September 2007

Welcome back.  I hope you all had a good summer and are ready for the new academic year. 

Over the course of last year, we listened to a lot of parents and pupils and realised that we needed to have a bit of a shake up.  We have spent the summer weighing up the pros and cons of various solutions and think we have come up with the best option to ensure that we satisfy the requirements of our governing bodies, pupils and parents. 

1.                  Communication

a.     Regular monthly newsletters.  We are committed to reducing waste so these will be on the website with one copy posted at each Centre.  Please make sure we keep your up to date email addresses so that you get the up to date information.

b.     Dissemination of Information. We do appreciate that we are rather airy fairy when it comes to advising you of the relevant procedures applicable to each examining body (RAD and IDTA).  In fact, some of you probably don’t even know what the initials stand for – such has been our level of communication in the past.  We therefore intend to clarify what each examining body is, what they cover, and what exams/tests are applicable to each age group.  Hopefully, everybody will know what they should be doing.

c.     Auditions etc.  This is an area which we have been rather good at, and our recent successes with Rachel Myers, Edward Myhill, Natalie Alleston, Heather Irving, Jourja Pattrik, Freyja Childs, Bria Westcarr and Samantha Taylor testify to that fact.  We will continue to ensure that every pupil in the school receives relevant information which will enable them to attend external classes and audition for shows and scholarships as soon as possible.

d.     General.  Again we appreciate that exams and extra lessons have been sprung on you, sometimes with very short notice.  This is an area which has been addressed and will be touched on later in this newsletter.

Change comes slowly and may take the whole of this term to implement properly.  If you feel we are falling down on any of our promises, please let us know.  Also, if you think we have missed anything please tell us.

2.                  Classes and Timetables

This is the area which we have been working on most and again we will cover this later in the newsletter.  What we are hoping to achieve is a framework which never changes. Therefore, everyone knows what day and time a class is and will be able to plan accordingly.

Our plans for the School

First of all a bit of a mission statement. We want to ensure that every child in the School works at a level applicable to their age group, and achieves as much success as they are capable of whilst having a huge amount of fun!

That said, we needed to look at both centres and the classes which were being offered, and then set a framework which would work with each examining body.

The Royal Academy of Dance (RAD)

As a school we study RAD ballet.  This is by far the best ballet syllabus in the world.  The RAD do not teach anything other than classical ballet, and their qualifications are recognised worldwide and are also QCA accredited.

The International Dance Teachers Association (IDTA)

We are now more committed to using the IDTA to study tap, modern jazz and theatre craft.  The RAD and IDTA announced last year that they were committed to working together.  In short the RAD became aware that as they only offered classical ballet, a lot of teachers were moving to different organisations as their pupils wanted a broader base of study.  RAD teachers are now able to enter candidates for exams in IDTA and vice versa.  This is largely irrelevant to Deborah as she is qualified in both.  However, it does mean that our scope for new teachers is much wider.

Both organisations have guidelines as to age limits, but they are by their very nature a bit vague and not particularly clear.  So we have spent a lot of time trying to use these guidelines and come up with a clear age range to progress through the grades.  Whilst doing this I would point out that we have always believed that it is appropriate to get through the grades as young as possible so that more detailed study can be taken at the higher end.

After a lot of deliberation we decided to use the School Academic Years as a basis for our classes.  Children are used to categorising themselves by their school year and one of the major bones of contention was that children in the same school years were in totally different grades.  Please see the attached Classes for 2007/08 which sets out our age ranges.

Our next task was then to ensure that children were in the correct class for their age.  This proved rather tricky as we discovered we had a huge age range in each class.  We decided that we could not move someone down if they were already in a class but too young for it, but could move someone up.  If someone was too young for that class, then our decision is to leave them there until they are the correct age – this should only affect a few pupils.

We then had to decide what period of study was applicable for each grade.  We have listened to you over the years, and another main cause of concern was that exams were all over the place and younger children were constantly joining older children in previously established classes. 

So……..

RAD Ballet – Period of Study

Pre-school                                           Two years or up to age 4
Pre-Primary – Grade 5                         One year
Grade 6 & 7                                         Two years
Grade 8                                               One year
Int. Foundation & Intermediate           Three years (dependant on age on entry)

All grades                                             Two years

On the whole we feel that one year is adequate time to study and pass the RAD lower grade exams.  In that time the pupils will be concentrating predominantly on their syllabus work, but will have sufficient time to also do any relevant IDTA rosettes, stardance awards or medals. An exam will be taken at the end of the academic year.  They will then move into the next class in September of the following academic year.

The higher grades 6 and 7 require two years of study.  This is recommended by the RAD, principally because the grades concerned need an understanding of style, performance and ballet history and are totally different to anything the pupils may have taken before.  They are designed to run alongside the major grades from Intermediate to Advanced. The astute amongst you will have realised that there will be some cross over when the Grade 5 pupils, having taken one year to pass that grade, move into grade 6.  At this time it is hoped that the pupils are much more mature, and the influx of younger students should not then cause a problem, as they will be sufficiently grounded in their technique to catch up quickly without the need for disruption to the older students.

Grade 8 can be done in one year as it’s content is not great, but it is a pure performance grade, and hopefully by the time pupils reach it, they will have a greater understanding of what is required due to their four year’s previous study.

The major ballet grades, Intermediate Foundation, Intermediate, Advanced etc, require a longer period of study (ideally three years) due to their precise nature, and notoriously low pass rate.  These grades form the foundation of a career as a dancer or teacher and as such a very high standard of work is required to pass.

The IDTA tap, modern jazz and theatre craft grades however require a further period of study.  This is primarily because after Preparatory, they have three different disciplines to take an exam in, and also along the way there are various rosettes, stardance awards and medals to collect.  These are more specifically set out on another sheet which is attached to this note.  We will start that two year period from this September irrespective of how long each pupil has been in the grade.  If we don’t we will be back to square one with pupils joining classes midway through the academic year.  Again by the time they leave the grade they will have taken exams in all three disciplines relating to that grade, but these will be spread out over the two year period.

Timetables

Once again we have spent hours deliberating the timetable.  We want to get to a stage where the classes do not change, but the students move into the class that is already set.  If we only move around once a year and we all move at the same time pupils should be able to plan their other extra curricular activities with more certainty.

Exceptions

1.                  AMC Grade 5 (current)

The pupils in this grade are the age which could reasonably study grade 6.  However, we feel that as all of the pupils currently in that class are late starters, they need the benefit of a further year of study to give them a better understanding of technique, to take with them into Grade 6.

2.                  AMC Grade 6 (current)

Again, according to our age ranges these pupils should be doing grade 7.  We do not want to move these pupils as they have already completed one year of study in the grade and are looking ready to take their exam at the end of this academic year.  We feel that as they have been working so hard it would be inappropriate to take away the reward. 

3.                  EACC Grade 3 Tap & Modern

We have decided not to run a Grade 3 class as there are insufficient pupils in the class to make it viable, and also the age ranges are close to that of the Grade 4 class.  These pupils will therefore join the Grade 4 Tap Class.  This should not cause disruption as the pupils already know one another, and in some cases are in the same class.  Also the existing grade 4 tap pupils have only done a couple lessons in the new grade so there should not be any disruption.

4.                  EACC Grade 5 Ballet

According to our age range some of the pupils in this class could be studying grade 6.  We are not going to change this class, as almost all of the pupils have taken every grade and it would be a shame to miss out on the last of the lower grades, and the pupils concerned have worked together for so long it would be unfair to separate them.

5.                  Generally

Historically, when we took over AMC there had been a lot of movement through the grade with not much thought.  Mostly the rationale, was “oh dear we had better do an exam” or even worse “ so and so has to move up because they are friends with such and such and get a lift with youknowwho”.  This has resulted in a mismatch of ages and abilities in certain classes.  We are hopefully not rocking the boat too much, as the plans outlined above are in place to harmonise existing classes and to make sure that this situation never arises again. 

So far as EACC is concerned, when this Centre was started there were only three classes, the older ones, the middle ones and the babies.  Therefore, anyone who turned up got put in one of the three classes (usually the lower two) based mainly on who they knew.  Hopefully the new regime will sort out the disparity which has arisen.

And finally…………

Some of the pupils concerned were already working towards an exam.  In those cases we have decided to let them continue.  They will take their exam in November and then move into their new class.  The RAD exam will take place on Monday 5th November and the IDTA exam is provisionally booked on Tuesday 27th November.  Both exam sessions will take place at AMC.

Some pupils have been in the ballet grade some time, but are not yet ready for the actual exam.  There will not be sufficient time to get them fully up to speed, but rather than waste the time they have already spent in that grade, they will be doing a Presentation Class of that grade in the November exam session.  They will then move to the new class.

Other pupils who were either not working to any particular exam or had moved into the wrong class will simply be moved into the correct class with immediate effect.

I hope our plans make sense and that you can see why they are in place.