Year 7 Ballet Vocational School Auditions for 2024

[Janeparent]

2 hours ago, MissEmily said:

@Thelittleswans Someone would have to have left Elmhurst in order for there to be any spaces for Year 10 so for me, that risk is too great at such a critical stage of education and the number of Year 9 students not getting into Year 10 at WL would be enough to put me off going there in the first place. It is interesting to see more and more very talented dancers turning down their places at WL either to go to Elmhurst/ Tring or to stay at home. That said, there is no doubt that the performance opportunities are superior at WL. Tring ballet students do get to do ENB’s Nutcracker if they’re the right height. Elmhurst only does in-house performances at Christmas and in the Summer, and it’s a real shame there aren’t any professional performance opportunities for them. Only two or three of the tiniest Year 7s get to do BRB’s Nutcracker. The training and nurturing ethos at Elmhurst are excellent, as is communication with parents. They are truly invested in the students they have chosen. 

I realise that each child’s experience will be different, and equally valid, but just to share my own child’s experience of Elmhurst and give a different perspective, we did not find the training, the nurturing ethos or the communication with parents to be excellent at all - this applied particularly to the dance department; the academic staff were, in our experience, generally kinder and better at keeping parents informed about our child’s progress. Our child did well academically but was otherwise very unhappy and left during Year 8. They were selected with a few others from Year 7 to appear in BRB’s Cinderella, but I agree that generally the professional performance opportunities (for lower school students) are very limited.

[AllAboutTheJourney]

I’m think the reference to ‘minimising stress’ was in relation to the management of the y6 audition year, in terms of how many schools to apply for and which ones. It is potentially a long, stressful, busy and very expensive year once you factor in the various rounds of auditions for several different schools. 
 

It is very hard to reply about the various schools without giving personal experiences (which can vary drastically) or anecdotal accounts (quite rightly not allowed). I think to be honest you will likely get a feel for each school during the audition process which will make it clear which ones suit your DC and also you as a family.

[Janeparent]

3 minutes ago, AllAboutTheJourney said:

I’m think the reference to ‘minimising stress’ was in relation to the management of the y6 audition year, in terms of how many schools to apply for and which ones. It is potentially a long, stressful, busy and very expensive year once you factor in the various rounds of auditions for several different schools. 
 

It is very hard to reply about the various schools without giving personal experiences (which can vary drastically) or anecdotal accounts (quite rightly not allowed). I think to be honest you will likely get a feel for each school during the audition process which will make it clear which ones suit your DC and also you as a family.

This latter point is true to an extent, although the schools can give a misleading impression at open days and during the audition process: we chose Elmhurst precisely because it seemed the most kind and caring, but unfortunately the good intentions of both the principal and the artistic director, which I think are genuine, did not carry over into the running of the dance department, in our experience.

[littledancer99]

1 hour ago, Janeparent said:

This latter point is true to an extent, although the schools can give a misleading impression at open days and during the audition process: we chose Elmhurst precisely because it seemed the most kind and caring, but unfortunately the good intentions of both the principal and the artistic director, which I think are genuine, did not carry over into the running of the dance department, in our experience.

What a shame it was like that 

I hope she is somewhere she likes now 

[littledancer99]

I am wondering how often to children get into upper school with staying at home rather than vocational?

 

im not 100% convinced that most the the vocational schools are the right emotional environment for younger ones. I know this will vary for each child and each school. 
 

any success stories of upper school applicants- girls

[margarite]

I know of several girls this year who got into good upper schools (Tring, Elmhurst, Central, Hammond) without going to Lower vocational schools. They did however have weekend associates and other vocational-level classes during the week.

[Neverdancedjustamum]

46 minutes ago, littledancer99 said:

I am wondering how often to children get into upper school with staying at home rather than vocational?

 

im not 100% convinced that most the the vocational schools are the right emotional environment for younger ones. I know this will vary for each child and each school. 
 

any success stories of upper school applicants- girls

A couple of years ago a girl started at RBS upper without being in a lower school vocational. I think there is one starting this year who wasn’t in vocational, spent one year in Europe in a vocational school and will be starting at RBS.  I think there is also a girl who started at Vaganova this year who wasn’t at vocational school. Another I know is also starting at ENBS. Another at NBS Canada. It is possible but would need time and financial commitment. You’d need to have quality, high level ballet training almost at par hours-wise with those offered at lower school vocational schools. 

[littledancer99]

21 minutes ago, Neverdancedjustamum said:

A couple of years ago a girl started at RBS upper without being in a lower school vocational. I think there is one starting this year who wasn’t in vocational, spent one year in Europe in a vocational school and will be starting at RBS.  I think there is also a girl who started at Vaganova this year who wasn’t at vocational school. Another I know is also starting at ENBS. Another at NBS Canada. It is possible but would need time and financial commitment. You’d need to have quality, high level ballet training almost at par hours-wise with those offered at lower school vocational schools. 

Thank you 

what hours wise is expected to be on par? 

[Laura_ballet]

Thank you for your input. Determining whether my child will find happiness in any of the mentioned schools is quite challenging and beyond my control. Even the audition process won't give us a true sense of what daily life at these schools will be like. While intuition might provide a preliminary impression, I personally don't put too much stock in first impressions, as I've been proven wrong in the past.

Like many parents, if I had the means to provide my child with the same level of training at home (3 hours per day, 5 days a week, plus 2-3 hours on Saturdays, totaling 18-20 hours per week), I would. I'm well aware that there are exceptional private teachers in the UK. However, this isn't currently an option for us. My daughter has expressed her desire to attend a vocational school, and I fully support her. I'm simply researching these schools to make an informed decision about their pros and cons when offers are on the table.
 

I think my main concern is the training itself. Are these schools absolutely amazing at teaching ballet? Is the training superb? Because that’s what I expect. However I am interested to find out what other people have noticed.

[Janeparent]

1 hour ago, Thelittleswans said:

Thank you for your input. Determining whether my child will find happiness in any of the mentioned schools is quite challenging and beyond my control. Even the audition process won't give us a true sense of what daily life at these schools will be like. While intuition might provide a preliminary impression, I personally don't put too much stock in first impressions, as I've been proven wrong in the past.

Like many parents, if I had the means to provide my child with the same level of training at home (3 hours per day, 5 days a week, plus 2-3 hours on Saturdays, totaling 18-20 hours per week), I would. I'm well aware that there are exceptional private teachers in the UK. However, this isn't currently an option for us. My daughter has expressed her desire to attend a vocational school, and I fully support her. I'm simply researching these schools to make an informed decision about their pros and cons when offers are on the table.
 

I think my main concern is the training itself. Are these schools absolutely amazing at teaching ballet? Is the training superb? Because that’s what I expect. However I am interested to find out what other people have noticed.

Our experience/impression was that the training at Elmhurst was very far from superb: our child did not make progress in line with their potential before joining the school. Our impression was that the students who made the most progress were those who (against the rules) also had private training outside of the school. I think this is not limited to Elmhurst though and happens at all the vocational schools, as far as I am aware.

[Farawaydancer]

Our experience of Elmhurst is that the teaching was excellent, although some students get on better with certain teachers than other ones, and progress was in line with their peers elsewhere. Upper school offers for DC’s class were again consistent with their peers in other schools. 

[Millicent]

I wouldn't take into account performing opportunities when choosing a vocational school. While it's a lovely experience and of course lots of valuable things can be learned from experiencing peforming with a big professional company, most of the time at that age they are effectively just stage decorations. 

 

Personally, it wouldn't factor into my decision as to what school to choose.

[Millicent]

On a separate point, does anyone know how many girls and boys were taken into RBS and Elmhurst last year ie the Y7s starting now? 

[DancingDevon]

26 minutes ago, Millicent said:

On a separate point, does anyone know how many girls and boys were taken into RBS and Elmhurst last year ie the Y7s starting now? 

My DS is starting in Year 7 at RBS, think there’s 10/11 boys + 10/11 girls

Edited September 7, 2023 by DancingDevon

[Kerfuffle]

On 06/09/2023 at 20:50, littledancer99 said:

Thank you 

what hours wise is expected to be on par? 

I think I know several of the dancers mentioned here, one is possibly my DD. I would say that in our experience the hours don’t have to be quite as much as vocational schools. The most important thing to try and replicate is a daily class even if it is in the evenings - my daughter did about 8-10 hours a week. The tricky thing is to find it at a high enough level. My DD was lucky we had great  local school which was Russian and they really challenged her for the past two years that she was with them ( she was RAD before that). She learned to perform variations confidently and this really developed her artistry. I think that other styles of ballet can also do this as long as the lessons are varied enough. I think having the right physique and facility are very important - there’s no guarantee unfortunately that the 11 year old going into a vocational school will come out right for ballet   at 16, it’s a lot of guesswork. Training  at home until 16 is easier in the sense that you avoid that problem. The downside is that it’s  hard work juggling all this ballet with regular education. So it’s swings and roundabouts! 

[BalletBelle]

On 06/09/2023 at 19:36, littledancer99 said:

I am wondering how often to children get into upper school with staying at home rather than vocational?
 

any success stories of upper school applicants- girls

 

My daughter started at Elmhurst Upper school today.

She has had no vocational training so far. She hasn't auditioned or done any associate programmes either.

She auditioned for 5 upper school places and was offered funded places at 4 of them.

 

Going into the application/audition process, she thought that she would be at a huge disadvantage due to not having been at a vocational lower school. In our experience, it didn't seem to make any difference.

 

[Laura_ballet]

@BalletBelle this is lovely to hear. Can I ask, how much training did your daughter do per week? I’m curious as I would love to offer the option of training at home for my daughter I just worry that there aren’t enough hours to keep at a high enough standard to be in with a good chance of upper school. 

[tutugirl]

Our student  starts  at Central this week . He is ‘ home grown ‘ no prestigious associate schemes. 

He is in Advanced 2 ballet and received multiple offers for full time training .

[BalletBelle]

53 minutes ago, Thelittleswans said:

@BalletBelle this is lovely to hear. Can I ask, how much training did your daughter do per week? I’m curious as I would love to offer the option of training at home for my daughter I just worry that there aren’t enough hours to keep at a high enough standard to be in with a good chance of upper school. 

 

She did 3hrs of ballet a week at her dance studio (she also did modern, tap etc on top of this).

From the middle of May (Y10) she did 1.5hrs a week of private coaching (term-time only) as audition prep. We stopped this at the end of the audition process (March of Y11) as it wasn't something we could afford longer term and it had already served its purpose

[BattementBatty]

12 hours ago, BalletBelle said:

 

My daughter started at Elmhurst Upper school today.

She has had no vocational training so far. She hasn't auditioned or done any associate programmes either.

She auditioned for 5 upper school places and was offered funded places at 4 of them.

 

Going into the application/audition process, she thought that she would be at a huge disadvantage due to not having been at a vocational lower school. In our experience, it didn't seem to make any difference.

 

This is amazing and gives me hope!  DD is year 10 and not at Voc school but hoping to be successful at upper school auditions.

[mumtotwoballerinas]

On 04/09/2023 at 09:19, Peanut68 said:

A shoot out for Hammond - certainly provided a great all round education for academics, all forms of dance & music & drama experience also through whole school musical theatre productions & very slick annual Xmas Carol concert. I know there have been lots of changes to courses/staff & to boarding (big improvements there I imagine!). I felt it had the benefits of ‘normal school’ too as they did trips like normal schools (one to Conway with coast steering eyc) & another to include war graves in France 

I think the more defined courses now can only be a good thing. 
Hammond Shows were all incredibly high standard, great content & by far the best I saw from any vocational school/college. 
In our day I did feel some members of staff & classical requirements were not rated or given the priorities as they should’ve been…. Again, this may have been improved.

But I do think it was a great place for our early school years  with lots of varied performance  experience & exams across genres which may well be beneficial down the line for any move into teaching/UCAS points for uni etc. 

Also, city centre proximity was also good giving a ‘normal’ weekend of going into town shopping/swimming etc with friends…..

And they have MDS & possibly bursary funding too.

Good luck! 

Unfortunately lots of changes at the Hammond not for the better. This includes a change back to the old boarding house. Standards in ballet have deteriorated in the past 18 months leading to us moving our DD. Incidentally 1 of the boys who got into ENB was a day pupil recieving training elsewhere 

[Peanut68]

Oh I’m sorry to hear this & am not really up to date on staff etc there….

In my experience day pupils at almost all vocational schools seem to take additional outside classes/coaching & can put themselves at an advantage (though risk burn out IMO too).

When you say returned to old boarding houses, surely not to Hampton Lodge? Last time I happened to be near Chester I did a nostalgia drive-by & was saddened (though not surprised) to see it empty & up for sale. But what was so sad was how decrepit it was…. Empty buildings deteriorate so quickly. But -tbh - it was not really fit for purpose in this day & age…. The most recent extensions were the proverbial ‘icing on dog mess’ providing more beds to share pretty dire dining & relax facilities etc. 

It needed vacating, pulling down all the modern bits & doing a sympathetic to its original period architecture & features - a restoration to preserve the history of the school too with its dance studio! To then be perhaps a study centre for the school or upper school accommodation in a few created flats…. But of course that would require money a school could not justify… 

Clovelly was legions better but still pretty dire…. But both had their highs & lows of memories & will provide former boarders with great stories to tell their grandkids!! 
 

[AllAboutTheJourney]

Thought I'd revive this thread now that auditions are underway - I hope everyone who has been to an audition so far has had a positive experience and a fun day out.

 

In terms of RBS, it would be interesting to know if RBS said anything about results from the first round - will they come out after each centre as they did in the last few years or will it be after all the first round auditions are complete? 

 

 

[RachH]

Good luck everyone!

Can’t believe it was a year ago that we were going through this process.

[BalletMummy123]

Best of luck to everyone! 🍀 This will be us next year 😬

Any insight as to what happens in the auditions would be appreciated - particularly WL, Elmhurst, Tring & Hammond xx

[AllAboutTheJourney]

21 hours ago, BalletMummy123 said:

Best of luck to everyone! 🍀 This will be us next year 😬

Any insight as to what happens in the auditions would be appreciated - particularly WL, Elmhurst, Tring & Hammond xx

The time goes by very fast! We did this 2 years ago and in some ways it feels like yesterday…

 

My DC is only trying for WL but I can let you know what that audition is like in a few weeks’ time - I imagine it will be exactly the same as the last few years! 

[BalletMummy123]

20 hours ago, AllAboutTheJourney said:

The time goes by very fast! We did this 2 years ago and in some ways it feels like yesterday…

 

My DC is only trying for WL but I can let you know what that audition is like in a few weeks’ time - I imagine it will be exactly the same as the last few years! 

Thank you and best of luck to your DD! Xx

[Laura_ballet]

Will let you know how RB goes, my daughter is auditioning in London on 26th November. Can’t quite believe the time is nearly here. We are also doing Elmhurst. 

[mumtotwoballerinas]

On 04/09/2023 at 18:37, Thelittleswans said:

Thank you everyone really interesting especially regarding Hammond. It’s a school that I have completely forgotten about and doesn’t seem to get a mention when it comes to classical training. Definitely worth exploring then. Thanks 

I certainly recommend moorland my DD is in year 9 having moved from Hammond and the difference in her is amazing she is so happy. Academics, vocational training and boarding all great 

[AllAboutTheJourney]

Having a bit of a second-guessing moment and wondering if we should be applying to Tring too. Can anyone who has experience of Tring let me know if the year 7/8/9 have classes at the weekends at all? And also what is organised in terms of outings etc. Do many kids stay at the weekends or do they mainly go home? 
 

My perception is that most go home (and do associates or other training at the weekend) but that may be an incorrect assumption based off the few students we know who go there. 

[BisforBallet]

6 hours ago, AllAboutTheJourney said:

Can anyone who has experience of Tring let me know if the year 7/8/9 have classes at the weekends at all? And also what is organised in terms of outings etc. Do many kids stay at the weekends or do they mainly go home? 

When my DD was there year 7 had no dance at the weekend. I believe that is same for year 8 too. It might be different now. 
 

There were a few outings and activities. In my opinion there just wasn’t enough to keep them busy. When they get older they have more freedom to go out together in Tring etc 
 

Those closer to the school did go home far more often. There were weekends where there were only a few in the dorm. 

 

 

 

 

[AllAboutTheJourney]

Thanks very much @BisforBallet - that's really helpful. That's exactly my concern that I don't feel like there will be enough to keep a full time boarder busy at weekends and we live too far away for DC to come home at anything other than exeats. If there are no classes even on a Saturday morning then 2 full days is a long time to kick about the dorms with only a few others while the majority head off home. 

 

My inclination had been to keep Tring as a potential option for further down the line (but not for y7 entry) and that's pretty much confirmed it. Thanks - much appreciated. 

[tutugirl]

I highly recommend both Moorlands and Tring.