BalletBoysDad

16 hours ago, Leapfrog said:

My DS really enjoyed this audition for Tring CBA last year. It was a mixed class of girls and boys for his age group. The studios are beautiful a nd the teaching staff were very friendly.  Good luck to your DDs and DS s! 

Thanks for the info (and the good luck) that’s really appreciated! Do you know if they audition a lot of children for a relatively small number of places? I always wonder what the statistics involved are like, and what ratio of children apply for what number of places. 

3 hours ago, Spamcat said:

My DD has swapped groups with another girl so we are now in the 10.30 purple group. So we will see you there @BellaF and @BalletBoysDad

Excellent, what a happy result!  

3 minutes ago, Spamcat said:

I mean two hours each way, so 4 hours!!

That’s dedication! We will be doing that for Ballet Boost on alternate Sunday’s. Lichfield to Richmond is 2hr26 each way, without stopping. If he gets into Tring, it’ll be a choice between the two, as they run on practically the same days. But that’s still 2hr5 each way, so we’re in much the same boat! 

4 minutes ago, Spamcat said:

Yes it is a 2 hour drive for us.

It was me you were chatting to about them both being really young and the smallest in the audition last year. 😀

Well I hope the all have better luck this year. Amazing how much difference a year makes. I noted that Birmingham is its own separate application group this year. I wondered if that was for geographical reasons, or that Birmingham has a much higher number of applicants given I imagine it’s a bigger centre. Who knows. I think I drive myself unnecessarily mad trying to work out things I’ll probably never know 😂 

40 minutes ago, Spamcat said:

Yes I know and I am glad we are getting a class every week, I don't mind hanging around.

Yes they are both rising from yr4 to yr5 at Elmhurst. (Sorry I gatecrashed the newbies thread) 😬

They are both auditioning for Royal so we are hoping that either they both get in, or neither. Otherwise that will mess things up! 😂

 

No I’m terrible. I see the same names on different threads as were all applying the same things 😂 Will you be travelling far for the Birmingham classes? We are applying for RBS JA’s I’m Birmingham too, but after the disappointment of a SWL place last year that never materialised I think we will take it in our stride and just treat it as an experience. My son also has a Tring CBA audition on the 5th September. If he got another class that would be great, as wee recently moved and he’s left behind all his London ballet. So it’s great to have Elmhurst! 

9 minutes ago, Spamcat said:

He is in with my DDs friend who we will probably be taking every alternate week. Annoying our classes are at different times now as we always take turns.

So are both you DD and DD’s friends rising from Y4 to Y5? It’s ashame you’ll have to hang around much longer. But I’m amazed they are actually running physical classes.
 

Although we left London a few weeks ago, we’re still on email updates for a couple of his former Ballet schools. In order to accommodate the older children, they’re still putting the younger ones on zoom classes. I

The boys are in a separate group and my son will be in Group 5 10:30-11:45am.
 

A shame there being no jazz class for the time being, but it’s great they’ve been able to allocate actual studio time for all groups under the current circumstances! Probably a huge achievement in itself. 

1 hour ago, BellaF said:

 

Yes a live audition will be a novelty!

 

DD is in Group 4 though is going into year 5 like your son. Does anyone know how they are grouped?

Sorry I’m dreadful remembering names! So both our DC’s will be doing Elmhurst! My son is really looking forwards to this Tring audition as it’s a physical ‘real life’ experience. He was offered Ballet Boost which runs on almost the same term dates, so in theory it would be an either/or IF he were successful. But we’re just going with an open mind to see what happens and take it as an experience.

56 minutes ago, BellaF said:

 

Yes a live audition will be a novelty!

 

DD is in Group 4 though is going into year 5 like your son. Does anyone know how they are grouped?

As the boys and girls are taught in separate groups, I would imagine they are auditioned separately too. It makes me wonder if group 5 is all boys, or a specific age group of boys. But that wouldn’t clarify how groups 1-4 are organised and which age groups participate in which group. 

On 06/08/2020 at 13:46, Firebird21 said:

Anyone else had an email through with audition times?

we are group one ....I shall  be asleep on the train! 

My DS is auditioning in group 5. Tring CBA is the programme I know the least about, so I’m not sure how many children are in each group and how many places are potentially available. We shall put it down to experience I think and go without expectations. My DS is looking forwards to a live studio audition though. 

10 minutes ago, SJBallet said:

 

I think they only have so many places and will take the children they want without trying to fill specific year 4/5 places. You’ll drive yourself crazy trying to make sense of it. I know I did last year 😁. 

Well said 😂 Yes, that was my presumption, that they’ll take who they like and massage out the numbers accordingly, rather than sticking to a rigid quota per year group.  As that would mean even fewer opportunities for those who didn’t start at Y4. 

7 hours ago, SJBallet said:

I just want to wish everyone good luck with their auditions. Fingers crossed for you all. 
 

About the split of classes. At DDs centre there are 2 classes. One for year 6 and one for year 4/5. Last year 10 year 4s got places and I think there were about 10 year 5s in the class. All those year 5s will now be  yr 6 and they’ll have added to that (I’m not sure how many were in the year 6 class). And DD and her 9 year 4 class mates will now be Yr5 leaving approx 10 places to fill with a mix of year 4 and 5. 
 

Obviously London will be very different as they have more classes and I don’t know what the other regional centres are like but I hope this helps. 
 

Best of luck everyone. 

Thank you very much for that info, really appreciated, That would suggest that most Y5 places are taken by the current Y4 children, and the bulk order of the places available will be Y4, maybe with a slim chance of a couple of additions to Y5? Unless they decide to take fewer year 4s purposely to take a few more y5s? (Not that me knowing this will make any difference  ) Were applying for Birmingham so I imagine there will of course be fewer classes than London too. 

4 hours ago, Millicent said:

I can't see that there would be any point in waiting to give all results together at the end e.g. there will be no crossover between London auditions and Leeds/Dundee so I would have thought they would give results in centre order. But just guessing here.

I would think the same. They’d give themselves a lot of ‘acceptance admin’ holding onto results to give them out all in one go. But just a guess too. 
 

We applied to London last year, which was the last set of results to be given out. The wait felt agonising, as results were released in order of audition centre. We’ve applied to Birmingham this year, which is, ironically, last to be given out 🤦‍♂️😂

14 minutes ago, Candycakes82 said:

We are in Albrighton (stationed at RAF Cosford) so not a long journey for us either! 

Glad it’s nearby. I think we spend enough of life in the car as it is 😂 Though I’d happily take him any distance for something well worth doing.

1 hour ago, Spamcat said:

@BalletBoysDad that is lucky, we are nearly 2 hours away. We take it in turns to drive there with DDs friend though. Sounds like he has a really good chance if he got SWL last year!

I thought he would have a decent chance based on last year. But this years’ audition will be so different, we’re going on the assumption that it’s just good experience. 

1 hour ago, Spamcat said:

I love how quickly Elmhurst get the results out, no agonising wait! 

By the way I highly recommend the Jazz class. My DDs friend was the only boy who took it last year (1 boy in a class of about 20 girls!). He only did it because my DD persuaded him to but he absolutely loves it. It is a lot of fun and very energetic.

Thanks for the recommendation on the jazz class. My son has only ever done ballet so it would be great for him to try something new! 

1 minute ago, Spamcat said:

I love how quickly Elmhurst get the results out, no agonising wait! 

By the way I highly recommend the Jazz class. My DDs friend was the only boy who took it last year (1 boy in a class of about 20 girls!). He only did it because my DD persuaded him to but he absolutely loves it. It is a lot of fun and very energetic.

I was really grateful for how quickly they dealt with it. My sons former ballet teacher in London went to Elmhurst for upper school and speaks so fondly about all her experiences their. So this was the one my son really wanted. Their communication seems so considerate and it’s great that they don’t drag out the waiting. 

13 minutes ago, Spamcat said:

There are several kids that do both in Birmingham. Elmhurst is in the morning and JAs in the afternoon.

We applied in Bath last year as it is nearer us and my DD was the second from last in the audition which is in age order. She looked so tiny! This year we are going for Birmingham as she wants to carry on with Elmhurst. In fact we love Elmhurst so much if it came down to a choice we would stay at Elmhurst!

We only just relocated to the midlands, but feel so fortunate that Elmhurst is only a half hour drove away. We applied for RBS London last year. My DS was second to last too! It literally went tallest to shortest,m. He sounded like he had a bit of an awful audition and actually slipped over. He was offered SWL that came to nothing. So we will try again. But purely for experience and without expectation.

2 minutes ago, Spamcat said:

@BalletBoysDadI didn't realise they had already done yr 5 auditions. My friend's DD is going for Yr 4 and hasn't had her audition yet.

My sons Elmhurst audition for Y5 was on Sunday 9th August, and we found out the result on Thursday 13th. He was in ‘group 3’ according to the email, but I didn’t know if that was a full day of auditioning for Y5 over all centres. 

1 minute ago, Spamcat said:

Hello again! Boys and Girls are in separate classes. My DD and her friend (who is a boy) go to Elmhurst and are moving into yr 5 in September so we should see you there!

Ah that’s good to know, thank you! And look forwards to hopefully seeing you there in September. My son is really excited to be starting. We’ve only just relocated to Staffordshire so didn’t apply last year. Amazed he got in this year, given the difficulties and stresses of a home digital audition. 
 

10 minutes ago, BellaF said:

Blimey - still a wait for us Birmingham then! 

 

I have very little hope of success for DD as not sure she fits the JA profile but nothing ventured nothing gained 😊

Indeed. But at least there’s Elmhurst to look forwards to. Only thinking hypothetically, but elmhurst will be well under way by the time RBS Birmingham applicants are informed. There’s nothing to say the class times aren’t the same etc...

1 minute ago, Spamcat said:

That is interesting, where did you get that info from? Still a while to wait then!

@Balletbuds80 yes you are right, places are open to Yr 4 and 5 together, boys and girls, and they take a lot less yr 4s. So I feel like my DD has a better chance this year being a year 5, last year she was a very little August born yr 4 but has come on so much since then having spent a year at Elmhurst. I realise it is still unlikely but you never know! 🤞

I emailed the auditions team email address last night. and this was from their reply this morning. At least it’s nice and transparent. 
 

Im going on the presumption that this is just good experience for my DS. But like @Spamcat I’m feeling a bit the same. When they lined up last year in number (age) order, my July born DS was so much smaller than the other boys. Yet he’s had quite a growth spurt and a good year of experience with ENB and Central School, so he’s come on so much as a dancer. He’ll be starting Elmhurst Young Dancers in September, so I’m glad he’s got that to focus on. 

Just incase this is interesting for any Group 4 applicants: 

We have only just sent out group 1, so Group 4 will not be going out until the end of September with a return time in the middle of October.

1 minute ago, Balletbuds80 said:

I think this statement was made when they were still hoping for a class audition as they would have been unsure if they would be allowed that volume of children in one room so have said autumn for a Jan start. But Its not quite autumn yet so could start earlier? I am hoping that the timescales will be the same as the Year 6 as I believe (and correct me if I am wrong), that the places available at this point are open to both Year 4 and 5 children? So if there are 8 places, it can be either Year 4 or 5 as this age group are in a class together? Gosh I am babbling 😂 I may be wrong though........

We are Group 2 and I am expecting an email around the beginning of September. I think it will be posted on here by myself and others when they comes through. I do hope we will hear the results in Groups and not one big mail shot at the end of it all. 

I remember asking RBS at the beginning of the year how the groups expand from year to year. As I originally rather naively thought, if (for example) there were 8 children in Y4, and they all rise to Y5, how would there be places available? They told me by email they take fewer Y4, and expand the group in Y5 to allow space for new applicants. Same with the Y5 group rising to Y6, then expanding to take new applicants. I don’t know how many places come available, and how that’s mixed over boys and girls. There are some things I resign myself to probably never knowing

Results were sent out last year in the order of centre audition, so I imagine they’ll post results in the same way this year. 

5 minutes ago, Candycakes82 said:

Hi .. just wondering whereabouts you live as we will be together in Birmingham

Hi! 😄 We’ve just moved to Lichfield so it’s only about a 35 minute drive to Birmingham. Will you be travelling very far? Though he has a Sunday associates programme back in London every other Sunday, so we will be putting the miles in.