Autumn / Winter 2025 Music

That would be the question - what would a JD provide that the school doesn't, and is it worth missing out on the sport aspect?

I didn't even know about JDs until I joined this thread (!), but our DS has done very well musically as a scholar at a non-specialist school. As a big fish in a small pond he's had opportunities to join all sorts of ensembles, accompany all sorts of people and had a whale of a time. If your DS is motivated and loves music, you may well find the same thing happens!

Then again, DS is not remotely sporty.

Hi @lovinglife2025 congrats on your DS's scholarship!

We are in a similar situation, DD is an all-rounder and loves both sport and music, and she has been at JD for a few years. Schools and JDs differ in their policies so it's better to double check with them but the JD my DD went to allows just one absence per term and they became more strict on attendance enforcement recently. DD had to miss all Saturday fixtures because of this and it wasn't ideal. Eventually you would need to choose and if your DS is not at JD yet perhaps it doesn't make much sense to join. Most of them would not allow having two teachers on the same instrument either, I assume your DS is having music lessons at school as part of scholarship and that would mean you would be coming to JD for ensembles and group lessons only. If your school ensembles are good, it probably wouldn't worth it. Having said that, I know of children who come to JD on Saturdays even from music schools, but they don't play competitive sport and their schools don't have academic lessons on Saturdays.

@lovinglife2025 welcome! I don’t have any recent/personal experience of this as my kids are young but I think there are choices to be made at some point. A good friend of mine had to decide between Arsenal youth academy and Menuhin school and went for Menuhin - possibly not the best financial decision 🤣.

I do know lots of musicians who didn’t go to JDs - either because they were too far to travel to or because they had school on Saturdays - they’re definitely not the be all and end all and really depends what music opportunities your DS will have elsewhere - eg the 1-1 lesson can be sorted privately but can he access the right level of ensembles? (And is that important to him - might be instrument dependent?)

@lovinglife2025 Sounds like your child loves whatever he puts his hand to. At our JD, full attendance is absolutely expected. Also, it's so expensive we don't ever miss a week! They won't make up lessons either. It's not fair on the other players to have parts missing. ( Although mine did/do wind so it's obvious if any are missing, maybe different for strings) You would have to check with the JD what they said. Would sports fixtures not be every week? There are loads of holiday courses ( many discussed recently) which might work better? Hope you come to a good decision!

@lovinglife2025 welcome! Sounds like your son is doing brilliantly. What does he play?

I suspect that most people at those big traditional boarding schools will not be at JDs too. Though some will if they're willing to sacrifice the sport.

DD2 is at a boarding school, but is defiantly non-sporty.

She doesn't do JD too - there isn't any need if the school music is good enough I guess (though hers is a specialist school for music). Even if she wanted to, she has ordinary lessons on a Saturday morning (english and history and the like) so would be missing too much work!

DD2 is also 16... (lower sixth) they had said all at that age would have their own rooms but she says she's in with FIVE 16-17 year olds. "it's a lot" was her comment!

@achangeofnameisasgoodasarest DS has a room all of his own! Maybe because he’s reached the grand old age of 16?

Hi all, what a wonderful thread! We are very much child-led in our household and clueless about music. Our DS started secondary school in the private sector in September as a music scholar. He is loving it with all of the opportunities it holds and the music teachers are very excited about him and informed us to apply and was successful at the audition for NCO residentials next year. He is also very sporty snd will be looking at doing trials in the summer 2026 for county level and he has some serious potential at this sport. The school is aware of his all roundness and made comments as such, ie how talented he is.

I’ve just started looking at JD and realised that it is all day on a Saturday which clashes with some sports fixtures at school. So I guess they are not accommodating for such clashes? I understand that it’s a team effort and appreciate the ensembles requires 100% attendance. There are a number of private schools, probably all, with fixtures on Saturdays and some even have Saturday school like Epsom College. Does their students just miss out and not apply for JD? Extremely curious to get some insight into families that have experienced such dilemmas. It feels like a shame to miss out on the sports fixtures at school with his new friends and make an impact in one sport in particular.

Also I have tried to keep all opportunities open which has been a balancing act for us but we have always made it work. I have no idea or does he, whether he wants to do music in the future. Tbh it frightens me and DH at the financials of pursuing a music career. We just want him to love what he does and make decisions as and when it happens. Maybe this is the first one we need to deal with?

Sounds like that is exactly what dd’s dorm was last night but the safeguarding would have gone very wrong if your ds was in there. Dd seems chirpy. Dorm of five though!

I'm hoping someone forms a 'Celeb Traitors watching club'!

Similar @herbaceous - perhaps they can form a reading club.....

Hmmm....

How reassuring to be near home! It's over 200 miles from us...

He has taken some 'reading' for his English A level. If any of that gets done I shall eat all my hats.

@herbaceous I've heard absolutely nothing!

only had a 40 minute trip from home though (frankly I've told her she can come back in the evenings if she's not enjoying it), so wasn't expecting too much trauma. She seems to have taken everything but the kitchen sink though and is apparently going to do 'much revision' in the evenings. I will believe this when I see it. Which I won't.

@achangeofnameisasgoodasarest Hope your DD is safely ensconsed at ESO! DS seems to have arrived, and the lack of communication I'm taking as a good sign.

Thank you @Londonmummy66 and @northerngoldilocks - it sounds like DS (who would be year 4) is too little still
for the drop and go, so I’m not sure we can manage it.

Im counting down the years until at least one of them can (hopefully) get into the JD my DH teaches at, which will make my life a lot easier! Maybe we will just focus on holiday courses for the next year or two.

@Compsearch - I negotiated a shorter day for mine at CYM due to the Cathedral but they were in Yr 7 and had Grade 5 theory already. Basically they did orchestras and chamber music and then one did keyboard harmony and piano and no choir and the other did chamber choir as she loved Linda and GCSE support class (meant she had a lot of older friends....). I always found them to be pretty flexible - and half the Southwark choir seemed to be at CYM anyway.

Should anyone fancy summer in Scotland, the RCS does a few non-residential courses for different instruments/ ages, including an advanced piano one and younger wind band. Plenty of accommodation in Glasgow or nearby if you avoid Edinburgh festival season! ( Or embrace it and have a cultural holiday!)

@Comefromaway sounds like a great opportunity!

Thanks for the tips! Yes it’s a funny one for DS2 as he’s very musical but when he started as a cathedral chorister, he had to change instruments to clarinet and piano, so went from a standing start on those at the beginning of Y4. Was doing sax and singing before. Obviously does theory and singing as well as part of the chorister life. Thanks I’ll look at those course options!

Exciting news for ds. He has got three confirmed performances on a national tour early next year.

He was meant to play for the same tour this year but he is not now needed for those dates. However the dates he has been asked to play are much closer to home so we can go and watch the show.

Viva is fab. The ESO in Brum might have an Easter course that’s non residential for a few days. We’ve done that before and stayed at a premier inn.

Thanks for all this info! Realised I need to be more organised this year.

I think I will sign DS up for Viva strings as it’s non-residential only for 7 and 8 year olds (he will have just turned 8) and I don’t think he is (I’m not!) ready for a residential yet, but I also wouldn’t want him to be one of the only ones not doing the residential part. Pro corda looks fantastic for future years but is so expensive!

If anyone is aware of anything similar and good for small string players at Easter, please let me know.

Im also torn about suggesting DS auditions for the full programme at CYM for next year. We dropped out of the PYP this year as he wasn’t loving recorder and it was a massive time commitment for me and his sister, and he’s also likely to be moved into the full choir at Southwark at some point this year (he’s on his second term as a probationer and apparently doing very well). If he does do that, it will involve a full day on Sunday so perhaps Saturday would be too much as well? Can anyone give any insight into what the timetable would be like on Saturday and whether I could just drop him off and pick up later? (This wasn’t possible on PYP and it was too much for my DC2).