Sylvia Young school

[IdaBiscuit]

Has anyone got any experience with the SY school?

My DC is very keen on acting and has been asking me to find out about drama school. This is one that I've heard of and location would be okay too. Current drama/singing teacher is recommending we look at them too.

Thanks.

My DS is also very keen on performing and wants to apply to Sylvia Young full-time school. We know several children that already attend - all lovely kids with sane, sensible parents. I toured it last year expecting to hate it and tell DS he should go to an "ordinary" academic school, but found that I really liked the school.

The school week is split into academic lesson on Mon-Wed and vocational curriculum Thurs-Fri. There are fewer subject options that most schools (e.g. only one MFL offered) but the GCSE results are pretty good considering the school is not academically selective (around 25% A-A* - they publish GCSE stats on their website).

There are two routes to entry - fee-paying and scholarship. They tend to offer one full scholarship and a couple of half scholarships each year, with around 400 children applying.

SY will be holding open mornings later this term - they haven't set the dates yet but if you keep an eye on their website they will advertise them there.

If you search on the notapushymum website (notapushymum.com/) you will find several discussions about the school, as well as information from parents who have/had children there.

Other performing arts secondary schools in/near London you could consider:

• Italia Conti
• Arts Educational
• Tring Park (in Herts)

Italia Conti have scholarships, Tring Park does too but mostly for dance; Arts Ed is only fee-paying.

Thank you so much, that's really helpful.

I'll look out for the open days