Sylvia Young new to all this

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Mumford3
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Sylvia Young new to all this

Post by Mumford3 »

Hi, my dd has been doing LAMDA(grad 3), dancing and modern/tap (Grade 3 and 2)and recently singing lessons, only because her singing pop songs was killing my ears! I've thought she has a good voice and does get picked for school plays and assemblies to do lead roles. But she has never done anything professional at all. She really enjoys it. She is quite a character. We have been studying for grammar schools and independent schools ready for September 2018. As she was getting frustrated with the academic stuff I thought we would audition for SY as a nod to her love of drama. I didn't think much would come of it. We got an audition last Wednesday. Most of the other children there had lots of experience and some had agents and one was on the west end currently. I know she would have done well in the academic test. They rang us the next day and offered us a full time place saying she had done very well in the drama and singing. I really don't know what I'm doing here. She really wants to go, but I have no idea if this is a good thing, is it normal that someone with no experience gets offered a place? She has just passed the local grammar and her siblings are in a great independent school that we are prepping her for. I can see her at SY but I'm afraid it's a bit early. Anybody been in this situation. I don't want to let her down and I can't do what SY can because I work and have two other kids to balance things with. I'm rambling, should we go for SY is it really going to benefit her if she wants to go down this road, she can't get her education back and she can't do everything. Any thoughts at all would be much appreciated to help clear the fog!
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Dogcop
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Re: Sylvia Young new to all this

Post by Dogcop »

Hi, my son attended SY from yr 7-11. It was a huge dilemma for us at the time and I had sleepless nights over it. He had done a couple of West End shows by then. I was still really worried about the travel and academic side, but we decided to go for it- he really wanted to go there. I would say that it was the best decision for him and he is currently in second year at Bird College. He worked continuously in years 7-9 (when his voice broke) and they managed all of the auditions for us and provided chaperones.
It's a very individual choice though. Wouldn't send middle dd there as she is more reserved although filmed a well know company's christmas advert last week :) but would considerate sending younger dd if she wanted to go.
Ds came out of it with decent marks on all GCSE's -there are not as many choices as there are at other schools and no sport as they have vocational days two days a week.
He was really happy there and has wonderful memories
Good luck with decision making
FredaBloggs
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Re: Sylvia Young new to all this

Post by FredaBloggs »

Firstly, congratulations to your DD for being offered a place!

Whether or not to take it up is, I think, a very personal decision. My DS wants to go to SY, and having toured a few schools SY is increasingly the place that I feel would be the best fit for him. DS is bright and creative, but not academic (ie. very capable but doesn't enjoy school work for the sake of it). Performing is where he comes alive and is happiest, and I am firmly of the belief that a happy child will do better academically than an unhappy one. SY GCSE results are available on their website (and I think the school's transparency in making them available reflects well on them) - their results will never stack up to those of an academically selective grammar or independent school, but for an academically non-selective school I think they do well. They consistently get around 25% A-A*, and science results are improving. DS has several friends at SY and the feedback I get about the school is very good.

Some questions to ask yourself:
- Have you attended an open day at SY? Can you see your DD being happier at SY or at a more "mainstream" academic school?
- Full-time SY students are automatically taken on by their agency - are you prepared for your DD to attend auditions and work professionally?
- Do you have a back-up plan if she goes to SY but decides it's not for her after all?
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jasmine2
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Re: Sylvia Young new to all this

Post by jasmine2 »

Big congratulations on the offer.
My dd was a full timer from year 6 - yr 11 and was head girl in her last year there
.She started as a Saturday student and really wanted to go for the full time school. We didn't think for a minute that she would get a place. (It was at the old building then, so only around 15 in her year).
It was the best thing we ever did. She blossomed as a performer in all aspects and did brilliantly at the academic side too (A* and As)
She could have gone to a private academic college on a scholarship, but decided to go down the vocational route. So she did a dance diploma, then got her DDI teaching qualification to teach tap and modern jazz, before attending Bodyworks Cambridge(scholarship), where she has just graduated with the 'Triple Threat Award'. She also teaches there at the Saturday school and evening school.
She has also just finished 2 professional Musical contracts.
And it all started with SY...lol
I would say go for it....it is a fab place to study :D
I believe that children are our future, teach them well and let them lead the way.......
Pandora II
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Re: Sylvia Young new to all this

Post by Pandora II »

Congratulations to your DD!

We are in the same position but a couple of years off still.

I have a DD who is very bright but also dyslexic and just doesn't seem excited by academic subjects. Was a bit of a shock to DH and I who expected to produce geeky bookworms who would be heading down the academic paths we did, but life is full of surprises and you get the child you are given.

She's always had a bent for the performing arts, has a rather nice voice for her age and can move well although she's not one of these girls who lives for her ballet classes (slight relief tbh), so we started to look at what was out there in the way of schools that would play to her strengths.

I've been packing her off to different ones for half-term and holiday courses as a combined child-care solution and peek behind the glass doors of the different places.

SYTS is currently our top pick - as Freda says, their GCSE results are pretty good considering they are not academically selective (and they have a high number of kids with SEN). They are better than either of our local comps and iirc only Arts Ed does better.

You don't get the range of GCSE choices that you do at academic schools - but all the basics are there, plus a MFL and the 3 sciences. Tbh, my grammar didn't offer anything extra back in the day either!

I've been very impressed with the organisation at their holiday courses and by how hands on Sylvia and her husband seem to be. The pupils helping out are always polite, helpful and lovely with the younger children. DD has always bounced out saying how much fun she has had.

I do worry about the route DD wants to take - why she can't want to be a dentist or something a bit less brutal and stressful I don't know - but in many ways I think going to somewhere like SY from 11-16 will help decide that. I'd much rather she turn round at 16 and say that she'd rather go to a traditional school for A levels and do something different, than moan that we never supported her dreams, go off to university to do drama and then decide it was all a big mistake!

So far DD has not got a professional contract, only made final rounds for WE a couple of times, but I like the way Sylvia feels that her pupils should be turned out capable of working professionally, and supports (and even better facilitates) the children auditioning and working. So many other places don't. The vocational curriculum is also well balanced - other schools require you to choose a drama or dance route at 11 which (unless you are headed to the Royal Ballet School) seems awfully young to be making such a choice and not very helpful if MT is the way you want to go.

Do remember that schools can be changed if they don't work out - you don't have to stay somewhere if you are miserable or it's a bad fit. That said, I haven't met anyone yet who has a bad word to say about SYTS - almost worries me!

Good luck with your decision and well done again to your DD :-)
Mumford3
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Re: Sylvia Young new to all this

Post by Mumford3 »

Thanks you so much for the fantastic and supportive advice. I think we are leaning towards it. We will continue and see how she does in exams in January and just get her as high academically as we can before she goes as she will behind on everything else!. She does come alive when she is performing and singing and I'd love her to be able to be surrounded by others doing that I sometimes feel she has to hide it a bit in school. my husband has surprised me by being more for it than me! Thank you again. I'm worried I won't be able to keep up but one step at a time.
Lechia78
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Re: Sylvia Young new to all this

Post by Lechia78 »

My son is starting then at Sylvia young
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