Secondary School choices

[islandofsodor]

Dh & dd attended an open day for the senior school attached to her junior school.

They ran out of time to see everything due to dd's dance lesson and though they spent lots of time doing fun activities in the science department & dd said dh doesn't ages talking to the music teachers (he is a music teacher) they didn't get to visit the drama dept.

We have just had a letter offering dd a place. She liked the feel of the school and has been told they do a lot if extra curricular drama and music provision is good (I have been quite disappointed with the standard of music & drama in her junior school to be honest).

However as I was leading through the prospectus today I notice that they do not offer theatre studies at either gcse or a level (I knew they didn't offer dance but wasn't too concerned as she dances so much outside school).

Laying aside the fact that gcse's won't exist by then - Would your child consider a school that did not offer these subjects as options? Do you think makes it harder for them to apply for higher ed drama courses if they have only done lamda/youth theatre and not studied practitioners/theories and all the other stuff.

We though dd had made her decision - now we are not sure.

[ruby95]

I was in almost that exact predicament. The school which was perfect in almost every other way didn't seem that big on drama. They professed to offer lot of extra-curricular drama but they didn't run it at GCSE.

In the end I did decide to go to that school because it was so perfect in other ways, but not before confirming that I could take drama GCSE out-of-school at my local performing arts club (maybe this is something you could look into?). At the end of the day, there will almost always be acting and singing opportunities out of school if you look hard enough, but if the school itself isn't right for the child there are less options for remedying the situation.

As it turned out the school genuinely were really committed to extra-curricular drama, perhaps more so than many schools that offered it for GCSE. They put on two straight-plays and two musicals each year, they had a big stage with state-of-art sound and light equipment and costumes, a full-time stage-management crew, and would employ professional theatre directors to direct the shows. I actually think the fact that they didn't run drama at GCSE meant the drama department had more money to spend on their productions. They were literally a state-school with the facilities of a private school. It was amazing.

And then when I was in year 9 the school did start running drama GCSE, and even let me take it early.

So yes, if you think the school is perfect in others ways then I would be inclined to advise that you send her there, providing she can continue singing and acting out of school. You never know, maybe the extra-curricular opportunities will be sufficient.

P.S. Maybe this is just me, but when I got to about grade 5 in LAMDA we started learning about the practitioners quite thoroughly. Learnt a lot more about them through LAMDA than through GCSE!

[Fruitcake]

If this is the best choice of school for her in every other way, then I would go for it. Things can change a lot over the next 4 years, and the school could easily change the subjects they offer.

If the worst comes to the worst and they don't offer that subject, then it won't be the end of the world. DS is at College studying music but could have got in without having Music GCSE, so don't worry too much about the future if she doesn't have that particular piece of paper. It might be worth approaching the local colleges to see if it is a definite requirement, but, even if it is, I'm sure there would be a way around it.

Good luck with your choice. It's a very stressful time for parents and DC, so I don't envy you.

[islandofsodor]

Dh says she could always move at 14 if we felt that was right. He teaches at a vocational school do that was the other option we were considering but he feels she will get a better range of academic subjects at the senior school. She's not good enough to get onto the course shed really like to at the vocational school.

Nicolas dd goes to the same school and has as far as I gather been happy there. Are you around Nicola?

[islandofsodor]

I'm wondering to phone and ask to visit/speak with someone as I couldn't go to the open day. Or should I just leave it as dd went with dh?

[Nicola]

IOS - if it's K's school, they do GCSE drama as an extra-curricular activity - K's doing it at the moment

The drama provision isn't great, to be honest - there used to be 3 plays per year (years 7/8, 9/10 and 11-13) plus a "whole school play" but since the lovely Mr Cash left, things have changed somewhat. This year, there's a play for years 7 and 8, a play for years 11-13 and a whole school play (where the majority of roles obviously go to the 5th and 6th form) but nothing for years 9 and 10. The justification for this is that anyone in years 9 and 10 interested in drama will already be doing the GCSE drama course and needs to concentrate on that!

They also have a policy of democracy and inclusiveness, meaning that if you have a main role in one play, you can't be considered for another main role for a suitable amount of time, regardless of the merits, so the main roles get shared around with some interesting results!

[francescasmum]

This inclusive thing in silly - they wouldn't take the same approach for a football match I bet!

[Nicola]

This inclusive thing in silly - they wouldn't take the same approach for a football match I bet!

I completely agree!

[islandofsodor]

Oh boy they wouldn't do the same for sports matches. Sport is very important!!!!!!!

That's interesting Nicola dd thought there were more productions. She's hapy with main roles, minor roles or just a walk on she just wants to learn & perform.

[Nicola]

the junior drama group (years 7 and also put on an evening of performance of what they've been doing in junior drama extra curricular classes, and there is a dance evening which is well attended (compulsory for years 7 and 8 but above that, they can do solos - very dull if you don't like dance, and to be honest, the years 7 and 8 dance is really ropey but at least it's something!)

As far as I'm aware (and I'd know because as you know, K's into anything going) that's it