd seemed to be one of only a handful of uk students for the two weeks at white lodge.

Dd will be applying for ybss ... She and a number of others she knows are on the wait list for RBS upper school, so personally I don't think it's worth the risk of waiting and possibly ending up with neither ... we may be too late already. Ybss is an excellent summer school. The only reason we havent applied yet is because we were waiting for royal results. I daresay ybss will have an influx of applications now the rbs places are sorted ... Just quite simply didn't want to risk losing a £200 deposit if rbs had come off! I don't think there is a cut off for ybss applications, but places are limited.

Afab, who knows, especially as they have a new Artistic Director making the decisions this year. It's a really good ss and is usually well over subscribed. It's quite intensive and hard work, but good fun.

Yes, ybss is great, dd did it a few years ago and given the wait list for upper school I think we will apply for that very shortly. Dd not too disappointed, as she has been fortunate enough to do white lodge for the last 4 out of 5 years. Many congratulations to everyone who has got a place this year, well done.v

My dd has received a 'priority selected wait list' letter for upper school ss, so will keep hoping for a little bit longer. Daresay it's extremely rare for anyone to turn down a place though.

Can thoroughly recommend a fitting with Mark Suffolk at the Suffolk Pointe Shoe Company.

We saw it too live in Birmingham a couple of years ago and whilst it is not ballet, it was absolutely breathtaking and brilliant to watch.

Even if your income hasn't dropped significantly, the drop this year will be reflected in the fees for next year. We earned less in 11/12 than in 10/11 and our fees were reduced accordingly (not by much!) for this academic year.

Yes, income is assessed every year for mds, so a fluctuation in income each year either up or down is reflected in the fees you pay for the next year. Only when you have a significant drop from one year to the next are you eligible to do a current year assessment ... It is a percentage drop, but not sure what it is ... and if you do a current year assessment and you pay the fees on what you think you will earn, when a reconciliation is done at the end of the year, if you ended up earning more than estimated, the difference in fees has to be paid. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. And once you move to a current year assessment, I don't think you can go back to a previous year assessment.

I couldn't find anything definitive in the guidelines other than being assessed on previous years income and it applying to the 3 years ... Makes the changes in the scheme potentially a double blow if there is nothing built in to take account of loss of income from one year to the next!

Does anyone know if there is a "current year assessment" option available under the new dada scheme, should your financial circumstances change significantly during the previous financial year ... ie redundancy! I believe current year assessment is an option under the mds scheme should your financial situation change significantly during the year, so I'm just wondering whether this is the case with the new dada scheme. Would seem very unfair to lose your job during the year, then be assessed on that years income when potentially you will have little or no income the following year that the fees are due.

I think that's a bit of a generalization!

For what it's worth, and this really is just my personal opinion ... I wouldn't have committed my 9 year old dd to a 70 hour rehearsal schedule and wouldn't have viewed it as 70 hours of extra ballet tuition. Performance opportunities are great, but there is plenty of time for these things. I think my dd was 12, almost 13 when she did National Youth Ballet, which was very professional, lots of fun and a wonderful experience, but it was very tiring, very time consuming, lots of traveling and VERY expensive at the end of the day. As I said, just my personal opinion.

It always makes me so nostalgic when I read about the upcoming JA auditions ... My dd was also accepted for year 4, which is now a good few years (and speed bumps) ago, but she does have a birthday very early in the academic year so will have been quite a bit older than most year 4s. Good luck everyone ... It still seems like only yesterday and I can still remember the day she opened that very first letter, she just screamed!

Signed.

It sure does suck ... Wouldn't be surprised if 6th form ballet training becomes elitist under the new system ... ie. If you're just talented forget it, but if you're talented and wealthy you're ok! As with most things in life ... it all comes down to money!

At the end of the day, surely the schools have to be really careful about ensuring that their 6th form places are awarded to and taken up by the most talented students ... Otherwise the reality will surely be that graduate employment will fall ... It's difficult enough out there as it is for those graduating. We have been told that for 6th form schools are very much looking at employability, and why wouldn't they. As a parent I think I would be quite uncomfortable if I thought my dd had been offered a 6th form place as a second choice based on ability to pay ... and then find that she wasnt able to get a job on graduation because she wasn't quite up to it in the first place! I absolutely totally empathise with all those parents who currently have dcs in year 11 at the moment, we will be in this situation next year and if dd is lucky enough to be offered a 6th form place we too will be caught between a rock and a hard place because of the new dada funding, but at least we have a bit of time to try and plan ahead. It is very demoralising to have the goalposts moved when your dc is so close to the top end of lower school with years of hard work and training and financial investment already behind them. I could go on and on and on ....!!!

I would imagine festivals are a bit like marmite ... you either love or hate them! Fortunately, dd was never keen and in fact has only entered a couple of competitions over the last several years and didn't particularly enjoy the atmosphere (and neither did I). Our personal preference has always been to invest time and resources in her technical training and not doing festivals certainly hasn't held her back in any way whatsoever. She has also had plenty of opportunities to perform from time to time over the years in school shows, nyb etc, which she of course absolutely loves.

I seem to recall that we had to declare savings income for dependent children. You basically have to bare your soul financially. They also take into account the value of taxable benefits/benefits in kind, ie. company car, medical insurance, any salary sacrificed into a pension etc, bonus payments and back it up with copies of payslips, p60, p11d. It certainly helps if you have time to put some savings away beforehand!

At this point in time, I would tend to disagree with mds carrying on into 6th form, we were looking forward to possibly having some relief, should dd be fortunate enough to secure a dada, from the fees that we are currently blessed with, even with an mds ... just my opinion and in any case, however the system is set up it will always benefit some more than others and will either be perceived as fair/unfair depending on one's own circumstances.

The current vocational fees are challenging enough, even with some MDS support! I find it incredibly disappointing and frustrating to think that the new dada scheme may potentially make 16+ training even more expensive and prohibitive, especially having invested heavily over a number of years in vocational training. For those with dc's currently at the upper end of lower school, it feels a bit like moving the goal posts at the eleventh hour.

I understand it may have been on midlands today this morning, but didn't see it myself.

I'm sure I'm not alone in that I have hardly heard of any ballet companies outside of the uk other than the big famous ones, however, if my dd is fortunate/talented enough to secure a classical ballet contract at a good company where she will be happy either in the uk or overseas at the end of her many years of training, I will not for one nano second consider that she has only made the second, or even third, division if it is not with the likes of RB or BRB. The definitions of success are numerous!

Only once has dd had a pair of pointe shoes from the provider in school and that was an emergency pair as she needed some ASAP. I always take her for a proper fitting and have now got into the groove of making sure that she always has 2-3 pairs at her disposal so that we usually have time to make arrangements to go for proper fittings. Dd is already on her 4th pair this term!