NotaPushyMum.Com

I thought it might be useful to start a dedicated thread for those parents or guardians who have booked (or are thinking of booking) a room at Chester House in Muswell Hill, N10 1PR for their performing arts kids for this Septembers intake.

www.chesterhouse.org.uk

My 16 year old son will be taking a single room at Chester House in September and will be using the 43 bus each day to get to Urdang Academy and back. He is on the Diploma Course and until we found Chester House we were becoming concerned about our capability to find an affordable and safe accomodation option.

Please post here if you have any comments, queries or confirmation that you are thinking about or have booked Chester House for your DS or DD - hopefully we can get a little supportive network going that will be reassuring to our kids, as I know they are all worried about choosing accomodation that no one else goes to;)

All best wishes,

BlackSwan

My 17 year old DD will be staying there as well and going to LSC. She's on the degree course.

Hello Afab, my son will be 17 when he starts too, so hopefully he and your daughter will become good friends in the near future. As we gather more info on students in the same boat, we can perhaps ask them to set up their own FB page and start to chat before they start in September? Congrats to your daughter on her degree course x

Good idea Black Swan
My 18yrs old DD will be staying there as well going to LSC on the Degree Course

Edited for spelling mistake!

Thank you for posting Lorry, congrats to your daughter on her degree course place. Do you have a start date for LSC yet? I am still waiting to hear about that from Urdang Academy but last year I know it was the very beginning of September.

Hi Blackswan, yes DD LSC start date is Monday 21st September I have asked Chester house for DD to move in on Saturday 19th September which they have agreed to

Gosh that's a long summer break for her! Pretty sure my son could be as early as Tuesday 1st Septemberr, so I do hope some other Urdang students join the club ?

Yes Blackswan I think my DD would of loved to be starting LSC at the beginning of September or even next week lol, fingers crossed there will be other Urdang students or students from other colleges starting earlier

My DD stayed in Chester house a couple of years ago for a two week course at mountview. I found it to be a really great place for her to stay when she was 16. It is well run, the staff were lovely and the food was surprisingly ok. The staff were happy to help and supportive of the students.
As a place for 1st years, finding their feet and making friends, I don't think you can go far wrong.
Hope that's helpful

Thank you Performmum that's great to hear:)

And my daughter has a room booked there and is on the degree course at LSC and will be moving in the weekend of the 19th/20th September. I think its great that there is a mix of students there

That's great news Lorry and Acsbj14 - congrats to your DD's and my son is looking forward to meeting them both x

Hi I don't usually post on here but I wanted to offer advice for those enquiring about Chester House. My daughter is in the 1st year at LSC having previously done the foundation course there. Whilst in her foundation year she stayed at Chester House and although she had originally wanted to house share she was really glad she stayed at Chester House first. It's where she met her now house mates and it's a great place to meet other students from other places even if there not dance students. There was always someone to catch the bus with and Muswell Hill a lovely place to be. Sometimes they like people but might not choose that person to actually live with. Also for those starting straight into 1st year there is an awful lot of written work to be done and sometimes my daughter might not get home until 7 and then tries to eat sensibly and then has to start on written work. Also it helps if you already know each other when it comes to sharing bills etc. We were able to save some money at Chester House by emptying daughters room at Christmas and Easter whereas in her house I think it's a yearly contract. If I can help in anyway I can ask my daughter any questions anyone might have as I know how stressful it is!

Terrific and valued information Lesley - many thanks.
Did she ever struggle with the buses, were they always reliable?
Also were there many Urdang students at Chester House please, as getting a bit concerned everyone is from LSC?

I think possibly in winter there might have been the odd delays for weather or road works but I don't seem to remember too much bother. I think definitely at least 2 boys from Urdang and possibly girls as well but Alison tends to introduce everyone when they arrive so everyone gets to know each other. There were also boys from I think Mount View and other places. She had a great time there and still keeps in contact with a lot of the people she met