PA secondary schools - academics

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Pandora II
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PA secondary schools - academics

Post by Pandora II »

We're looking at places like SYTS and Arts Ed for DD for secondary.

DD has dyslexia - she's 98th centile for VR and Non-VR but only 7th centile for working memory. Diagnosis is 'mild dyslexia', but she struggles hugely with spelling and reading isn't her favourite thing in the world. She goes to a very high-performing primary school but they've had a lot of issues with their SENCo provision this year which hasn't done her any favours. They're keen to move her onto a laptop next term so she can use spell check etc and concentrate more on content than spelling and writing (has lovely handwriting but has hyper-extendible fingers which make pencil grip tricky), but if entrance exams have to be handwritten then they want to make sure it's balanced.

Her primary school are very supportive of her aiming for vocational schools and want to know more about the academic standards expected in the entrance exams to make sure she gives it her best shot. She's about to go into Y4 so we've got time to pull things up.

If anyone has any experience with the tests that they sit for these particular schools I'd be very grateful for any advice.

Also on the dance side, DD currently only does 2 ballet classes a week (currently Grade 3 ISTD) and a modern class as part of a 3 hr weekend Stagecoach-type MT group. Should she be doing other disciplines or will ballet be enough?

If anyone has a child at Arts Ed, did you find the need to select the Acting or Dance strands so early a problem - just seems like there is a LOT of dance in the Dance one and very little in the Acting one rather than being a balance.
islandofsodor
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Re: PA secondary schools - academics

Post by islandofsodor »

I'm sorry I can't comment on either of those two schools as I have no knowledge of them but my dd went to Hammond on their dance course aged 11.

We decided that if she didn't get in on dance then she would not accept the drama course as thy only do 1 hour of dancer per week on that course. On the dance course they do 1 hour of drama with the option of extra 1:1 Lamda/Trinity lessons, 1 hour of vocal technique class, 45 mins of choir plus the option of extra 1:1 singing lessons.

At Hammond the academic tests were administered after a place had been offered, they were SATS style papers (my dd didn't do SATS at her junior school but found them OK) and were purely to give the school an idea of ability.

She felt she was a little behind in her dance when she went. She had been doing 1 Grade 3 ballet class per week, 1 Grade 3 modern class and 1 Grade 2 tap class (lots hadn't done tap though) She'd also done Stagecoach. Most of her classmates were on about Grade 4/5 ballet by the end of Year 6.
biscuitsneeded
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Re: PA secondary schools - academics

Post by biscuitsneeded »

A friend's DD went to Tring Park from year 5. They spend half of every day doing academic work, and half doing performance subjects. Obviously they are keen to maintain academic standards but I don't think you have to be an academic high-flier to get in. It is a super school if you can afford it!
FredaBloggs
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Re: PA secondary schools - academics

Post by FredaBloggs »

We have been looking at SYTS for DS who has just finished Y5. At an open morning last autumn, they said that the academic tests are to give an indication of ability and whether a child would cope with a full academic workload condensed into 3 days rather than 5. They gave the impression the academic tests were a "need to be above the threshold" thing rather than "need to score as highly as possible", i.e. qualifying rather than competitive.

I know of several children who did no/minimal dance before attending SYTS; my understanding is that if acting/singing were particularly strong they just had to show potential in dance. The very strong dancer we know who attends SYTS considers it necessary to top up school dance with sessions at places like Pineapple (and I gather this is quite common amongst the dance-focused children).
Pandora II
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Re: PA secondary schools - academics

Post by Pandora II »

Thank you all so much - really, really helpful.

I'm looking at all the options out there, but DD is very keen to not board at the moment which will rule out Hammond, Red Roofs and Tring. I boarded as a child and enjoyed it so I'm more than happy to consider it should she change her mind, or if one of those schools seemed the best fit.

That sounds hopeful on the academic front. DH and I were both very academic children and had always assumed that any children we had would be going down the 11+ super-selective route so it's been quite a learning curve realising that even if DD is bright enough, she'd actually be completely miserable being forced into years of tutoring for something she would never feel she excelled at.

Singing is easily her strong suit, acting is hard to judge at 8 when they don't really get the opportunities to do much more than class plays and the crowd scenes in MT. She's good at ballet, moves well but doesn't have that 'love' for dance that I think you need to be aiming for things like White Lodge or Elmhurst - she has that when it comes to singing and the difference is fairly obvious.
theMTAonline
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Re: PA secondary schools - academics

Post by theMTAonline »

Moving onto HE rest assured that your DD won't be penalised at all for being more on a vocational track. It's a myth that you need any sort of qualification to succeed in our industry. Some of our most creative colleagues are dyslexic. I know that we run a special half day workshop with the Dyslexia Society in order for our students to find the right way of studying 'for them' e.g. quick ways to learn lines etc. I hope that that's reassuring (if a little bit in the future)
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Caroline A-C
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Re: PA secondary schools - academics

Post by Caroline A-C »

My DD is dyslexic and went to Tring. When she sat the academic entrance exam I think it was more to gauge where they were academically rather than to accept them based on academic merits as they are streamed in some of their subjects. There are a fair few with dyslexia at the school and the support is very good. DD had to be reassessed prior to sitting her GCSE's which is a legal thing to allow them the extra time for exams. DD came out of Tring with excellent GCSE's which is testimony to the great academic side of the school.
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