Does enrolling my child in an elite performing arts school benefit her future education?

[Whatdidyoucallme]

I would love some advice from other parents.

My daughter attends an elite dance and performing arts school just outside London, and I am wondering what long-term benefits this might bring to her future education and opportunities.

If I do not plan to place her in a private school that costs thousands per month, can this type of training still positively impact her academic path, confidence, or future career prospects?

I am also curious about scholarship opportunities at private performing arts schools. How do scholarships typically work? Are they usually partial or full, and how common are full scholarships in London and the surrounding areas?

I would really appreciate hearing from parents who have experience with this or have seen long-term outcomes.

There’s an extra curricular board that might help with Performing Arts scholarships. If it is a case she is talented, there’s also the Gifted & Talented board which might help.

Like any passion outside school: it can work both ways. I am thinking of a few situations I am familiar with. In one case the dc is a science whizz but also off the scale in musical performance. It has been hard to choose between the two but in the end music won out. It’s a less certain but probably more interesting career path. At pre/professional level the opportunities to perform on stage and get mentoring have been marvellous. Who knows if that will translate into a career - it seems like a crowded market and to succeed you need luck, connections, and resilience as well as a bucket load of talent.

But in a future dominated by AI perhaps music will be a better gamble than STEM?

Of course arts performance can help in school - not least the confidence you gain is hugely helpful (as well as the ability to handle nerves, to rise to an occasion, and to cope with failure and setbacks). But i doubt you can compare with the advantages of a private education.
It’s also really nice to have friends outside school - but of course there are cheaper ways to achieve that!

The question is: could your dc go to a local theatre performance club and dance school, for a fraction of the price, and still get the 80% of the benefit?

That probably depends whether objectively your ex is a wild talent or just averagely talented.

I can probably guess the school your child is at.

I'm wondering what your aims are...

Is the school going to help her academically? Probably not as much as a highly academic private school focused mainly on exam results.

Is the school going to help her with a performing arts career? If ballet and dance are the focus then it is probably a very good place to be as early training is important. If acting/MT then probably not that much.

There are lots of children in the PA world who go to normal schools and train outside. If I think of the most successful kids I know (most in their late teens), 90% of them went to normal schools - but did a lot of extra curricular. Most are not going to drama college for degree either, but continuing in the industry while studying something completely different.

Worth knowing that a lot of the children in the vocational schools also do huge amounts of extra-curricular training on top.

We looked at vocational school for DD - and went with a normal comp and a lot of high level training on the side. She's now 17 and with hindsight we made exactly the right choice.

Scholarships - there are very few of these. SYTS has some full scholarships - in return they keep 100% of any earnings while they are at the school. See other threads for issues around that... ie endless educational VOs etc and then having to catch up academics missed.

I wouldn’t, just because careers in performing are so unlikely to be successful. Yes it’s possible, but they are much more likely to be working in a series of zero hours, low paid jobs, hoping for the big break but going through lots of rejections.

It's all changing constantly, they are much more likely to be earning on TikTok and other platforms these days.

But most don’t earn much and the alumni from these schools don’t necessarily get a job in the theatre at all or be a TikTok star! There’s other routes to getting roles (post 18 or 21 after training). Theres too many wanting roles and not enough work.

DD looked at a performing arts school in Hertfordshire. The academics are limited and sport wasn’t available. It’s training for a job you probably won’t get and you do need a plan B and C. It’s ultra expensive and obviously few get scholarships. We decided on a private school with excellent dance and drama because it gave a much better all round education.

If you want a sobering afternoon, look at the alumnus pages for the big drama colleges… the RADAs and Centrals where 3k+ audition for 22 places. You can click on their graduates Spotlight links which will show you how much they have booked in terms of work since graduating.

If there’s no Spotlight page it’s because they’ve left the industry.

A sizeable number are also self-repped which means they won’t get access to 99% of the opportunities.

The main thing performing arts gives (at professional level) is huge resilience as the level of brutal rejection or just being ignored is enormous. In many ways a good life skill but not everyone is cut out to handle it.

@Whatdidyoucallme Are you thinking of schools which also happen to have a strong dance / performing arts programme, or are you talking about full-time vocational training at places such as Tring or Hammond?

I don't know anything about Hammond, never had any dealings with that one, but Tring does have a very good academic reputation as far as I'm aware. They are fairly hot on that, as they know how difficult it is to get industry jobs at the end of training, so they like their students to have a good Plan B.

You have to want the training at places like Tring though. Other aspects of a rounded education are not there.

Yes they are. I know several people who went there from Y7 up. My dd was offered a funded place there for 6th form, and we looked into it thoroughly. She had more than one offer though and she decided to take up a place elsewhere in the end. DH and I would have been more than happy for her to go there.

None of these schools really offer even an averagely academic education compared to a normal comprehensive school. They offer a very reduced choice of GCSEs and some pupils take very few of them. The pass rates are absolutely fine, even good, given the small classes etc, but the actual range of subjects offered is pretty poor.

If you have a look at Tring's GCSE offering, the options are woeful. It's a similar story at Arts Ed and Sylvia Young.

I think it is far better to do a broader range of subjects in an ordinary school because even if you are planning on a performing arts career, life doesn't always work out the way you'd like it to.

It all boils down to how talented your child is and (if they are talented enough), whether they are single-mindedly determined enough to want a career in the performing arts.

You can't decide to send your dc to a school like that and enrol them, there's an audition process, and only the top few of those offered places are likely to have any chance of getting funding.

My DS would have loved to go to a PA school , but we persuaded him to stay at his grammar school to do GCES and A levels . He attended a good youth theatre group and during 6th form helped at a local stagecoach on Saturdays .
He got a place at drama school and did his degree . Got an agent and theatre work straight after graduating. But it dwindled. He did some commercials and fringe theatre and age 28 he decided he needed a regular job . Luckily he had lots of connections and for the last seven years has worked his way up to become an agent . He loves his job and having been an actor , he has a lot of empathy with his clients.
it’s a tough world in PA and you need a plan b and plan c and so I think it’s important to get a good well rounded education.

I work in the industry and also have children who have worked professionally. Unless you are talking about ballet then quite categorically a child does not need a specialist performing arts school to succeed until they are at least 16. Even then, the Royal Ballet School has recently announced that they are only taking from Y9 in the future (not Y7) as children CAN get what they need elsewhere through excellent local training and associates programmes. Academically I think Tring Park is the best of them all but their GCSE offering is rather lean.

That said, some children thrive in an environment where they can do all the vocational training during the week and actually it helps them academically as they never really “fit” in a mainstream environment. I think performing arts schools are a great option for that sort of child.

I waffle, but 16 is the time when young people most benefit from the specialised training as they are well prepared for options at 18. That, and a bit of realism. So many set off on a road of hopes and dreams but it’s actually one of rejection where you need major resilience. Your child needs the qualifications to fall back on.

There are plenty at the full-time schools who aren't that talented but are there on full fees to fund the handful on scholarships.

I know kids who were turned down for rep by the SY agency and offered a full time place at the school days later...

@RatherBeOnVacation I agree. A level science at Tring is very shallow in terms of numbers and results. Definitely do a standard (and cheaper) education to 18 but choose a school with good drama.

That's not necessarily true. The big 4 vocational schools (Royal, Elmhurst, Hammond and Tring) are all part of the MDS funding scheme for Y7+ and have government-funded places available for those who qualify. Royal in particular also has a number of private benefactors who fund places.

That's for classical ballet - which is a completely different ballgame as I said in my first post. Those places it's not just talent and potential but also things like body shape, flexibility etc.

You don't get MDS places for MT or acting or general Performing Arts.

So it very much depends what discipline the OPs child is interested in.

I know all that (family member went to full-time vocational ballet school), which is why I was curious about what it was the OP was actually looking for. The funding available for the different genres is entirely different and it was funding she was asking about. The OP hasn't said what age the DC is either, which also makes a difference to available funding as there's a lot more about at 16-18+, nor have they said whether it is dance or MT that is of interest.