Raquelle

Congratulations everyone...there is a huge amount of movement with mids....we handed our place back as well as most of her year as she was vocational....was a bit sad handing it back as it was such an accomplishment (she only got year 6 JAs and most of that was on zoom so didn't really get the proper experience....) but with hindsight i can see why schools do not allow the weekend training. They're shattered by the time the weekend comes around and they need a break! Plus mids training gives other children a chance you haven't chosen to go down the vocational route. Best of luck all those on the swl that those spaces become available x

Congratulations everyone! My dd is year 7 elmhurst if anyone has any questions feel free to pm me. She loves it there x

I'll PM you. My daughter is in year 7 in one of the main 4 x

Congratulations to all the yeses! A great achievement x

Just wanted to chip in....firstly any child who gets given a place in a world class ballet school for year 7 should feel proud. This in itself is such an accomplishment. I think regardless of what you call it, and whether you know it might happen, I can imagine being told you will not continue past year 9 must be hugely upsetting and unsettling for parents and children. Especially when the children have often left their families and friends to live away; to start again must be frightening. My DDs ballet school (not sure if I'm allowed to mention by name!) gives a place till gcse and this really does remove the pressure and anxiety and gives the children a sense of security..they can leave on their terms, should they wish...the downside is that some may not be suitable for a classical career in ballet once they get to 16, but everyone re applies for upper school anyway. Balletummy18 so glad your DD found another school and to the OP it is good to hear at a lot of these talented children do find other schools and flourish elsewhere x

We had an email which said we didn't need to do anything more and they'll send an invoice in May. My emails go to junk though from RBS!

I agree with red shoes you cant measure talent from photos.... Just wondered if anyone else had a yes for week 5? My dd will be 12 x

Yes for my DD! Really pleased but been given week 5 (we applied for week 2) which clashes with something else we have said yes to....does anyone know if rbs allow you to go on waiting list for another week? Sorry don't mean to sound ungrateful x

Another Elmie here! It's far too much fun in school on weekends, she never wants to come home! As sunrise says, Saturday chilled but they love going to the park and Aldi!!!! Sunday all sorts of activities! X

Yes I agree.....this is totally irresponsible x

My Dd found out yesterday she will be having her first pointe shoe fitting (organised by her vocational school). She is 11.5 years and was over the moon - they've been working so hard to build up their strength doing a lot of pre pointe work and for the initial few months will be doing mainly just rises and releves at the barre. Like another poster mentioned there can't really be hard and fast rules...a lot of her friends had pointe shoes in year 6 however they were doing associate schemes and a lot of training/strengthening x

Our closest and first choice centre was 1.5 hours away and our second choice was 2 hours away... would be great if RBS had an associate centre in Wales!

Very few have every single attribute they're looking for.....My dd who was a JA was told she had a great facility for ballet (whatever that means) but she had to work on her flexibility and turnout. As SJ says the auditions are lovely whether you get a yes or a no or a waiting list. Good luck x

Is this still available? (Obviously please pass on to those who commented first though...😀) - x

Bookish I know very few young dancers made finals last year so she won't be the only one xx

Yes we paid last year. Hammond was a serious contender for us so we thought it was worth it to go. She loved the final audition but ended up going somewhere a bit closer. As Crazylife says they're so lovely if you ever have queries etc x

Hello! Applied for the first time for summer intensive (not expecting a yes as we did the photos ourselves and I'm not a dancer....). Anyone know when we will get results? Also where it asked whether you were interested in being considered for a place in the school I said no (as she is in another vocational school). Does this question have any bearing on their decision do you think?

Agree Costa is a good bet...it is within walking distance (about 5 minutes)...last year we weren't allowed in due to covid not sure if any different this year. The car park in elmhurst isn't huge and we were cutting it fine for time so when we pulled in there were no spaces (luckily someone left in order for me to park)...so get there early if you can x

It does sometimes feel like that I agree! We worked out it is still worth earning more (you do get less mds) but you don't lose it all if that makes sense...so I increased my hours

Hello! Yes you do. Its based on the previous financial years accounts/Income...so if you earned less one year you would get a higher award....we weren't sent the mds forms till quite late last year and only found out what our award was in August! The online calculators are very accurate though. X

Reading all these comments with interest. My DD is 11.5 years, dances in year 7 in a vocational school and hasn't started on pointe. They are very careful with their young bodies and they are doing lots of pre pointe work and strengthening and conditioning....I must admit that when I see children the same age from around the world doing several pirouettes on pointe it does sometimes feel a bit like she is already years behind her counterparts in other countries...having said that, I'm glad they're protecting the long term health of my daughter.

My dd choreographed her own as well...we don't do festivals and she had never been taught a solo! It was a lyrical style dance....she ended up getting in. I don't think it was perfect by any means...but it meant something to her and she could perform it with feeling so it was obviously enough. X

I think as a previous poster said they're sought after for auditions as they help create the illusion of longer legs as they're high cut.....Sizing is quite off though. My daughter was a small, very slim 10 year old and we had to get an age 12....x

I don't really have much advice Beezie in terms of a pre class warm up..for Jas/in my dd school their warm up tends to be more skips, star jumps, marches with a few arm movements rather than stretches per se. In her new school they are very very careful with stretches and tell them not to do splits etc and certainly not oversplits....its a lot more about conditioning and strengthening and I think (hopefully) flexibility will come from dancing rather than lots of stretching....

I'd go for both...we had already decided wl wasn't the right fit for our DD...she made finals (which was a fabulous experience in inself) and got offered a mids place. We were in two minds about vocational school and would have sent her to mids had she not gone to elmhurst. Valentina is right not everyone who makes finals gets mids, most either get mids or swl however sometimes they find a physical issue at finals which can rule them out...in terms of funding mds is available if they get a place. We have mds but it is still a huge financial sacrifice for our family. There are calculators online which are fairly accurate to give you an idea x