Full time training 11-16... Italia Conti, Sylvia Young

A place to talk about full time schools and post 16 training.

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MaddyMoo17
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Full time training 11-16... Italia Conti, Sylvia Young

Post by MaddyMoo17 »

Good Afternoon fellow stagey mums!!

So my DD is in year 5 about to move up to year 6 at her local primary school, the other year a girl in her local theatre school gained a place at Italia Conti on a full scholarship. Of course she was the talk of the dance school and everyone was immensely proud of her.

Since then it is all my DD has talked about, she would like to try out. My husband was dead against it but DD convinced him to have a look at the school and with her best "please daddy eyes" has convinced him that if it is what she wants then she can give it a try. We went to see their end of year show last week and was blown away!! It was incredible...as soon as the lights came up she said "I'm giving it a try mummy" however this week at her school with all the hype on the year 6's leaving to go up to our local secondary school she has said she isn't sure now and may want to go there with her friends.

We have decided to let fate decide as it's not actually for her to decide as she needs to audition and may not even get in! She said she will go for it and if she gets offered a place then will decide.

My reason for my long post (apologies!!) is I would really appreciate advice from any parents who's child went to normal secondary school and regretted not trying for stage school, or went to stage school and decided to leave and go to normal secondary school. I feel very torn as part of me would like her to go to normal school with a variety of children with different interests and be able to walk to and from school and have the school life we all did with her friends. She can continue her part time training then at 16 she can audition for wherever she chooses if by then she still wants to choose this career path. Then the other part of me thinks if she has to opportunity to go to a school where she can strive to fulfil her dreams and have more opportunity for stage, film and TV then surely it's worth a try and get over my anxiety about her traveling to school by train!!!!

Advice and experiences please xx
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Dogcop
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Re: Full time training 11-16... Italia Conti, Sylvia Young

Post by Dogcop »

Hi MaddyMoo17, sorry my experience is not the ones that you wanted to hear from but DS went to SY years 7-11 and had the best time ever. He has always wanted to perform and is now at Bird College for another two years and can't wait to get back onto the stage as an adult performer. I have never regretted our decision to send him to SY. He travelled from Kent every day for five years and was fine on the train.

Our third child is aged 8 and like her brother loves to perform. I would hesitate to send her to a full time performing arts school purely because she is also great at sport and loves the academic side. I feel that she would miss out on these things by going to SY.
It really does depend on the child, but is a hard decision to make.
MaddyMoo17
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Re: Full time training 11-16... Italia Conti, Sylvia Young

Post by MaddyMoo17 »

Thank You for your response... it's such a hard choice but I suppose I am prematurely writing this anyway as she may not get in. I have said no to SY as it's too far whereas Conti isn't too much of a journey for her, plus we have lots of friends who work in the city so would feel comforted by this. She is academic but from what I saw on the tour the children do very well in that area and the class sizes are so small. She isn't sporty she is obsessed with her arts... I just worry if she will miss out on the normality of going to a local school and in the school holidays who she will play with. I am also a major over thinking and a worrier!! The mum of the girl that went the other year has no regrets and from what we saw in their show last week I was blown away by the standard!!
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Re: Full time training 11-16... Italia Conti, Sylvia Young

Post by loueeze »

What are the options at Year 7? For performing arts schools etc....

Interesting topic :)
MaddyMoo17
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Re: Full time training 11-16... Italia Conti, Sylvia Young

Post by MaddyMoo17 »

There are full time performing arts schools such as Sylvia Young, Italia Conti, Redroofs, Barbara Speake (which are all in London I believe) then there is Tring in Hertfordshire. They are all private schools with private school fees (though there is the option to audition for a scholarship). They combine performing arts alongside academic studies.

My DD wants to audition for Conti then if she gets offered a space we'll decide. I just keep going backwards and forwards as to what might be best for her! I don't know anyone that has gone to stage school then regretted it but I do know someone that regretted not looking further in to it for her DS.
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Re: Full time training 11-16... Italia Conti, Sylvia Young

Post by jpsreb »

if you live near enough i would go for it then decide! very jealous, we are up north and nothing like, dd wants to go somewhere similar! Apart from Hammond does anyone know of any others further up the country and not in london? thanks
amo185
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Re: Full time training 11-16... Italia Conti, Sylvia Young

Post by amo185 »

I think it depends on your financial situation and the quality of both your secondary school academic provision and local performing arts provision. My dd would have loved to have trained vocationally from 11 but even with part scholarships it was not financially viable. However, I now feel that we have the best of both worlds - an excellent secondary school together with two very good dance schools plus a place in a high performing London MT troupe. The downside is trying to juggle everything and constant travelling plus not really having like minded youngsters at school. My dd has attended Easter and Summer schools alongside girls training vocationally and she does not look or sound out of place when singing or dancing with them. But I do worry that she will not be able to compete when 16 against those who have had such extensive training for 5 years. Can't comment on Itali Conti but SY and Tring are very good and Tring has an excellent academic record too. Nothing to lose by auditioning! Good luck.
MaddyMoo17
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Re: Full time training 11-16... Italia Conti, Sylvia Young

Post by MaddyMoo17 »

Wow amo185 it sounds like your DD is similar to mine as she attends a theatre school on a Sunday then goes to another dance school during the week and is with one of their competition street teams! We were advised about 'Spirit or West End kids' but she also has private singing and dance lessons on a Saturday so we physically can't fit anything else in LOL. If she did go to our local secondary school she would continue her training and she does strive to do well. I do keep hearing lots of concerning things about the behaviour issues the local secondary school is having but she is a good girl so I'm confident academically she will do well there.
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Shabby
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Re: Full time training 11-16... Italia Conti, Sylvia Young

Post by Shabby »

My dd is at full time PA school, she was really sporty, very academic, offered 2 scholarships elsewhere plus place in a grammar school but turned them down and loves it 100%.
My ds had the same opportunity but didn't take it and regrets it a little now.
Pm me if you've any questions. A hard decision!
loueeze
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Re: Full time training 11-16... Italia Conti, Sylvia Young

Post by loueeze »

She'd love to go to Tring as her hero went there (Daisy Ridley) but it's just so expensive and I don't think they do scholarships for year 7's only in 6th form? I could be wrong.

We have some good schools where we are and aren't too far from London. A little bit off yet though - she's going into year 5 in September.
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Re: Full time training 11-16... Italia Conti, Sylvia Young

Post by islandofsodor »

loueeze wrote:She'd love to go to Tring as her hero went there (Daisy Ridley) but it's just so expensive and I don't think they do scholarships for year 7's only in 6th form? I could be wrong.

We have some good schools where we are and aren't too far from London. A little bit off yet though - she's going into year 5 in September.
Tring do have scholarships n in Year 7 from what I gather but they are very imited.

Dancers can audition for a government funded MDS place but these are given usually to those excelling in classical ballet. They don't have many of these places. In addition I believe that there is a scholarship for those on the Theatre Arts course but when we looked into it still wasn't financially viable for us as it was only 10% and we were offered 50% elsewhere. The bumf does say the school may award an additional bursary depending on family income.
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Re: Full time training 11-16... Italia Conti, Sylvia Young

Post by islandofsodor »

My daughter went to vocational school aged 11. We had originally decided against. She was attending an independent junior school and was offered a place in their senior school. She went to a taster day and summer school at the vocational school but decided that she would continue at her academic school and maybe try aged 16.

However very last minute she changed her mind. We found out from another forum that a couple of vocational schools still had places that particular year & dd auditioned. She had started to become unhappy at her junior school and we were concerned that the amount of training locally wasn;t enough to allow her to compete at 16 and we were worried how she would fit that it with her academic schooling (our local state school was and still is appalling as in the Academy Trust has been deemed not fit to open any more schools) and with the bursary she was offered it actually worked out cheaper for us as a family to send her to vocational school rather than the independent academic school and pay for dance classes. We had reservations, dd is very academic, but decided we didn't want her to say several years down the line "you didn't let me try".

Many, many times we have questioned the decision. Its been tough. In year 8 maths and science teaching was a bit below par but things improved. However we saw the children in dd's year at the academic school really being pushed academically and considered sending her back there. However 4 years down the line we have no regrets (dd is about to enter year 11) our son has had a terrible time at the academic school and we have just removed him. Dd on the other hand is really happy, achieveing academically (Ok so she will probably get Grade 6/7's instead of Grade 7/8's in the new style GCSE's) but she's happy & not burnt out and that's the main thing.

There have been children for whom it hasn't worked out and they have left either for different vocational schools, back to academic school or to be home educated. Nothing is set in stone. The school you send your child to aged 11 does not have to be the school they stay at if it isn't right for them.
MaddyMoo17
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Re: Full time training 11-16... Italia Conti, Sylvia Young

Post by MaddyMoo17 »

Arrrrr thank you!! That does help a lot actually as like you say if she decided against it or didn't get in and decides at a later date to try again she can or on the reverse if she goes to Conti and doesn't feel happy there isn't a reason why she couldn't come back to our local secondary. It's funny as I speak to mum's daily who are viewing grammar schools and putting their children in for the 11+. These are a train ride away for us in our area also but I'm sure their not losing sleep over the decision :oops:
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Re: Full time training 11-16... Italia Conti, Sylvia Young

Post by GillyM »

I have two sons who both entered grammar schools at year 7 - our younger one is very happily still there and our older one moved to vocational school in Year 9 - best thing we ever did for him. He did really well in his GCSEs and more importantly is happy. It isn't for everyone but we have no regrets at all.
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Re: Full time training 11-16... Italia Conti, Sylvia Young

Post by jennifer1972 »

I would say, if she is 100% sure then go for it, any doubts then leave it. They change soooooo much in their teenage years that what might have seemed a great idea aged 11 might seem like a wrong one aged 15. I personally don´t think there is any advantage, come age 18, having trained full time up till then or not. My DD is about to embark on a MT degree course, some people she knows who have trained from age 11 full time haven´t been offered a place and have no plan B, MT is all they know but for whatever reason they haven´t been offered places. There are endless opportunities for those who haven´t gone into full time training, NYT, NYMT, YMT, to name but a few. Good luck with your decision!!
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