Can fomal gymnastic levels such as BG add ucas points for HE / Uni application?

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Just want to know. I ve heard people talking about dance and music exams will add points when applying for unis. I don't hear about sports adding ucas points.

My 12 yr o dd s very flexible, small and strong also a fast runner. She loves gymnastics and now doing two hrs a week may increase to 4hrs. Although I knew she was the right material for the sport the gymnastic group she joined in in her early years is not a very competitive one so she missed out on the opportunity to achieve better. Anyway I think by now it s unlikely that she will ever compete in high level completions.

Still I want to know if gymnastics or other sports achievements can add ucas points?

BTW what career options are there for gymnasts apart from completions?

Constructive comments please.

Gymnastics does not have formal exams like music or drama or dance

Yes it does. She doesn't mean BAGA badges she means gymnastics grades.

Gymnadtics grades are regional and do not have the academic clout of music exams. Gymnastics is a completely different type of activity.

You used dance exams as an example and they don't have academic content either.
The lowest grades are called 'regional' grades (well, it's changed recently and there are club grades below them now) but their content is set by BG centrally not by each region.And then after that are 'national grades' and alongside that compulsory grades.

But they are not accredited. Dance, Lamda, music all offer credits to level1 or 2 awards.

well that's a circular argument isn't it?

personally I don't think any non-academic qualifications should attract UCAS points.Fortunately it is only at the bottom end 'points based' course s they came into play.

Dd has also attained notional UCAS points through dance, but in all honesty they are an 'also-ran' as she is entering hard core sciences. She dances about ten hours a week, including two hours of teaching.

She dances because she loves to dance - she will never be a professional dancer (might continue with teaching pt to earn money through college) but in all honesty we think it's pretty funny that she has earned UCAS points through a hobby.

I can see that it would be much more important if you were intending to pursue a career in a related discipline, but tbh it's largely irrelevant - I'm not even sure we will bother to list them on the application form - if you need to scrape points together from extra-curricular to apply for a program unrelated to those skills, you probably need to rethink what you are applying for.

(Some of the dance content is marginally academic - as well as the language translation skills, did has had to put together oral presentations and whatnot). It's very basic, admittedly, but I think that's how the points were initially credited - because of the pseudo-academic content - please note I am in no way trying to justify the inclusion/ exclusion of disciplines from the UCAS tariff - as I said, I find the whole thing quite funny)

DD has earned some UCAS points doing vocational dance exams & Arts Awards; however none of the colleges she has auditioned for count either the UCAS points or the dance exams for entry purposes.

Gymnastics is worth doing in itself. It improves fitness and many people enjoy it. A lot depends on the course how relevant gymnastics is.

Any college and university will of course take extra curricular activites into account when considering an application, however when it comes to credits/points, only OFQUAL regulated qualifications are recognised.

With dance for example, all the recognised graded and vocational exams are accredited on the Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF), with selected Grades also having a UCAS Tariff. So each grade carries a credit value towards further education. For example, RAD Grade 5 Ballet is a level 2 qualification, so is equivalent to a GCSE... useful for someone who isn't academic, but who wants to go to college.

And for the benefit of anyone who thinks these exams don't amount to much... here is an example. A child achieving Distinction in RAD Intermediate and Advanced Foundation (both exams you can take before the age of 16), would gain a total of 135 UCAS points. That's equivalent to an AS level, so again... useful if they go on to 6th form and fall a bit short on the exam results.