Petruska

Me too!

We feel the same! An offer on the day and then an email to confirm the offer of the place. No mention of MDS or even any forms to fill in…… this is much worse for my daughter. Why did they do that? Get her hopes up like that. I’m so upset they did that

Nothing here ☹️

I’m in the same position. We must have been at the same audition! We were offered on the day but still waiting to hear anything formal!

My daughter knows this too and we’ve had the same with an offer from Tring but not the MDS. She handled that ok! I just think it was unfair to build her up like that and offer a place In person if it’s not a given she has funding! Good luck to you

@tutugirl definitely understand about the movement and happy to sit tight, but the false hope given to my daughter on the day seemed unnecessary. We were happy to wait for an email. They made her feel like she already was an asset to the school and that she belonged. They shouldn’t have done that if they weren’t sure we could afford it without funding and hasn’t decided to offer her funding. Cruel

Do you know you haven’t got funding then? I mean when was your audition and have you heard already? I think if no funding is definitely being offered, then why do that to them? We were well prepared for the eventuality of potentially getting an offer but not funding. But after saying to her ‘in our mind you are already a Hammond student and we’ll see you in September’ and using the word ‘exceptional’ numerous times, we have come away with our hopes raised much higher than they would have been…… this could be painful.

I was so surprised and she was so delighted with the lovely comments that I wasn’t really listening. I think they said something about our letter with all the information about funding. But I don’t remember hearing ‘you have an MDS’ - so we probably haven’t 🤷🏼‍♀️

Yes, they explained on the day that students were scored and if they met a certain mark, they won a place at the school. Above a certain mark they used to be invited to the funding final, however judges scores rarely changed from initial audition to funding final. So they’ve scrapped it! -

Have most people been waiting for an email regarding an offer at Hammond (lower school dance)? Just wondering if it’s usual to get an in person firm offer on the audition day or not? And what this might mean in terms of funding? Tia

Did anyone here get an immediate on the day offer in person from Hammond? For the lower dance school?

Exactly. I’m sure if you have to cancel fees, when this is all over you can go back? No teacher will turn away a talented student surely? Especially one they have nurtured until now? Good luck

Apologies, it wasn’t really attended as a direct reply to your situation. I had summarised from all the responses. You should absolutely prioritise your family and each individual situation is unique. If your teacher is anything like ours, they will completely empathise and cancel your payments. If not, then you need to decide after all this is over, if it’s right for you and your family anyway. You can cancel a direct debit with the bank? My message was really for everyone who is lucky enough to not lose their income totally and can stretch to help those they value.

I don’t think it’s as easy for the self employed to access help as everyone assumes. Especially as they will feel obligated to help their staff who are usually freelance. I think it all depends on the dance school. If they have staff to pay and if they are still being expected to pay hall hire, insurances, memberships, rates or a mortgage on their premises. A monthly dd for April would likely have only included 2 weeks with the Easter holidays anyway so if online classes are being offered, you could consider this is payment for the hours spent creating content. Some schools are offering personal feedback if you send videos in. This I imagine will be far more time consuming for teachers. I think it all depends on how much you value your school, how much you value the people who invest so much time into your child and how much you want the school to be there for your child at the end of all this. In our dance school we recognise how much ‘extra’ our teacher gives Over and above what we are ‘paying’ for. Pastoral care, attending auditions with us, coming on first pointe shoes fittings, taking us on summer schools, advice, love, care and sometimes offering lifts here there and everywhere. Maybe it’s time to repay some of these ‘over and above’ things a dance teacher offers if you can afford it? We’re going to continue paying our fees whilst we can, make use of the classes being offered and personal feedback which so far has been in far more depth than in group lessons. My girls would be devastated if our school was gone at the end of this. How would yours feel?