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…

Also, DD gets the grades she deserves, whereas at state school she was identified as a bright kid able to achieve a high level which would benefit the school as that is what they are judged on, but with an element of pressure, spoon feeding and no time for music. I have certainly not expereinced the phenomenon of intelligent children being left to coast in the state sector that most of Mumsnet seems to suffer from.

kutik - the vast majority of children in most choir schools are not in the choir, so statistically the results are skewed towards the majority. Having said that, in DS's school, this year, out of the three choristers, two won the top academic scholarship (as well as music scholarships) to leading independent schools [top 10 nationally] and the other came very very close against huge international competition for scholarship places (you can perhaps guess the school I am talking about).

The choristers work incredibly hard academically and in the choir, and are selected for both academic and musical ability. As a whole, however, the school is not academically selective until year 3 (the year the choristers enter) and so good results are achieved by small classes, high quality teaching and commited families - rather than through selection by genius IQ. This combination of circumstances seems to work very well for bright choristers.

Hmm, I may have to change my character and become a tiger mum for DS to keep up with schoolwork if no nagging happens at school. I can see DS easily coast through if he is allowed....

And most choir chools are traditional prep schools aren’t they? So you have to be from a family that can afford the fees in the first place and is relaxed enough about either finances or scholarship opportunities to be happy to move school at 13 rather than 11. Why we signed up for this, I don’t know !

Folk I would have said the same . Dd was in a show last summer and had a sickness bug so missed a rehearsal - ( the week before the show) no big deal they certainly didn't want all the children to go down with it

The acceptance form and a cheque for a deposit were put in post today. I would be lying if I said no more doubt with our choice. But we've got Plan B and C in case of DS's change of mind/interest. So feel a bit at ease and ready for letting DS enjoy the opportunities given without feeling too much pressure to 'make it'. Sports-Mad DH, Eternal-Worrier Me and Endless-Dreamer DS, all three of us are on board at last!

Go kutik family! May it be everything he dreams of and more.

Thanks cat. One thing that's still banging me is, his super sunny nature. He is VERY optimistic which is great in some ways but I feel his lack of self-criticism could be a bit unfit in such a place. I fear the environment could be too serious for such a boy. But, having him for three days, hope the school could see his good and bad then decided to made the offer, in which case he may not be as unfit as I might think...

He also likes my attention while he is practising. He would call me out constantly, saying 'look mum', 'watch this mum', 'I'll play for you mum'... Not sure how much practising alone motivates him...

Oh oh oh. Sorry. No, we have decided to go ahead, yes yes...

to 2nd. Not sure if it can be any comfort but I can reassure you not all schools without active musical department are like that. DS goes to very ordinary school (no orchestra, no ensemble, basically nothing other than some private lessons by visiting teachers) but we've never got any unpleasant comments or attitudes from other parents/children. Some people knows DS goes to NCO or JD but they don't probably know what they are really, like I didn't know before DS got involved. Your DD may be happier at a music school, but even if she ends up going to a normal school, reactions towards your DD's musical activities may not be the same as the one she goes currently. I hope.

2nd I'm with Kutik, that sounds horrible but is nothing like our experience at a large state junior school. Nearly half the children have instrument lessons from peris in school and lots have private lessons outside. I realise your child's working at a totally different level to mine, but I can't imagine getting that sort of reaction here. It's not the most "comprehensive" of catchment areas though, if I'm honest.

2nd I have been asked to my face whether I 'hothoused' my child (plus lots of other polite enquiries) but I genuinely think people are just interested in anyone choosing a different path for their child. My home edding friends have the same experience where you have the same conversation over and over with casual acquaintances and people you meet. Anyone who matters tends to forget about it or just be interested because they like DD. Much more of a challenge for me is having the poor kid at specialist music school (we live very close to the school your daughter auditioned at and really did just fall into it). I do wonder about how much effort they actually put into outreach and awarding places to kids with potential given the amount of government funding they receive now I have seen the wealth levels of the average student first hand but that might change as you go further up the school perhaps.

Not every other student obviously, but DD isnt going to babble on about the holiday activities etc of children with the same lifestyle as her.

Swaying, are you saying kids at music specialist schools are mostly super rich...? Hope not.

Not super rich, everything is relative. But to enter at a young age takes
either considerable expenditure on lessons or musician parents.

Ah, I know what you mean, Swaying... All DS was doing musically until last year were weekly violin lessons provided at school plus piano lessons outside school - both were relatively reasonable (swimming or tennis lessons could be more expensive). But the expenses have shot high this academic year as he joined jd and NCO. I notices some kids at jd have extra lessons during weekdays as well as holidays on top which can cost a lot as those teachers are not as reasonable as school peri. For us, paying for Saturdays is just manageable so no extra lesson I'm afraid. Then as you say, there are those from very musical families.... We were in a lovely bubble until last year really...

I hope DS won't feel disadvantaged at the music school due to his not rich/not musical parents...

I am positive he won't Kutik, was derailling your thread really, just encouraging 2ndSoprano (if still reading!) to own the elitism somewhat, as you can't escape it!

I get comments because my dd has individual music lessons at her state primary not group ones. Only because she was the only one that practices regularly so was unable to progress fast enough in the group lesson so the teacher asked if she could move her out the group. But according to other mothers it's because I can 'afford It' and because I asked for it. Nothing to do with her hard work and ability.... and ignoring the fact that I'm not actually able to work in my profession due to the additional needs of my other child making the hours undoable !!!

Kutik, the younger one's at dd school do have supervised prep, as they get older they have more commitments both musically and academically. They still choose options, take GCSE's but it's strange seeing the difference between other schools.
They find a good balance and I take my hat off.
Although a few do go on to do other subjects, Music is obviously the main reason they were there in the first place. Some take the uni route, others conservatoire.

Kutik - I don't think specialist school parents are rich at all. On the contrary lots seem to be not particularly rich at all, just scraping by, and perhaps one of the reasons the children are at a specialist school. After all they are private schools that can effectively be free given the MDS. If you live in area with poor state schools (or impossible to get into the really good ones) and you can't afford private school fees (which is most people!) then a specialist music school can be a good option even if in the end music is not the chosen path. In fact given that music lessons are included in the fees (up to three hours/week) it could even be cheaper to go to a specialist music school than a state school and pay for lessons yourself. No uniform to pay for either which is another bonus! :)