Britain's got talent

Our children are, of course, unique. They are funnier, smarter and better behaved than anyone else’s, to say nothing of bursting with talent for acting, singing or dancing. The fact that everyone else is blind to their God-given artistic talents is purely due to envy…

Just occasionally, the precocious façade does hide true talent. If your child shows not only real promise but also a determination to pursue the talent, you are faced with searching for the right educational environment in which child and talent can flourish.

But where to start? Will an ‘ordinary’ school with an excellent reputation for music be sufficient? Will one of the plethoras of performing arts courses nurture the budding Shakespearean actress? The younger the child, the harder it is to judge, and the greater the risk of going for a specialist school in case the passion should prove transitory.

If you decide, usually with encouragement from teachers, that your prodigy is not suited to an ordinary school, but needs a hot-house environment to realise their full artistic potential, that means going for a school where the arts aren’t seen as extras but as a sizeable slice of the educational cake.

Learning lines will be as important as chemical formulae, several hours a day of music practice will rank alongside French verbs. It’s a lot to ask of anyone, particularly an 11-year-old. But for the right child, it can and does work. The Good Schools Guide features many of the excellent specialist music, stage and arts-orientated schools.

The BRIT school in Croydon is the only state-funded performing arts school in the country. Some of its 900 pupils join at 14, but most come at 16, nearly all from state secondaries. Alongside GCSEs and A levels, they take BTEC diplomas in their chosen performing arts strand, which could be music, dance or drama, or even digital media or art and design. Nearly everyone goes straight into a creative job or on to higher education at the likes of Rambert Dance School or the Central School of Speech and Drama (alumni include Amy Winehouse and Leona Lewis).

With around 100 pupils aged 11-16, housed in an office block opposite the Barbican, Italia Conti is at the other end of the spectrum. It has a large southern home counties contingent, as around half of its pupils have already attended its associate weekend schools in Kent or Surrey. Everyone learns acting, singing and dance alongside academia, with half of each school day given to the performing arts, and most end up with around eight GCSEs. The vast majority of pupils move on to the one- or three-year intensive performing arts courses in the same building run by the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts (alumni here range from Noel Coward to Patsy Kensit).

Music schools range from the 300-odd pupil Chetham’s in Manchester to the Yehudi Menuhin School in Cobham, with just 65 pupils learning stringed instruments or piano. Both are mostly boarding, as is the Purcell School in Bushey, which is probably the most relaxed and informal of the specialist music schools. Timewise, music comes first and academic lessons second in all these schools, with even the youngest pupils practising for several hours a day, plus many more hours of composing and playing in ensembles and orchestras. However, exam results are generally excellent. Nearly everyone moves on to one of the music colleges, a few to study music at university.

Those with a talent for pas de deux can aim for the Royal Ballet School in London or the Elmhurst School for Dance, now relocated to an award-winning campus on the edge of Birmingham. Classical dance is naturally the order of the day at both these establishments, but students end up with a crop of GCSEs and A levels too. About half tend to drop out before the sixth form, but of those who make it through nearly all find professional jobs within six months of leaving.

None of these schools, except the BRIT, come free or even cheap, though the boarding fees at Yehudi Menuhin - nearly £40,000 a year – make Italia Conti’s (day) fees of just over £14,000 a year look relatively affordable. However, there is good news for parents of aspiring Nigel Kennedys or Darcy Bussells: the Government’s Music and Dance Scheme offers aided places – basically means-tested bursaries – to eight specialist independent music and dance schools. These include Wells Cathedral School, the specialist music and classical dance schools, and Tring School for the Performing Arts. Some of the other performing arts schools offer their own scholarships.

So funding need not be a deterrent, but the chances of actually getting into the school of your choice bring camels and eyes of needles to mind. Competition is phenomenal, with the schools on the lookout not only for exceptional skills and talent, but also for the grit and determination to develop them – in the child, rather than in its doting parents.

Is it fair on your child to put all her eggs in one basket at an early stage? Classical musicians and dancers more-or-less inevitably depend on skills nurtured from a young age, but the National Council for Drama Training suggests staying on at school as long as possible before applying for a drama place. However, all these specialist schools also offer a high class – if inevitably limited – academic education too. For the right child, the mix of rich artistic and solid academic training can be a winner.

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