RAD summer school 2024

[keivi]

My daughter is considering the RAD Senior Summer School as we will travel to the UK in the beginning of August. She is 15 years old and I would love to know if anyone has experience of this course. Her interest is mainly ballet. It seems rather expensive, especially since it's not residential, but we could not find many options around the first week of August that have still open applications. Any comments or advice would be very helpful!

[Jan McNulty]

Hello @keivi and welcome to the Forum!

[Ruby Foo]

12 hours ago, keivi said:

My daughter is considering the RAD Senior Summer School as we will travel to the UK in the beginning of August. She is 15 years old and I would love to know if anyone has experience of this course. Her interest is mainly ballet. It seems rather expensive, especially since it's not residential, but we could not find many options around the first week of August that have still open applications. Any comments or advice would be very helpful!

How advanced is your daughter and what is she looking to get out of it?

 

My daughter did this twice. First time she was 12 and not at vocational school. She loved it a found it very useful. It was well organised with excellent teachers and there was a mix of students, some going to vocational and then many from overseas who had not had so much training.

The second time she was at vocational and did it because she had an injury and knew it would be good but very basic classes that wouldn’t aggravate her injury. Again, it was well organised and friendly. Mainly the other students were beginner intermediate level and the classes were excellent, but basic. 

 

Based on our experience only, if your daughter is looking for a lovely, friendly summer school with very good teachers, then I’m sure she’ll enjoy it. The studios are lovely! However, If your daughter is advanced standard and looking for super advanced professional classes that push her then this is probably not the summer school for her. 

 

[glowlight]

Have a look at this post from forum member @tutugirl. It's not associated with a vocational school, but has received very good reviews from forum members in previous years. It's not in London, so may not work for you, but West Yorkshire is a truly beautiful part of the country, which many visitors don't know about.

 

[keivi]

On 30/03/2024 at 09:19, Ruby Foo said:

How advanced is your daughter and what is she looking to get out of it?

 

My daughter did this twice. First time she was 12 and not at vocational school. She loved it a found it very useful. It was well organised with excellent teachers and there was a mix of students, some going to vocational and then many from overseas who had not had so much training.

The second time she was at vocational and did it because she had an injury and knew it would be good but very basic classes that wouldn’t aggravate her injury. Again, it was well organised and friendly. Mainly the other students were beginner intermediate level and the classes were excellent, but basic. 

 

Based on our experience only, if your daughter is looking for a lovely, friendly summer school with very good teachers, then I’m sure she’ll enjoy it. The studios are lovely! However, If your daughter is advanced standard and looking for super advanced professional classes that push her then this is probably not the summer school for her. 

 

Thank you for the very useful information! She is not at vocational school, and her end of year exam will be equivalent to Intermediate. She would ideally like to do a course she will enjoy but also help her improve, so we'll think about it!

[Ruby Foo]

22 hours ago, keivi said:

Thank you for the very useful information! She is not at vocational school, and her end of year exam will be equivalent to Intermediate. She would ideally like to do a course she will enjoy but also help her improve, so we'll think about it!

I think the reason the 2nd experience ( senior) seemed a little basic was due to a very large percentage of overseas students ( all from same school) seemingly having just started intermediate level. Therefore the classes seemed tamed down to accommodate.

I can’t imagine it would the same situation every year.

There are also good contemporary classes and a West End show ( optional)

 

[keivi]

On 30/03/2024 at 16:01, glowlight said:

Have a look at this post from forum member @tutugirl. It's not associated with a vocational school, but has received very good reviews from forum members in previous years. It's not in London, so may not work for you, but West Yorkshire is a truly beautiful part of the country, which many visitors don't know about.

Thank you, it looks very interesting and the dates would work however it would unfortunately be difficult to make it location wise...

[Dance*is*life]

I had a student attend the RAD course last year and she enjoyed it, but didn't find it particularly challenging.  She was actually 14 and had only taken Grade 7 (this year she's taking Inter.)but she was placed in the Intermediate group.  There was no pointework.  Central school of Ballet is cheaper, but their intensives are only until 27th July for one week or 3rd August for two weeks. They also have new studios.