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along for the ride mum

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Everything posted by along for the ride mum

  1. And let’s not forget that it isn’t only the artistic staff who need to be implementing policies and regulating their own professional behaviour. The pastoral/ boarding staff must also be held to account. No amount of talking about your stringent safeguarding policies actually means they are being effectively implemented!! in the interest of balance and fairness, in our experience there were some excellent academic staff who cared deeply and went above and beyond. Sadly, that went only so far towards mitigating the serious failings elsewhere the damage was too deep and too wide
  2. That’s a very reasonable question. My reluctance to put everything on the table is two-fold. Firstly I don’t want to de-rail this thread which is about the panorama report and the subject matter within it. The second is that I am very mindful to remain within the bounds of the AUP and not to create a problem which would get the moderators in hot water. I am hopeful that with the current momentum, the investigations into issues at these schools will be widened and an appropriate outlet for fur th et discussion can then be in the public domain
  3. And the most worrying part of all of this is that this is one part of the issues. There are other issues yet to be mentioned. Whilst I am not in any way belittling the problem these brave young people are speaking about and which I know to be true - I have huge admiration for them being brave enough to speak out - there are other issues of a serious nature which I hope can also now be addressed. this programme has only just scratched the very tip of the tip of the iceberg, sadly
  4. I cannot speak of rbs but I most certainly have complained on several occasions, in writing to a vocational school which speak loudly about their ‘robust safeguarding procedures’. What happens to those complaints internally, once they have been received I cannot comment on
  5. teachers ( by which I mean ballet teachers, football coaches, swim teachers, academic teachers, college lecturers etc etc etc ) have a LEGAL and MORAL obligation to protect and promote the welfare of their pupils/ students and to act in an appropriate professional manner! A term which I believe might come from the medical sector comes to mind - first do no harm!! If a teacher at an academic state school were thought to have used inappropriate language to bully or shame a child or publicly humiliate them, would anyone start to excuse or explain that behaviour by criticising the parents?!! Of course not! It is the professional adult’s responsibility to regulate their behaviour and to act in a lawful, moral and responsible manner full stop. No excuses! I like the saying quoted earlier ( I think it was from taxi 4 ballet?) - the only acceptable level of abuse is zero - regardless of what anyone may think of the parenting! Please can we all be cautious that we do not heap parental guilt on top of an already terrible situation! (I have chosen my words very carefully here and self edited several times)
  6. I have read one or two posts on this thread which I do not personally agree with. I have read some I agree with wholeheartedly, I have read one or two which have me wanting to scream and cry and yell. However, I do not react to those because to do so would do no good and would likely either distract from the very important issues at hand, get this thread locked or both. so, with that in mind can I respectfully ask that this very very vital thread remain focused on the issue, remain polite and respectful and remain open! the issue it hand is not wether or not dancers need to be a certain size or weight, or wether or not they have the physical, mental or emotional attributes to ‘make it’ in the dance world - the issue at hand is the way in which the requirements are communicated to CHILDREN in an educational environment by teachers who have a legal and moral duty of care! bullying is never acceptable, bullying tactics are particularly abhorrent when aimed at a child by an adult in a position of power. I don’t understand how anyone can argue differently. It is never a child’s fault, it is not about the child not having the necessary resilience! there is so much more I could say, want to say, and may find a way to say at some point but please please can we keep this thread on track and open.
  7. Absolutely, I really hope so too! There are so many other issues which also cause trauma and those affected ( parents and dancers ) also deserve a voice along with the brave young people on this programme
  8. A very senior teacher and said in a public area at a time when parents and other visitors were present. (She did go on to complete upper school). This is not hearsay, I was present, it was said to me
  9. ‘A little thick of ankle’ that was a comment that was made about and in front of my size 6 yr11 “upper school wasn’t going to work for her because she’s a little thick of ankle”
  10. 100% a nice memory foam mattress topper! also, we found a few of those large zip-up laundry bags really useful ( I don’t know what they’re really called but the type of the you see for sale on a market, huge rectangular plastic bags with colourful designs) - great for packing everything into when you have to transfer all belongings to and fro each term. We had a separate ‘school’ duvet and pillows. Actually if I’m honest we ended up with several- somehow the duvet always seemed to be the one thing that got left at home each holiday 🤣
  11. Hello PIepie just a thought, if you are on Facebook you could try having a look for an “expats in Cannes” group to join, there are a couple. Obviously they are unlikely to be able to offer specific advice about the school/ course but may be a good place to start for more general advice about renting etc. Also, if you are looking to rent an apartment or room/ flatshare, you could try joining “le Bon coin” it’s kind of a French version of eBay and there are quite a few property listings. It is in French but you can use a translate app/ website to navigate your way through and it’s possible to narrow your search to a particular area and “ apartment” . Hope that helps https://www.leboncoin.fr/ edited to add that my friend who lives in France tells me it’s fairly common there to find accommodation on le Bon coin
  12. Thank you Jan, I’ve watched it three times 😊 which was a lovely little self indulgent lockdown activity. The ticket was valid for 3 days from the first log in, so I made the most of it. It isn’t quite the same as Royal Albert Hall, where I should have seen the production, but given lockdown was very pleasant and well worth the money. Also, personally I’m happy to spend a little to support the companies at this time . There’s still time to catch it this weekend and the students were a joy to watch
  13. Hello Lisa, nice to hear from you, we haven’t heard fro:you for a while. Not clever enough to share a link I’m afraid but I saw an ad for just what you need on social media today ... a ‘spider repellent spray’ 99p a bottle . Not actually sure if it was a real ad or just a spoof to be honest, I wasn’t paying attention but it sounds like it’s just what you need 😀
  14. Royal conservatoire of Scotland definitely take students under the age of 18 for degree course ( ballet at least) as I believe it is usual for students to apply during year 11 ( last year of GCSE for entry the following September). This is not an issue and the student loan is available to them. I’m not sure about the other schools you’ve mentioned but the same is also true for central and I believe the RBS course is now a degree course for upper school, so clearly it is possible but may be down to the individual establishment.
  15. Indeed he was, and in a rather sloppy irony, the picture the BBC chose to use as a background for the piece was that of a girl en pointe. (rolls eyes)
  16. Balletboyz are currently advertising an administrative post on the Facebook page
  17. Thanks Sheila, that’s so kind. I actually decided to have a bit of a trial this afternoon. Can’t practice on the actual fabric as this is a pre loved dress but I found the closest possible match as far as I can tell and had a go, the tulle took the colour beautifully, just what we wanted but the chiffon, ( it turns out I may not know my chiffon from my organza 😂) much less so, the longer it was in there the less blue it got, it started off a lovely but pale blue but fairly quickly became much more of a lilac, a really lovely colour, reminded me of bluebells but not what was intended, I think I’m going to wimp out on this one and suggest we take a different tack, maybe with a good clean and a nice wide ribbon around the waist instead. 😀
  18. Has anyone got any experience using the Rit dye on tulle or organza? ( I’m guessing maybe @Sheila Beelam might be able to help 😀). In particular the royal blue. I am looking to Create a vivid Royal blue ( think JA s blue ) For a friends small bridesmaid dress. I read online that Rit was a good dye to use on this type of fabric but having ordered it, the colour looks on the box much more like what I’d call an airforce blue ( kind of greyish) than a true royal blue. Does anyone have any experience with this dye before I mess up? 😂😊
  19. What a lovely positive post, we will obviously miss your level headed contributions and experience. But it’s so refreshing to read such a positive and encouraging post about the possibilities out there when CHOOSING to change focus and making the most of the great education and fabulous transferable skills. Thank you for sharing your experience, huge congratulations to your son, sounds like he will go on to great things
  20. Can I have the rad one please ( would happily have had both, sorry to have missed the pbt one ) 😀
  21. Exactly the same happened to us a few years ago, dd has been at elm for a few years now and most of our post (invoices, reports etc ) arrive two days after everyone else’s. I don’t for one moment believe they are posted any differently, we are just subject to the vaguearies of the British postal system. It might be understandable if we lived in the back of beyond but we really don’t! I often find myself having to explain that our post takes longer than anyone else iknow.
  22. Happy new year to all the mods and grateful thanks for all the hard work
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