Pros and cons of sending a child to a music specialist school?

[eliphant]

I have a 10 yr old DD. Homeschooled all her life. My husband and I used to be musicians and we're a very musical family. DD started violin age 8 and is now at grade 5 and tackling some grade 6 material. Her violin teacher is a very accomplished musician in his own right. A bit posh compared to us, but a very kind friendly man. Anyway so we know that being a musician can be a tough life and the money isn't that good for the amount of work you do. We already know that. DD knows that. DD isn't very academic. I suspect dyslexia and there is a bit of family history with this condition on both sides of the family. She does not like reading so much and make a heck of a lot of careless mistakes in her work and skips lines of work because she just couldn't "see" them etc. but from the mock SATs and bond papers she has tried, she seems to be scoring pretty decently at 75% or over for bond and the upper levels for the SATs. One thing is she is extremely strong-willed so if she doesn't want to do something, she will not do it. Or will rebel some other way. And she can be quite introverted by nature though she socialises with peers almost daily with peers in homeschool groups and afterschool sports activities.

Anyway so she is very taken with the idea of boarding school as she is a Harry Potter fan. And a doctor mum friend of mine from the local junior orchestra she attends whose daughter made it into a very selective choir school locally told me my daughter definitely stands a chance of being accepted if she tried auditioning for it, being that our daughters both seem to be on par as far as musical aptitude goes. This friend also really feels uncomfortable with homeschooling so I know she would wish I would put my daughter back in school.

The thing is I've been thinking about this for a long time. My DD isn't academically inclined and has some learning issues. She will hardly pick up a book to read for leisure and I highly doubt she will be able to cope academically if she did go to the local selective choir school as from everything I've heard locally, it's a bit of a pressure cooker and high teen pregnancy rates (secret info from my doctor mum friend of course). I think with my DD's personality and strong will she will rebel and don't think it's good. I am helping my older child through GCSEs now as she is now homeschooled. Similar learning issues. It is quite a challenge handling the subjects at GCSE level even though she has tutors for it.

On the other hand I think maybe a music specialist school might be right for my DD. She loves music. Finds it easy to get the hang of it. And if she's not going to be academic, might be a great fit, as it seems the music specialist schools like Yehudi Menuhin do not select based on academic performance and the pastoral care seems excellent. We live about an hour from London. It would be possible to pick her up from school for the weekends home. I checked the bursary charts and it seems we will qualify for a substantial bursary as DH isn't a higher income earner.

Well I'm worried she might rebel if she hates the place eventually but we will simply homeschool her again. In fact if she does not end up going there anyway, she has expressed to us she would rather continue homeschooling as she would not like conventional school anyway. She likes the freedom of homeschooling.

So I'm stuck here wondering what would be good. If I decide to let her have a go at auditioning, I'll approach her violin tutor about it. I'm sure with his coaching she'll do well. But I am so torn about this because I know boarding school is such a different thing from what we're doing now. I'll miss her and perhaps she'll miss me (or not! Which would be a good sign she suits the school then!) And she'll lose her wonderful teacher and won't be able to keep in touch as often with her current homeschooled and schooled friends.

She is uncertain what she wants to be when she grows up. Understandable so. Many kids don't know either. She doesn't hate practicing. Currently only does about an hour or more a day. But she is crazy about animals and also wants to work with animals. My pragmatic husband and friends say she should be a vet then. Haha... but I say well if she's not that academically-inclined and if she isn't going to any selective academic school, it would be very difficult to go the vet school route anyway. I just prefer to be more realistic about it. She is really excited at the idea of going to a specialist music boarding school though. But as the parent I need to think carefully about this...

I'd like to know what others think about sending children to these types of schools. Will help me make up my mind more.

[hertsandessex]

Cheerleader - I think Eliphant was referring more specifically to the truly specialist music schools such as Yehudi Menuin, Purcell, Cheathams, etc. where the entry criteria and scholarship under the Music and Dance Scheme have a different dynamic to the entering more mainstream, private schools under music scholarship.