Chorister audition - when will we find out yes or no?

[MollieO]

I know I can ask but I need some virtual hand holding as ds is at his audition and academic tests this afternoon. I am sitting at home feeling probably more nervous than him.

We found out on the day of the voice trial when a place was offered subject to academic testing. We had a formal letter within a week of the tests and the boarding trial. Good luck - it's a great, if rather odd life for the right child and family (I think I've posted on one of your other threads??)

Thanks. Ds had academic tests and voice trial today. We will know by Friday, by post. I just wish I could be as chilled about it as he appears to be!

Fingers crossed until Friday then!

Unfortunately it will probably be Saturday or next Monday knowing how awful our post is. I think I'd prefer to know by email!

Any news yet MollieO?

Nooo! They need more time so we won't know before Tuesday. Had a fraught day today until I discovered that the post had arrived at home and no letter. Emailed school. They were very apologetic but said deliberations were taking longer than planned.

Fortunately ds seems very laid back about it although I know he will be very upset if he doesn't get a place. They have two places available so I suppose they must have three candidates they like and are trying to decide which two to offer. I'd like to think that if ds wasn't one of the three possibles they would have put us out of our (well mine) misery today!

Good luck!

Ds has been offered a choral scholarship. I'm so proud of him. He won't know until this evening. We discussed it on the way to school this morning and he was adamant that he'd get a place.

Congratulations to your ds

Congratulations to you and your son MollieO, great news! Looking forward to reading your updates on here xx

He cried when he read the letter and said it was the best day of his life.

Now all we have to do is decide whether to accept now or wait to see if second offer is forthcoming. My gut feeling is go with the most local one (15 mins drive) rather than the second one (45-60 mins).

Will he have to board? If not, I'd agree that the local one would be the most practical option as there's so much to-ing and fro-ing involved.
My son completes his choristership in July and I get emotional just thinking about his dismissal day. Fortunately his sister has another 3 years to go. I don't think any of us are ready to leave the lifestyle behind! All the best to you.

He'd have to board at both although at the local one he could start as a day boy. The practicalities of being a day boy worry me more than boarding. I work full time and most of the questions I seem to have concern his probationer year where he isn't expected to board. Particularly when does he do homework and music practice. Day school length is 8am to 6pm.

I plan to get him to board for a night or two before we decide to accept, just so he has a clue what it entails (actual reality may be different from his perception).

choirmum has your ds enjoyed his time? What type of school is he moving on to? State, independent, day, boarding? What happens after being a chorister worries me too!

If he's able to board as a probationer, I'd let him do so. It gets him used to the routines from the outset and would help you on a practical level (probs. have to board at our school but are free to come home at weekends). Homework and music practice will be timetabled in to their evening/early morning schedule.
My DS is going to a smallish independent day school with a music scholarship which will help with the fees. He went to choristership from a state primary but I don't think he'd do well in a huge school now, state or otherwise, which has influenced our decision.
He's loved his time as a chorister and considers it a HUGE privilege, and he loves the school, but has 'put up with' the boarding as a means to an end. This is no criticism of the boarding provision, but he's quite a home-bird at heart. He certainly hasn't been permanently miserable though and like you, we live within a 30 minute drive of school/cathedral which is a security blanket for us all!
I think what we've found most challenging is the loss of control, by which I mean not being there to oversee homework, practice etc. You have to have a lot of faith in the staff and trust that they have your child's best interests at heart. My advice would be to be involved and supportive without being too interfering, and make a fuss about the big things whilst letting the little things go.
We absolutely wouldn't change a thing and as I said, are now doing a second stint with our DD so you can assume that there are many more positives than negatives! It will change all of your lives, of that you can be certain.

Is it a small school? The choice we have is co-ed with 400 or boys only with 145. I realise that I need to factor in what comes next in helping to make the right decision now.

Ds is an only so I think that makes it easier as we won't have to worry about fitting in sibling's lives around ds's chorister duties. I worry about loss of control too although ds has always been better doing his homework at school than at home!

Current school is 210 co-ed from nursery-13 and his next school will be around 780 co-ed, but that's from ages 4-18. The 2 state schools we could apply to have 1500 pupils each!

That's a big difference! We are going to have a look at the town where the small school is this weekend and visit the cathedral. I want ds to have an input on what is decided. He knows he has the option to stay where he is but he also appreciates his current school cannot match the others for his real interests - music and art.