London Screen Academy

[musicmum75]

Does anyone have any direct experience of the London Screen Academy? My child has a place there but also has a place at their current school to stay on into 6th form and do A-Levels.

They are really unsure what to do. Staying on at school seems like the "safe" option but the London Screen Academy seems like an exciting option, but perhaps too much specialisation too early?

I would love to hear from anyone whose kids go there, or perhaps their kids turned it down?

We're in the same position. Choosing between a mixture of btecs and A Levels and LSA. I think we'll end up with LSA though, esp as they offer the A Level DD wants to do. What pathway is your child thinking of?

Oh good to know we aren't alone! They want to do the Technical pathway along with Core Maths. If they stay on for A-Levels at school they will do Film Studies, History and Geography.

What do they want to do after? Uni? Work? My DD wants to do Art, Maths and Dance A levels. I do wish LSA had more A level choices though. Would make it more easier esp as she wants to do the craft pathway which really is niche. At least the technical pathway is a lot of transferable skills.

Not sure really. Film Studies at uni is a definite possibility but the advantage of LSA is that it would be relatively easy to go straight into work if they wanted to. I agree the Craft pathway is probably the most niche one.

Bumping in case anyone else has any experience of LSA.

OP we found a lot more info on student room. LSA is a 6th form so not really secondary and Ive realised not many parents of kids at this age go on Mumsnet, aside from GCSE support.

Thanks I will have a look there.

sorry I know this is an old thread but could anyone let me know how long after the application your child was contacted for the phone interview stage? My daughter applied but hasn’t heard anything back yet, she only applied a couple of weeks ago so not long ago but she’s very keen (and very impatient 😉)

Hi @emilyinrutshire, my DS is now at LSA. If I remember rightly he was invited to a telephone interview a few weeks after applying and then got an offer about a week after that.

@musicmum75 - thank you. Is he enjoying it? It looked amazing.

Yes he loves it! Is always happy to go in, comes home energised and happy to tell me all about it. Very different to secondary school where asking about his day or courses was like getting blood from a stone! No regrets about not staying on at school for A-Levels.

A good friend of mine has a child there. From what I've heard, these are the good points - it suits him quite well as he struggled academically at quite a 'pushy' local state school. He's creative and quite quirky so it's a better environment for him. Buildings and facilities very impressive. Bad points - quite a few disruptive kids who muck about, smoke spliffs outside and whatnot.

Have heard the teaching is patchy - some, but not all of it great. It is a sixth form so they are expected to be pretty independent, which can be a bit sink or swim.

Personally I have some reservations about restricting yourself vocationally when so young - and while I think we definitely need more useful, career-shaped pathways in the UK (way too many kids doing A-levels and crappy degrees), our TV and Film industry is in a pretty bad place right now, unfortunately. So unless your DC is absolutely passionate and convinced about what they want to do, I would be cautious about the 'opportunities' it truly offers.

Great, thank you both. Good to get some different perspectives.