Music Specialist School Discussion

[Kutik73]

Sorry, this is rather long…

We’d never considered specialist school route for our musical DS, especially at such a tender age (he is Y6). However, we’ve recently started seeing it could be an option in possibly near future.

The state secondary school DS is supposed to start from September has good reputation with a wide range of extracurricular activities and music is one of their strengths. However, they also hand out heavy amount of academic work daily, and basically keep their pupils pretty busy. Keeping teens busy could be a good thing, especially for those who may get in trouble or glue themselves to screen otherwise. But DS loves music and he likes to immerse himself in music more, but in reality, he’ll have less time for such freedom once he starts secondary school. The additional journey time is another thing. It takes 45 mins to get there, whereas it’s only 5-10 mins currently.

A friend suggested we could see specialist school as a small private school with strong music activities rather than a place where all DCs were aiming to be professional musicians.

Her logic is, the class size is a lot smaller than the state secondary school so pupils get more attention hence learn more efficiently, all the while there is no compromise in music studies. DCs who are keen to keep up academic work on top will manage to get good enough GCSE results for decent sixth form if they decide to pursue other than music for A level/uni. Although sixth form seems the most popular (and sensible) time to join specialist school, KS3 is actually the best time because if DCs change their mind on course, it’s easier for them to return to ‘normal education’ possibly at sixth form with good enough academic record and musical ability strong enough to be a music scholarship material. But if they stay focused on music and in fact decide to take it seriously, starting early will only become beneficial. Though, it depends on circumstance of course, and instrument. DS plays violin/piano for instance - hence early start can be rather important.

However, I heard and read some scary stories about music specialist school while I was researching. Some claimed they felt like they were living in a prison, some expressed unhappiness (even though they recognised the benefit and appreciated their fortunate position), some teachers talked about very able young musicians going to specialist school as a huge mistake, etc…

DS innocently expresses strong desire to go to music specialist school. I, as a parent, wish him happiness more than anything. By accepting his desire and letting him go where he says he likes to go, am I pushing him into a harsh and scarily competitive world unnecessarily? Or, like my friend suggested, it could be a lot more flexible than I may have been thinking and in fact could be good alternative KS3 education for musical and academic DCs?

Any thoughts/knowledge/experience would be greatly appreciated…

I know! DS and I probably watched all their silly channels! Their viola jokes are a bit too much though (for me)!

OP argh that vid is me!

I wish your DS the best of luck, he sounds like an amazing kid, and a great fit for this kind of environment

ShackUp

We had a family meeting. Surprisingly the sport mad DH didn't get put off by their lack of sports and in fact seems to recognise how happy DS would be in the school, at least for now. He agrees we'll review the situation regularly to make sure DS's well-being and happiness and continue providing DS right environment whatever happens. DS can go back to 'normal school' at any time. We'll make it work.

So..., DS is going to his dream school from September. Such a long and winding road we took! Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts, advising and guiding and generally being there for us. We are not where we are without you.

Happy day to all!!!

I think this is a great decision Kutik! He may even end up doing more sport and other fun stuff in the end as the pressure won't be on with Music so much at the weekend, he will get so much of it during the week.

Really looking forward to hearing all about Mini-kutik's next adventure!! 😍

Congrats on making a decision- I’m sure he’ll love it.
Like Gilly says- it really is like marmite- you either love it or hate it.

Kutik - just catching up and saw this thread. Congratulations on the place and I can really understand what you went through making a decision. As you know we went though this with our son and Purcell a couple of years ago. The only negative we have found is really lack of sports and general issues with small year group and class sizes. It will probably all work out wonderfully but there is always the chance to change especially after GCSEs and many seem to. Personally I always wonder about YMS being too specialised musically but I'm sure you can find other opportunities to create broader experiences. There is of course always the possibly to switch to another specialist music school at a later stage. I know one person who went to Chets, Purcell and Wells! Good luck with it all.

Thanks for all the kind supportive words.

Lack of sports.... This may become a serious problem, perhaps more than academics...

I am not too bothered about the amount of PE available. Twice a week is pretty normal in state sector anyway. But, for instance, DS's current class has many sportsmen. So they always run around together at breaks. They play football, basketball, manhunt and so on. I wonder how many DCs at the music school are interested in running around, sweating around. DS has a vast amount of energy which he needs to consume. He may get frustrated if he is the only one who craves and enjoys physical exercises...

Tonight, when he went to bed, he said, 'Ah, I really wanna go back to that school... It was so much fun..' I hope he'll feel the same when he starts spending more time there...

If anything like our experience then there will plenty of others who like running around playing basketball, tennis, lifting weights etc. In fact maybe too much as often hear of sports related injuries. Tell him not to catch a basketball the week before a recital :)

We went to an advice audition at a different one last week, and as we went past the grounds at lunchtime we could hear a football being kicked around by a few kids!

How did the advice audition go raspberry

I would also love to hear how it went, raspberry.

Suppose it depends on the size of the school. DS's choice of school is tiny. There are only one or two boys in DS's year so there is great chance that neither is interested in physical activities! I am saying this as one of DS's best mates is not into sports at all. They get on well and play a lot together, but DS knows the boy doesn't enjoy running around so DS goes to play someone else when he wants to do some physical stuff. He's been fortunate to have different types of friends so he always has 'play mate' for things he does and enjoys. I just wonder how DS will be or feel IF both boys in his year are like his best mate so he has no one for running around together 5-6 days a week!! He may be fine. But he's never been in such a situation!

He might find the girls in his year like football. Sometimes my dd plays football with the boys and girls.
Also, he’ll probably play with the older boys/girls, there’s probably no real Year group divides, as the yr groups are so small.

I was about to say the same. The year divides don't matter so much. In my DS's year only 5-6 boys I think and he ends up doing lots of things with people from other years. It is all just one big group. Even boarding rooms are with people from year above or below.

...and yes lots of basketball etc with girls. Biggest shock for us was suddenly being so many more girls than boys which brings it own challenges.

Paul & herts, that's what DS said to me. He said he played with older kids most of times (since there are not many boys in his year group and DS shared his room with an older boy). And hearts, cricket, basketball and hockey are not allowed to play at DS's music school!

Today, we had a meeting with HoM at state secondary where DS won a music scholarship.

I expected state school to be quite rigid in rules, especially this particular one, but surprisingly they appeared to be very open and flexible to cater individual needs. At some point, HoM asked DS if DS would be thinking of music as future career and DS said 'yes' (he'd never said that so clearly to me!). Then DS expressed his concerns about time management and possible clash between music and other school commitments. HoM said school would be willing to support whatever their pupils would like to achieve and therefore would be there for DS to find the balance. DS could come in early morning to use their music facilities, and he can access to the practice room through a day if needed. They have lots of performance opportunities and in-school competitions. They also offer challenging programme to advanced players as they have quite a few talented musicians. So there would be no chance for DS to be be bored musically.The school is also very much keen to keep all the doors open so the pupils will be challenged and stretched academically too, at least until Y11. They has lots sports also...

I thought we have decided but I found myself still thinking...

Kutik - you may still be thinking but is your DS? Sounds like he has made his mind up and very hard to change it. In our case once we got to the offer stage it would have been very impossible to change his mind without a lot of resentment. Saying that I can understand how state school combined with JD is still a very good option.

Yes, DS made his mind up long ago. He realised I was still thinking after the meeting. But he kind of let me keep thinking. He probably knows I have to go through lots of thinking process.

I can't forget the violin teacher's face and voice when we were discussing this last Saturday. When I told her we were not closing all the doors by sending DS to the music school, she quickly disagreed and reminded me that I was about to put all his eggs in one basket, and that it's me who have to decide not DS as DS was too young to make such a decision. Tough.

I thought the decision was made when you mentioned Latin and triple science! catkind's spot on IMO, he's got his letter to Hogwarts. Is there still a decision to make?

Sorry crosspost!

There are some super kids who can do it all, leaving us common people wonder when they sleep, but DS is not that kind. He is a normal child. He is hardworking and can be very determined, so he will try and may even manage well. However I doubt he would be happy. That was DH's point also. We couldn't see him happily smiling while juggling all sorts throwing at him for a long period. For his happiness and well-being, I suppose music school environment would be the best, in spite of lack of sports and academic choice...

kutik it is like a letter to hogwarts i think, at least a little
I also believe that the academics will be more than good enough to not close doors and. On top of that i think it is easy to underestimate the stress of juggling commitments in a 'general environment. You are without doubt taking the descision very seriously so of course you will also monitor the situation and if it's not right at some point in the future you can adapt- nothing is permanent.

Thanks Mending. I feel I'm making people repeat telling me the same thing - nothing is permanent, etc. Sorry. It's just that this music specialist thing is still quite a new idea although I've been tossing around for some times. So, even though I know there is no way we could say no to DS at this stage, I keep coming back to my initial concerns and worries. I haven't digested this DS the Musician quite yet.