Drama Scholarships.What are they looking 4? Good drama class

[OrganicGreen]

Hello.. I am fairly new to this forum so I hope I have posted my request in the right way.,

My son-7 has done elocution & Perform (sing & drama classes) for a year and has shown good potential in this. We are looking to develope him for drama scholarship if his interest continues in this. We are now looking for new classes as he has now too old for them.

We are wanting to know what the independent schools are look for when assessing for drama scholarship. What should I be looking for when choosing my son's elocution and drama teacher/class with the view for scholarship? We know that we must make sure that he gels with the teacher/class and above all enjoys being there.. I want to know what in terms of drama skills I should be looking for. Are there things we can do at home? Like games etc any good books or web site that you can point me in would be very much welcome.


All advice and tips welcome.
thanks

[hermanmunster]

Welcome to the forum! Glad to hear your DS is enjoying drama and elocution - very useful for being able to stand up and speak in the future and acting with others is always fun.

Just be wary though that all scholarships to schools are fairly small these days - often music and drama can be of the order of 10% of the fees, so not going to help hugely if you were wanting to have more help with the fees.

Many of the kids where DD was at school used to go to a local amateur dramatic company where they learnt loads - many stage events were put on and the school events were fab following their experience there. One of the girls has now been in 3 highly rated films, complete with Royal premieres, don't remember her getting a drama scholarship to senior school - maybe she didn't apply. Such companies can give really wide experience -useful for working with people of all ages - and experience of auditioning etc.

[Belinda]

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[Belinda]

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[OrganicGreen]

Hi everyone for your welcome and feedback.

My son also started singing classes at his school last year. I will speak to his teacher about how they protect the children voices from potential damage.

It is good to point out what am I actually looking for career or scholarship. What my family is looking for is my son to gain the skills that drama, speaking and singing can give in every day life in being confident, increase social skill etc but also gain a scholarship at a local private school. Having scholarship or potential for one increases his chance of offering a place at the school. If the upper school developes him further to the point that he decides he wants a career in that field then we can work with the school then.

So aim is to goto scholarship and in so doing develope his personal skills while still enjoying the whole process.

[Belinda]

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[OrganicGreen]

I wish you success in seeking and attaining what you desire for your son.

The skills you seek for your son can be attained from many endeavours. I think a good few rugby players can communicate effectively, are self-discipline and supremely confident! Sports scholarship?

Maybe DS would like to consider an instrument or two - not that his voice isn't an instrument. Choral and music scholarships are perhaps more in the offing than drama. Have you considered this? At seven years old your DS is in an advantageous position to get to a ‘good enough’ standard to be favourably considered for a music scholarship in a few years.

Good luck!

Thanks Belinda...It turns out that my son is quite good at music too. We are also looking at music scholarship as well. We don't know at this age where he will be shining most when he reaches 11+ so we are looking at where is is shining now. He is good at piano and expressing himself in elocution so we are looking at both for scholarship.

Locally his school year has a very high birth rate; so I would like him to continue to excell in drama and music as they will enhance his upper school application with the bonus of getting a scholarship. The aim is to get him a place at the school with his drama & music adding weight to his application. The discount is a secondary need but a very much welcome one if it happens.

[Pushy Dad]

Belinda - my kids' thing is music so I can't comment directly on drama but I am sure that a similar selection criteria is applied.

The scholarship application form explored my kids level of interest - what courses have they attended? do they participate in music activities outside of school? what other instruments do they play?

Translating that into the subject in front of us, unless your son is a mini Derek Jacobi setting himself apart from the other talented kids will be difficult so you need to build up his cv with training in dance, singing etc. You only need to look at the American teenage stars that your son presumably watch on Sky. I mean, they sing, they dance they can do comedy or serious (as serious as you are likely to get on the Disney Channel).

It is hard to imagine that just a few short years ago I was shouting 'pushy parents!!!' at a fly on the wall tv program that followed parents who were competing to get their kids into a famous London stage school

[Pushy Dad]

Oops. I meant to direct my comments at the OP organicgreen

[OrganicGreen]

Belinda - my kids' thing is music so I can't comment directly on drama but I am sure that a similar selection criteria is applied.

The scholarship application form explored my kids level of interest - what courses have they attended? do they participate in music activities outside of school? what other instruments do they play?

Translating that into the subject in front of us, unless your son is a mini Derek Jacobi setting himself apart from the other talented kids will be difficult so you need to build up his cv with training in dance, singing etc. You only need to look at the American teenage stars that your son presumably watch on Sky. I mean, they sing, they dance they can do comedy or serious (as serious as you are likely to get on the Disney Channel).

It is hard to imagine that just a few short years ago I was shouting 'pushy parents!!!' at a fly on the wall tv program that followed parents who were competing to get their kids into a famous London stage school

Thanks for the advice.