Looking for a boarding choir school for my DS with a strong academic program

[abowley]

Hello everyone,

My DS is now 6 and he loves singing and playing the cello, and what it's true is that he does it very well for his age. For this reason, he wants to join a choir school. I have to say that he is very clever and also the pedagogic team of his current school told us he was gifted. Even though he always says that his dream is to sing in a choir, and we'd like to fulfil it.
Please we'd be very glad if someone could recommend us some choir schools with a strong academic program.
An important point, we are looking for a school that offers boarding at Y4 as usually, it's when the majority of choristers start training.
We were thinking with King's College Cambridge, Westminster Abbey, St John's College Cambridge or Winchester College.

PD: We're interested in Eton for secondary so we'd like a school with an academic program suitable for it

I'd appreciate so much any advice.

Go to a few chorister experience days and see if your son likes it first. Some places don't even accept boys on to these days until 7. Then he'll need to do voice trials. Then they usually spend some time at the school and do a trial night boarding etc to see if they're suited to it. it has to come from within your son. It's such a full on lifestyle that if he's not completely on board and into it, it will fail. Bear in mind that often in the Probationary year, the choristers are weekly boarders anyway so may not full board until they're full choristers. Presumably you'd want some settling in time anyway?
The vast majority of choristers go on to excellent schools, many with generous scholarships. Don't fixate on Eton. At 6, you can't possibly know that Eton is the right school for him. Just my opinion though.

Are boarding from Yr 4, choir school and Eton what he wants to do, or what you want him to do?

Consider Temple Church choir and City of London Boys if he's got the option of living in London. Then he doesn't have to board.

It depends if he wants the best possible choir or the best possible academic route - CoLB always seems like the ultimate academic hothouse. Temple choir is not as heavy a choir schedule as the others but it's all relative - still very demanding.

He's 6 and you've already got his little life mapped out why don't you just enjoy the time you have with him now, isn't it too early to be making these huge decisions about his future. I'm saying this as a parent with 2 dcs at independent schools (not boarding) but they have changed enormously since they were 6 and are still changing now. Also my db went to Eton, throughly resented the fact that my parents sent him off to boarding school and that was at 13! Just because it's popular it doesn't mean it will be right for your child.

Full boarding from yr 4 seems pretty brutal. Could you not move to a better location if this is what you all want?

Hi OP

I am a SPCS parent, which has a lot of boarding choristers (some start at year 3, a few more start at year 4 and occasionally some will start at year 5). Is it important that the choir school contains only choristers? Our school also has day pupils (boys and girls).

It does send children to schools like Eton (a friend’s oldest ex-chorister son goes there) but also to lots of other schools.

I second the suggestion to go along to a chorister for the day type event. We took my ds who is a talented singer and he absolutely hated it. With the amount of time they spend there it just won’t work if your ds doesn’t love it. I would also ask what happens when boys voices break, in our cathedral they get dropped from the choir like a hot potato after years of it being their life

YY @Ciwirocks I would think very carefully about that.

I suppose I'm just trying to tease out how important music is to the DS rather than the DM. That's where all the choices should spring from, surely? While I'm sure Elton has amazing facilities and that most students will do an instrument, from the outside looking in it doesn't seem like a place steeped in music. And to board at Y4 I'd have to be convinced that nothing but being a chorister (as opposed to going to a specialist music school locally) would make my child happy.

Onceuponatimethen ... music is a traditional academic A level!

LonnyVonnyWilsonFrickett ... re music exam stats ... it looks like nine Pre-U Music and 24 GCSE for 2019 to me. Still not great though.

Can highly recommend St. Paul's Cathedral School. Co-ed, day children as well as choristers, good academic. Fabulous music - at school and in the cathedral. Musical standards are also high amongst the day pupils (several are NCO members), there are 2 orchestras, numerous smaller musical ensembles and several school choirs, including an outstanding audition-entry Chamber Choir.

Many of the choristers go on to music awards at a range of senior schools (including Eton). They aren't a big feeder to Eton (maybe 1 or 2 every couple of years) but have good links with a range of boarding senior schools with great music (Winchester, Kings Canterbury, Rugby, Uppingham) so there is more scope to find the best fit school for each pupil.

Pastoral care is excellent, especially for the boarders. Probationers board weekly, choristers are full-time with two exeats a term. Takes choristers in Year 3 and 4, occasionally in Year 5. The number of probationers starting in Year 3 seem to be smaller than a few years ago; more of them seem to wait a year and come in Year 4. The boarding is as flexi as they can make it - parents are able to visit 3 evenings a week to see the boys, help with homework, music practice, etc. They can go out on leave for part of the day on each weekend day and home overnight on Sundays (though have be be back at the crack of dawn on Monday morning for rehearsal!).

It isn't for everyone, but for the right child it's an amazing experience. St. Paul's usually has a chorister experience day early in the autumn term; a good way of seeing what chorister life is like.

*good academics

(though obviously not from me!)

Dd had 3 friends who sung at St. John's cambs, none boarded, it's simply not acceptable for most parents so young so cathedrals are instead recruiting local kids. My kids were choristers and I drove them in and out, they attended state school as do all the kids here.

@TheatreTaxi thanks, we'll consider it for sure!!! I appreciate very much the advice

@PermanentTemporary thanks for the advice, the problem is that we're not from London even the grandparents live near it. The problem is that we don't see them taking care of a 7/8-year-old every day. For some days there's will be no problem but for a daily routine, I think it'll be hard.

There are cathedrals in most parts of the country, don't discount those that don't board they still have excellent programmes

@TheOnlyLivingBoyInNewCross thanks.
Sorry, perhaps I didn't express myself well. The fact is that a choir school is what he wants but Eton is what we want for him. Otherwise obviously if when he is older, he doesn’t feel like going or applying there won't be any problem, but for the moment we'd like a school suitable for achieving it just in case.

At 6 your Ds hasn't a clue what being a chorister actually mean so the parents need to do some practical research.
Go to some services,speak to Directors of Music, experienced parents, ex choristers, present choristers (though that's probably not possible nowadays unless you already know one). Have a tour of the school and think about whether Ds would fit in to that environment.

Being a chorister is a full on experience. Many thrive on it, some don't. If they're full boarding they will spend a great deal of time with the same few children and need to be adaptable and work as a part of a team.

Don't go with fixed ideas and an image of 9 Lessons and Carols at King's. For the right child being a chorister is life enhancing -and I do mean for life. For others, even very musical ones, being a boarding chorister is too overwhelming.

Eton has a superb music dept. The exam results are excellent at GCSE and at Pre U. Every year sixth formers go on to universities to study Music including but not exclusively Oxbridge, and specialist music colleges too

Those A level/GCSE Music stats are shocking for a school of Eton’s size and facilities. I am genuinely astounded.

Not sure where you are looking, but on the Eton website the published 2019 results show not a single child got less than an A grade (7,8 and 9) at GCSE and every Pre U Grade was a distinction.

@campion thanks for the advice. I agree with you, for sure we'll go for a day visit but what I wanted was to hear som experiences to make up a list of schools to visit.

@mumsnoangel thanks for the information

At the moment our list is:

• KCSC(Kings Cambridge)
• SPCS (st Paul's cathedral)
• WACS (Westminster Abbey)
• SJCSC (st John's Cambridge)
• SGSW (st George's Windsor)
• PSW (Pilgrim's school)