spooky

Congrats to your dd Julie. My middle (non-dancing) daughter also exceeded her predicted grades and her offer and is also off to Nottingham - well Nottingham Trent to do Theatre Design.

I am fairly sure dd had her student account before she was 18 but do remember it not being straight-forward (took several long visits). She already had a young persons account and can't remember exactly when it was changed to a student one. I know she had to have an acceptance letter from the school which seemed to be more inportant that the fact that she had money being paid in by student finance! Also remember them only wanting to give her a cahpoint card and having to negioate for a debit card. Think it helped that we went to the bank that we have been using for many years, Will pm you which one if you like as not sure should say on here!

If its just a letter you need may I suggest you write one yourselves and take it to the doctors for them just to sign and stamp/date. This greatly reduces their workload and therefore usually the amount they will charge - they might even do it for nothing there and then. I have had to get many letters for performances licences etc and there is usually no problem doing it like this. Once following an operation I was signed off work for six weeks but felt well enough to return after 4 so at my hospital check-up I took a letter I had drafted just saying I had been examined that day and was considered fit and well enough to return to work and commence driving again and the consultant was more than happy to sign it. Probably would have taken another 2 weeks if I had had to wait for them to write the letter and post it to me! edited to add: Most schools have some staff in over the summer or will pick up messages and get back to you. A level results are out tomorrow though (and GCSEs the following Thurs) so prob best to avoid trying to get through on those days!

Its her life - have sent you a pm

The thing that annoys me is these commercial companies that deliver 'charity' bags for collection of old clothes/shoes etc. The charity's are usually big well-known ones and their logos are the biggest thing printed on the bag and then in the smallprint will be the name of the actual company and a message something like ' we are a commercial trading company who donate 5% of our PROFITS' to the aforementined charity. When I have mentioned this to friends/family they are always very surprised and have assumed the donations are going direct to the named charity. I always deliver my stuff personally to a local charity shop who have my details so they can also claim gift aid on the value of my donation.

It actually 10 years since my dd started JAs but I think I cut the belt so that there was a 4/5 inch overlap, sealed the ends with a match. I used a skirt hook & bar - this sort of thing: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PRYM-2-HOOK-AND-BAR-2-PIECE-BNIP-NICKEL-SILVER-12mm-TROUSER-SKIRT-FASTENER-/320967180468#ht_3864wt_905 then a press-stud on the inside to hold the overlaping bits together. Hope that is clear.

I think most JAs make pre-tied ribbons on hairgrips which they just put in after doing the plaits. I was always worried these might fall out so I cut the length of ribbon into two pieces, used a match to seal the ends to stop them fraying then after I had put dds hair into two ponytails I tied the ribbons securely round each one but only with a knot leaving then ends hanging. Then paited hair, crossed pined and covered with net finally tying end of ribbon into bows. Hope this answers your question.

Think you will probably find that the LA will try to get out of this if the level 3 btec is available closer to you but does the cat scheme combine this with any other qualifications e.g. teaching qualifications or major dance exams as you may be able to use this to say that this combination of training is not available locally.

We found dd's school (local state) just completely lacked any understanding about dance (ballet) courses and eventually gave up trying to explain properly. We referred to auditions as interviews for 6th form and this seemed to be accepted. Like others no concessions at all were made re: PE lessons etc. DD did check with subject teachers when exams/mocks would be so we could avaoid those dates but at the end of the day we knew what she wanted to do and made our decisions regardless of the schools position and if they had refused permission it would just have been an unauthorised absence and we would have gone anyway. Your school sounds much more supportive so I don't think you have anything to worry about.

Isn't it funny how teachers vary. I remember putting a bow in dd's hair for her first vocational exam (can't remember if it was above/below bun though) and her teacher asking her to take it out saying RAD prefered them without and were very fussy about getting the exact shade of colour right so best not risk it.

Re: cuttting and pasting in reports. My dd changed sex half way through one report and became male! When I was at school I remember one PE report in which I got an A for effort in PE and the comment 'is working hard to improve her tennis' but the D for achivement clearly said it wasn't having any effect!

Oh yes - I'd completely forgotten that!

I wouldn't think about it to much. If they want to stay in touch they will work things out for themselves with whatever methods they have available. I strongly believe that those friendships that are strong enough will survive somehow. My eldest dd went to vocational 6th form but four years later is still in touch with friends from primary school. Contact is erratic but they do meet up if they happen to be in the same place at the same time and I believe these friendships will probably be lifelong. Middle dd went to different 6th form to all her primary/secondary school peers and although they still all live in the same town she has not remained in contact with any of them and has a complete new circle of friends now but whether she remains in the autumn when they all head off to Uni who know!

Spray starch and an iron on a low setting works quite well for re-stiffening the net but is VERY time consuming. I speak from experience having once had to do an entire set of tutus that a parent had very kindly? washed with fabric conditioner and returned to the teacher looking like short romantic tutus. For unhooped tutus it is also a good idea to store them folded inside out to keep the net from dropping.

Fusser - I know of several people over the past few years who have been offered JA places off of the swl and all of them were contacted by phone so maybe stop checking the post and keep checking your phone! Hope it works out for you.

These are final year Central students. There are two couples who are sharing the roles of Concord and Time. They have a pas-de-deux at the beginning of act 2.

Dying the leather upper should be easy using a paint-on shoe dye available from shoe repaires. The biggest problem will be the sole/heel. If this is synthetic I'm not sure the dye will work and also it may wear off very quickly when worn. I would be tempted to just buy another pair of shoes in black despite the cost as when you add together your time, effort, shopping for and cost of dye, it probably isn't worth the stress! Also if the shoes are a good fit you can shop around online for the best price as you know the size and make.

When my dd was about to start secondary school (some time ago now) we went to the induction evening and were talking to her new form teacher. I outlined her extra-curricular commitments and expressed concern about fitting in homework as well but was told that these were the students the school loved as they knew how to organise their time and were frequently the ones who achieved best later on. Not all staff were as sympathetic especially as she moved up the school but she showed them by always keeping up to date and coming away with 3 A*, 5As and 5Bs at GCSE (and gaining a 6th form place at vocational ballet school) despite having moderate dyslexia which school completely failed to spot!

I would think that your best approach would be to contact somewhere that offers a physiotherapy degree and ask about entry requirements and possible transferrable skills from the central course. I had a brief look at: http://www.csp.org.uk/professional-union/careers-development/career-physiotherapy which seems to imply that a degree is necessary so assuming it is a standard three year course your dd would have to swap from Central at the end of the first year as only 4 years degree funding (loan) is available to anyone. Unless of course you are able to fund the fees yourself. Not sure if you could do a post-graduate course following a dance degree but again funding might be a problem. With PE A level is there not quite a bit of practical assessment? My youngest dd has just done the GCSE course and was assessed in 4 different practical sports although she did manage to do dance as one of them!

Much along the lines of CeliB's thoughts. When my dd was little (much younger than yours) she was very shy and although she loved her dancing she was very introverted almost seeming afraid to take up too much space. As time went on she became quite frusrated as other dancers who she felt were perhaps not as technically secure as her were being chosen for performance opportunities etc while she was not. We started to watch festivals and other performaces by children of a similar age and she would pick out those dancers she felt 'stood out' and try to identify what it was that they had that the others didn't - smiles, bigger movements, better use of space etc and then dd taught herself to emulate these traits and her determination to succeed made her realise she had to be the one to volunteer to stand at the front rather than hiding at the back. Videoing and watching back to analyse performance is used frequently at dds school. My middle daughter (non-dancer) skates recreationally and is very shy. Her coach is always telling her to make her movements bigger but she is scared people will think she is 'showing off'. The other week we filmed her( just to show her grandmother) and it wasn't till she watched herself that she realised how timid she looked.

Is this for your dd about to start at Central? I would suggest that you don't commit her to studying outside school until she has started and feels that she can cope with extra studying. As I am sure other Central parents will agree the course is quite demanding timewise. First and second years start at 8.45 (six days a week) but need to be there at 7.45 to warm-up and most days don't finish till 5 or 6. Although they may get breaks during the day, I know there have been plenty of times when dd has barely had time to eat and if there are things like choreographic platforms etc the students frequently need to rehearse in their own time. Add onto this travel time (such a pity the Y closed as was about the only reasonably priced local accommodation that would take 16 year olds), laundry, shopping etc and it really is very full-on. Also they only get three days (thurs-sun) off for half-terms and substantially shorter main holidays than a lot of other places. My dd did one AS in first year but it was a real struggle and she decided not to continue with the A2. A decision which I fully supported having seen how hard it was and I was trying to encourage her to start two AS's in the beginning as she did very well at GCSE.

Yep - we had to abandon two (virtually unworn) pairs of pointe shoes after dd's water bottle leaked in her bag!

You can always make a white one flesh coloured by tea staining it. Just soak overnight in a bucket of very strong tea (use teabags and remove before putting item in). Stays flesh coloured even after washing. I have used this method on many things over the years, works really well and very cheap.

I believe the teachers for ss are drawn from many areas - full-time school, associate teachers and guest teachers. It really depends on who is available and other commitments. For example I know last summer there was a group performing at the paraolympics who were rehearsing at the same time so that obviously tied up some of the reqular staff. DD did this a couple of times quite a few years ago now and had a variety of the full-time staff and guest teachers. Most of the guests have some connection with the school and I know she has often met them again during her time there. They do usually have the reqular pianists though which is a fantastic experience.

Another vote of confidence for the new Klear here as well. DD been using it for a while and not noticed any difference from the old version.