Karen

It’s very possible to be offered a year 10 place at many schools and It is possible to gain funding, although probably tougher than for year 7. However, if a school is inclined, funding can always be found. If you are offered a place without funding, It’s always worth negotiating too - I am aware of more than one person gaining a decent discount on the published fees after some discussion. Good luck!

When my dd auditioned 3 years ago, her photographer, who knows Robert Parker, rang him to ask if bare feet were necessary as this would mean a different set of photos, and the response was that all poses in shoes was fine. It did not disadvantage her at all and we had no comeback about it.

Your daughter should be able to ask to see the independent careers adviser employed by or bought in by her school. If you are unsure how to ask about this, the schools website should name the school’s careers lead (statutory requirement to do so) and they should be able to point you in the right direction.

We had the same with a dance loving GP who just said, ‘Send me tickets for your first professional performance!’

When dd was a yr 12 student at The Hammond 2 years ago, students had to live with host families. We paid (I think) £130 a week which included breakfast and dinner although hosts were v kind and allowed the students to use food in the fridges to make packed lunches too. All washing and ironing and room cleaning/bed changing was done for dd. In yr 13 and 14 dd shared a house on a room rental basis - we currently pay about £325 pcm, with electricity/gas bills and food on top. I’m sure that the accommodation manager at school would be able to provide more details if you make contact. Please message me if I can give you any more information.

I’ve read this thread several times and I’m still not sure where to book for DH’s first visit to ROH. Not having a blocked view and being able to see feet and faces is important. Price is less of a factor (special treat). Would really appreciate opinions of where fits this bill. Thank you.

Could you give a little more informative about the level of this qualification and what your daughter hopes to do? I am not sure it equates exactly to anything that UK dancers can do, so it’s hard to compare or try to answer your question.

I think this is common advice to get the young person into the system. We have family experience of a teenager with out of control behaviour related to autism and despite there being clear evidence that he needed help for some time, the GP and Camhs failed him badly. His family were told to call the police when he had a meltdown as he would have to be taken to a place of safety and assessed. He was, and then entered the mental health system and after quite a long time, including a period of over a year where he was sectioned under the mental health act, help has been forthcoming. It is so sad that it had to get to that point as it was distressing for all and could have been avoided if he had been given when asked for. Best wishes to your son, Pictures. Happy for you to pm me if I can help with more information.

It was good to see this on BBC breakfast today. I hope that Primrose and family are proud of their great achievement to support those with autism. I hope the training makes a difference to the treatment of young people who cannot always speak up for themselves.

I think it is possible, but less likely than If entering lower down the school. Good luck!

https://www.federationoffestivals.org.uk/ Many of these will have ballet and classical solo, duet, trio/quartet and group sections.

Impact on academic classroom attainment for those doing dance training? Several teachers have remarked to me that they can tell which children take dance classes. Coincidence?

We run a business providing training and qualifications. If an employer pays for a learner to be trained by us, the learner agrees (on a signed agreement) that we share their progress with the funder. Although my dd is over 18 and receiving a Dada, we pay a significant amount towards her dance training. Information on her progress is shared with us, and I feel this is right. I don’t think she has signed an agreement to this effect, and perhaps she should, but I strongly believe we should be in the loop about how well she is doing (and if our money is being well spent!) If my dd wishes to discuss anything with her teachers or pastoral team which is not directly impacting on her dance training, that is a different matter. I I would hope that the institution would encourage her to share, or seek her agreement to share on her behalf if they felt it was significant.

Same here! Very best wishes to all final year students at all schools. Here’s hoping for exciting news about jobs over the coming months. 🤞

Very sorry to hear this news. Sincere condolences to John’s family, friends and colleagues.

Good luck to your dd for the next stage of her career and thank you for all your contributions. Please keep us posted on how your dd gets on with her teaching - it’s great to hear how people have progressed and moved through their dancing lives.

My dd’s experience was also a long time ago, so as pictures says, there have been staff changes since then, so things might be different. There was a ballet class which was comfortable for dd - I think she was in RAD inter foundation at that time but I do recall that quite a few of her year group had not taken the inter exam when they started year 7. I remember her telling me that they did pirouettes and were encouraged to give doubles a go even if they had not tried them before. I think that your potential and not your grade is important here. Dd did a ballet solo, but I do recall a conversation some years later with a teacher who said that the panel rather liked to see another genre as they saw a lot of ballet in the ballet class, and what they were looking for included a love of performance. Dd did prepare a vocal solo (one that she had used in a festival dance) but as pictures said, I have heard that people who did not prepare anything were asked to sing happy birthday. I think that if you can sing a little, it does show your versatility and willingness to embrace everything, even if you really want to focus on dance. I'm sure there are forum members who have more recent experience than ours, but don’t be afraid to call the school (or ask your parent/guardian to do so for you) if you have questions that are not answered. Good luck!

A subscription to ‘The Stage’ magazine gives access to a range of performance and non performance job vacancies in the industry and periphery. That might give you some ideas of what is out there, which might lead to some ideas about what you would like to do.

It was excellent! Really enjoyed the range of numbers, all well put together and performed with enthusiasm and style. Great show.

I think that continuing to work with boarding staff will help the situation. If there are people that your Dd would like to share space with next year, ask for that to happen. Also don’t be afraid to alert them to inappropriate behaviour that your Dd is having to deal with. If they are fully in the picture, they will be more able to help. If they are not helping, then maybe escalation is needed. Hope things get sorted for your Dd.

Hammond open day is usually the last Saturday morning of September or the first one of October. It will be on the school website and you do not have to book. A range of dance genres and academics across year 7 -14 are usually on show. Dance is usually a class for visitors to watch with teachers explaining the process and questions are welcome. An informative morning.

Don’t think that a break is a bad thing. I used to worry that my Dd resolutely rejected summer schools, saying that she needed a holiday. She has felt at no disadvantage when returning to vocational school over the years. More recently she has recognised that regular stretching at home is a good thing, and that occasional family (all except me!) trips to the gym mean that she can just keep ticking over. I do think that letting your body rest is very helpful in preventing injury too. Enjoy the rest!

We also added Dd to our personal policies (WPA heslthcare) - much cheaper than the school option and very effective when we needed to use them for Physio. If you do have your own policy, it’s well worth looking at

https://www.facebook.com/1743178945926460/posts/2363325907245091?s=100000446663231&sfns=mo This is a link to a Facebook post offering for sale 4 tickets for Friday matinee. I’m sorry I can’t share it any other way.

My friend and I tackled the tutu today! The bodice is heavy, possibly brocade, with lots of sparkly silver woven in. We used vanish oxy spray, warm water and a soft cloth and it looks much cleaner, with the make up marks coming out pretty well. It certainly looks less grimy overall. The worst bits now are the translucent sequins, which look yellowed, but they are clean! My lovely friend is going to do the sewing bits and give it a second clean in the same way, so hopefully all will be well on stage. Thanks to everyone for the advice, and hopefully explaining what worked for us will help someone else in the future.