Ballet Exam

POPPYOSCAR

ognum wrote: »

is a ballet exam for a 5 year old important?

That would depend I suppose.

The dance school may not let her progress to the next grade until she has passed this exam.

glitter03

Well i had a look and no she doesn't break up from school till the 30th March so the exam will be in term time.

ognum wrote: »

is a ballet exam for a 5 year old important?

Maybe not to you but Poppyoscar is correct in that she would not be able to progress beyond Grade 1 without it.




Thankyou everyone for your help

POPPYOSCAR

Good luck to your daughter in her exam.My daughter has been doing ballet(and tap, modern and now jazz) from the age of 4 and is now 15. These exams are important to her as she wants to be a dancer when she leaves school and you have to have or be working towards Grade 6 to study further.

Seanymph

we have taken time off for piano lessons. The school have always been very reasonable.

fluffnutter

At first reading I thought this was silly of the ballet school to arrange an exam during term time. But then I think I remember going to piano exams during the school day (it was a long time ago!). Perhaps it's the only time that examiners are prepared to work?

What do you think is more important, OP? The exam or missing school? If you want her to take the exam, then try to get the school on board though. Falling out with the school authorities over a ballet exam for a four year old is not worth it, IMO.

claire16c

I did piano lessons as a child and all my exams were in school hours, apart from the occasional one which was in the evening - although that was a theory exam.

I think its normal. I would guess most examiners for this type of things work 9-5.

Its not like you do exams every week so my school was always ok with it.

glitter03

POPPYOSCAR wrote: »

Good luck to your daughter in her exam.My daughter has been doing ballet(and tap, modern and now jazz) from the age of 4 and is now 15. These exams are important to her as she wants to be a dancer when she leaves school and you have to have or be working towards Grade 6 to study further.

Thankyou! She has already expressed that she would like to go to tap class. She can start this when she turns 5

POPPYOSCAR

glitter03 wrote: »

Thankyou! She has already expressed that she would like to go to tap class. She can start this when she turns 5

I love watching the girls doing tap(and the little ones look so cute!!)
be prepared for a lot of expense though. My daughters last pair of tap shoes cost £60!!

daisiegg

As others are saying, not only are music EXAMS during the school day, but if pupils have music LESSONS through school they will be during the school day, too. Granted, they are only probably half an hour at a time but that's every week so I'm sure children taking music lessons in school regularly will miss more teaching time than someone taking a morning off for a ballet exam twice a year (I have no idea how often you do ballet exams, sorry!)

I know children are unlikely to be doing music lessons through school at age 4 or 5 but it's more the principle of it. I'm a secondary school teacher and most lessons have at least one pupil out for part of the lesson attending a music lesson.

Good luck to her in her exam!

Memory_Girl

Asked my BF (Headteacher) and his reaction was pretty surprising to me BTW. (My DS1 had exams and he was allowed out of school to do them)

He said that they always encourage kids to do ballet and work with the local dance school as it teaches them a whole bunch of "Educational lessons" that the current system doesn't really cater for.

Responsibility for dance equipment (dance school is hot on "no kit - no class")
Personal hygiene (Clean with neat and tidy hair and nails)
Discipline (The Teacher is known to be "Strict" - certainly kids do what they are instructed to do or lose the "right" of attending the classes)
Time keeping (late kids don't get in until a break in the class)

and then he pointed out all the other stuff - like sticking with something difficult until it easier to do, moving in a slow and steady manor helps with co-ordination issues, moving to music increases maths skills, social interaction with peers not in same class, progress dependant on merit and not being automatic.

So he would rather "lose" a kid for a couple of hours a year for exams than have the kid who didn't dance but stayed at home, played computer games and missed on the "other educational stuff"

Opened my eyes I can tell you - what a great guy that he recognises that school is not the be all and end all and that sometimes "other" situations can provide the missing links of education.

I have had an education this morning I can tell you LOL

MG