oliviaT

Thank you. I’m glad to hear you don’t feel the 2 years have been wasted. Hopefully a good level 3 course will be beneficial (we hear lots of negative opinions but they tend to be about the local mainstream colleges rather than performing arts colleges). I think shes very worried that in 2 years she might not get the offers she wants and will regret turning down a diploma offer now. But like you say she needs to go somewhere she will be happy.

Hello again. I’ve previously asked for advice about options for my daughter who is currently in year 11. She’s now finished all of her auditions so we are in a better position to make a decision. She has: 2 x level 6 diploma offers but one without funding. She likes them both but they are not where she would ideally like to go. 2 x level 4 offers (teaching) level 3 offer extended BTEC at a performing arts college with a good reputation. Ideally she would like to study dance / mt (she’s not applying for classical ballet) at somewhere like bird, performers etc so is thinking of accepting the level 3 place for now. However it’s a risk when she already has a level 6 offer (I know she is worried about ‘wasting 2 years’) Does anyone know which of the main colleges offer a degree with full student finance for the course fees? I keep reading information about top up fees and it’s a bit confusing. Before we make a decision I want to be confident we can afford a degree course. Also interested to hear from anyone who has been in a similar position. Thank you x

Hi we don’t have direct experience of the school but we went to this year’s open day. We were given this information: Dada funding is available but dependant on income. Housing is approximately £165 a week in student halls (very close to northern ballet) We were not told of any other funding available. Hope that helps

Thanks very much everyone

Hello can anyone please explain how dada contributions are worked out? We we have been asked to provide only our p60s as evidence which puts our total pay in one bracket but quite close to the next one up. However I read something about employer pension contributions. If I add both of ours together this actually moves us up 2 brackets which makes quite a big difference in terms of affordability for us. We dont have any any other income apart from child benefit. I know we would lose this if she does a level 6 course but we have a younger child as well. Do we need to include this? Thank you

Hi My daughter is in a similar position. She has these offers: level 6 offers but without funding which we can’t afford. Level 4 offers which although not funded are significantly cheaper so we can self fund. Level 3 offers which are free and she could top this up with local classes / associates. It’s a difficult choice. One of my concerns about level 4 is the lack of ucas points. Level 3 would be better if the eventual aim is university. But level 4 has the advantage of a teaching qualification. One thing we have noticed is the huge variation in the standard of the level 3 courses. I think the question about A level or Btec in our case came down to finding a good quality btec course. Goid luck in making your decision x

Thanks everyone. I realise I have been a bit vague (as my daughter preferred me not to give too many details) but I have had some discussions by private message which have been helpful

Just catching up with this as I was working late yesterday - sorry for the late replies and thank you for all your comments. I will be looking into your suggestions. Roughly speaking we are based in the north west but more towards the midlands end. KS dance is the college she has been offered a place at. She would love to attend but we can't fund it. We knew that we couldn't entirely self fund when she auditioned but rightly or wrongly we decided to apply anyway as we were told (as were other applicants) they are hopeful that their funding arrangements might change. For example, they have written a degree pathway. Unfortunately it might be too late for my daughter but might help others who are a bit younger. Hopefully that gives you an idea about what standard she is at. I do think that it's possible to get caught up with the importance of going to one of the main colleges that produces the musical theatre stars of the future! But the reality is that it's possible to have a career in dance without this. So in some respects I think my daughter is being realistic. Why chase something that you're unlikely to get? She wants to teach so she's right that a teaching qualification is going to be useful. I just worry about the lack of a back up plan!

Taxi4ballet - level 4 dance teaching IDTA ballet and modern Thanks for the comments everyone. Sorry if I wasn’t clear but I wouldn’t allow her to go to an unregulated college. It’s more the lack of transferable qualifications that worry me. Also I wasn’t aware of any other funding options so I will have a look at that thank you

Thank you Anna. Yes she goes to a very good local dance school. She is one of the oldest so no real track record in getting children into post 16 training but lots are in associate schemes. If she did her a levels I think she could carry on getting a good level of training where she is now. The private college also has a good reputation. It’s a well established, successful college. It definitely has good facilities and properly qualified teachers but I understand it’s not the same as going to Laine or bird for example. My daughter’s argument is that she might not get into these places in 2 years time anyway! She’s not keen on doing a levels (I wish she was)

Hello everyone I need some advice for my daughter and a friend suggested I ask on here. Sorry this might be long! She is 16, has been dancing since she was around 6 years old but only decided about 2 or 3 years ago that she wanted to aim for a career in dance. She knows that a career in ballet is out of the question and would just love to dance professionally in some way or another before eventually going into teaching. Her long term aim is to have her own dance school. (the reason I say this is because she is not at the advanced level needed to apply for ballet schools - she is working at around intermediate in ballet, tap and modern) She is in year 11 at school so this last term she has been auditioning and we decided to start with the 'easiest' and build up. First she auditioned to 2 local colleges who offer level 3 performing arts / A level dance. She was offered a place at both but really didn't like them - she says the standard was low and not enough ballet. The she auditioned at quite a well known private college that offers level a 4 teaching certificate but no other qualification. She was offered a place and loved it. The pros are the teaching qualification (as this is her long term aim) and good industry links. The cons are that she wouldn't have the ucas points needed for uni if her circumstances change. Next she auditioned to a level 6 college but one that doesn't offer a Dada. We knew we couldn't afford for her to go here unfortunately but we were told it was a similar standard to her dream college so we thought it would be good preparation. Again she loved it and was offered a place. Unfortunately a few weeks ago we got the dreaded 'no' letter for the place she had her heart set on (level 6 with the possibility of a dada). No recall, no feedback. As you can imagine she is devastated. So what do we do now? There are a few places still accepting applications but I don't have endless amounts of money for auditions, hotels etc! I also want to avoid panic auditioning for a place that isn't right for her. She loved the college that offered the teaching qualification but for me it seems a bit risky (no other dancers in our family, it's the norm to do A-levels and university). Thanks for reading