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RAD Grades 6, 7 and 8


aileen

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I am trying to decide whether my dd should follow the old or new RAD Grade 5 syllabus. I don't think that she would have any difficulty taking the old Grade 5 before Christmas but I wondered (a) when Grade 6 was changing and (B) whether moving from old Grade 6 (assuming that she could take it before the syllabus changes) to new Grade 7 would be an enormous jump. In addition, is there some rule about not skipping the higher grades (I'm talking about graded exams here)?

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As far as I know there are no plans to change the upper grades yet. We teachers will have enough to do in 2015 when the new 4 and 5 grades start to be examined and the current ones cease to be.

And there is no rule about skipping grades. Ive had a student miss grade 6 for example due to Duke of Edinburgh awards who will do grade 7 this term. Another student went off to another school after getting a distinction at grade 5 and missed out 6 and 7 entirely and did grade 8 instead!

 

So definately no rule as such although I personally feel students should do 6,7and 8. If nothing else it amasses lots of ucas points...

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Hi Aileen

 

I don't think I will be able to answer all your questions but I can help with some of them.

 

I guess it depends on whether your dd's teacher thinks she will be ready to take the old grade 5 before Christmas, if not then obviously it would be best to follow the new syllabus since the old one won't be available after Christmas as far as I am aware. This would also depend on how many hours of teaching she is having on grade work too. Having just taken the old Grade 5 I think the old syallabus could be learnt in time.

 

I'm not sure about when grade 6 and 7 are being changed I thought that they were newer than the current grade 4 and 5 anyway. You don't have to follow the higher grades in order. But I think that grade 6 and 7 are quite a step up from grade 5 and that they definitely take longer to get to being exam ready, the exercises are a lot longer and I think need a bit more maturity to perform well. I think there is guidance on the RAD website that says how many hours of teaching they expect for each grade, that may help. Does anyone know where this is?

 

Ooops didn't see that hfbrew had replied before I posted, must have been too busy typing!

Edited by VBee
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I'd also suggest taking the old grade 5 if she is ready for it by Christmas, but no point in rushing if she is not.  I've not heard anything either about a syllabus change for grades 6-8 and certainly the RAD gave notice well in advance when new syllabi were going to be introduced and even when they are there is the overlap time period.  At DD's school all children in grade 6 are also doing some of the new grade 5 syllabus work as their teacher feels it so different to the old grade 5 it can only be of benefit to them to at least be familiar with it, even if they never take the exam.  In fact in their freework class they have done bits of grade 3 also. 

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Taxi4ballet, she stopped her IF class for reasons which I don't want to go into (nothing sinister).

 

Thanks, everyone, for your replies. I was under the mistaken impression that the syllabi for the higher grades had changed or were to change shortly. It's obviously the teacher's decision which Grade 5 syllabus my dd follows but I think that my dd would prefer to do the old syllabus as she is likely (based on my experience of the school) to spend a very long time in the new syllabus class before she takes the exam.

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It's obviously the teacher's decision which Grade 5 syllabus my dd follows but I think that my dd would prefer to do the old syllabus as she is likely (based on my experience of the school) to spend a very long time in the new syllabus class before she takes the exam.

What does your dd think? (I can't remember how old she is). Do you feel that she might get a bit frustrated if she was stuck in the same grade for a long time? 

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Yes, I do, but I wonder whether doing the new Grade 5 syllabus might be better for her overall. It seems strange that some students will be doing the new, apparently much harder Grade 5 syllabus and then going back to the less challenging Grade 6 syllabus, or am I wrong about this?

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Would it be possible for her to learn the new Grade 5 syllabus alongside Grade 6 next year, having taken her Grade 5 exam this year? That way she will still have the benefit of learning the new Grade 5 work but won't be stuck at and frustrated with Grade 5 level. Or perhaps if the teacher would rather that she did the new Grade 5 exam, could she learn the new Grade 5 work this year and then take the exam early next year?

 

I don't know the grade work at Grade 5 and above but have the impression ( and I may be wrong) that Grades 6-8 have a very different 'feel' and require a certain level of emotional maturity. I have also heard that they are lovely 'dancey' grades.

 

Would your DD be able to/want to restart intermediate foundation classes alongside the grades? Or possibly intermediate classes, as IF is an optional exam? That way she would avoid any frustration if it was decided that she would take the new Grade 5 exam next year.

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In the BBO syllabus there is quite a jump I think once past Grade 5 and the Intermediate requires a great deal of strength compared to say Grade 5 and because all the exercises are quite a bit longer it does take a bit more maturity I think. I'm sure this is similar to RAD.

 

I do get to do bits of the RAD grade 4/ 5/6/7 syllabus in my Saturday class (depending on who,is in class etc) even though its a free class. I believe the new syllabus is more "dancey" so will look forward to eventually learning bits of the new one in whatever grades

 

I agree with the idea of her taking the old grade 5 but learning the new syllabus alongside so if higher grades are changed will make more sense.

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I think there is quite a jump between grade 5 and grade 6 so I don't think your DD would be going to a less challenging syllabus if she did the new grade 5.  Both my DDs did grades 4 & 5 (old syllabus) in a short period of time but with both of them the teacher has said to expect to be in grade 6 for quite a while.  She always refers to grades 1-5 as grades for technique and grades 6-8 as performance grades because they have a lot more of a 'feel' aspect to them that needs some maturity to express.  My DD is in grade 6 but as I said before is learning parts of the new grade 5 syllabus too.

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  • 1 month later...

An update from me: the teacher decided that my dd should attend both Grade 5 classes and my dd has gone along with that, albeit rather reluctantly. I still hope that my dd will be able to take her Grade 5 exam (old syllabus) before Christmas but this will be dependent on enough students being ready to take the exam with her.

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