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Any advice please - not sure where to start - at the moment school takes a school year per grade for LAMDA which I think is excessive for what the children seem to do over the course of the year particularly for the lower grades...
Here's a controversial question: Has anyone here ever put their own child in for the lower grade exams rather than go through a teacher? Is this even possible?
While I'm not denigrating the work of a LAMDA teacher at all - the elements up to Grade 2 seem very basic - particularly if your child has a lot of experience in theatre/musical theatre from a young age.
Some people I have spoken to have recommended Guildhall over LAMDA - can anyone enlighten me as to the advantages/disadvantages of either please? thanks

Flo has lessons with a teacher to prepare for LAMDA exams but I enter her for them, fill in the paperwork and take her along. The results come straight to me. So that part is possible.

I guess whether you can do the prep yourself depends on what you know and how well you can interpret the syllabus (which is published in some detail on their website). Since the lower grades are quite straightforward I guess you'd give it a good shot - and I'm sure you'd get plenty of advice here.

Good luck - sorry, I can't help with your query about Guildhall.

Deb x

music and singing : ABRSM have more theory
http://www.abrsm.org/en/home
here's a link for the Trinity guildhall exams,- less theory
http://www.trinitycollege.co.uk/site/?id=1056
LAMDA website for information on examinations
http://www.lamda.org.uk/exams/index.htm
My dd was told by school that Unis only look at points gained at A Level and points for LAMDA exams do not count

A lot depends on tha age of the child and what you want to get out of lessons.

For children who are older I usually skip the lower grades however I feel that a year per grade is roughly about right or you get to a situation where the child is not old enough to go any further.

The LAMDA acting syllabus changed a few years ago and even at Grades 1-3 the anthology pieces seemed to become more mature. My then 9 year old daughter last year got a merit but we struggled as she was playing older characters with more mature subject matter. LAMDA used to set a minimum age for Grade 1 of age but that restriction was removed with the syllabus change. I personally think that 9 is the absolute youngest a child should be. Also you struggle to find age appropriate pieces for the higher grades too, the minimum reccomended age for Grade 6 is 14 but last year we struggled to find pieces for a 15 year old that had enough content/demands on the actress to fulfill the more stringent criteria whilst still being relatively clean and age appropriate in terms of content and language.

We do LAMDA preparation over the course of one term in 6 or 7 one to one sessions. The rest of the term is spent on developing other skills in groups. If you build up the expectation of more than one grade per year then you run the risk of a child seeing the exam as the be all and end all and you will eventually get to a point where you have to wait maybe 2 or 3 years before they can do another grade.

I have looked at the Trinity Guidlahall syllabus in the past and certainly in the earlier grades there is less emphasis on performing monologues and more emphasis on mime, improvisation and poetry. I would say that the Trinity syllabus would take longer than one term to prepare for in most cases.

If your child is gaining very high distinctions every exam then perhaps you should consider moving through a few grades more quickly. However if they are getting merits/just distinctions be wary. My dd got all distinctions up to entry level but the increased level of maturity needed for Grade 1 was a shock. She did very well onher free choice piece but the anthology pieces were too old for her.