Tring Park School for the Performing Arts 7+, 11+, 13+ and 16+ Admissions: Auditions and Fees

Admission to Tring Park School for the Performing Arts is by audition, which applies from Year 7 (11+) and covers Year 9 (13+) and Year 12 (16+) entry, whilst children in Years 3 to 6 attend an informal assessment day. The school sets its own vocational audition in Dance, Acting, Musical Theatre or Commercial Music, alongside a short academic assessment.

Auditions run through the autumn and spring terms, with final auditions in the spring and places starting the following September. The sections below set out each entry point, the audition content for each course, the registration sequence, scholarships, bursaries, fees and how families can prepare.

Entry points and places

Tring Park takes pupils at Year 3 (7+), Year 7 (11+), Year 9 (13+) and Year 12 (16+), and its admissions policy adds that it is keen to meet talented young performers at any other point as well. Families who want a different year group are asked to contact the Registrar. The number of places at each entry point is not published.

The school runs four stages: Prep for Years 3 to 6, Lower School for Years 7 to 9, Middle School for Years 10 and 11, and Upper School for Years 12 and 13. Vocational courses run from Year 7 to sixth form, and the Dance course continues into a third sixth-form year. Tring Park Prep is the school's own prep stage, and the pages name no feeder or partner schools.

• Years 3 to 6: informal assessment day, applied for by email to the admissions office
• Year 7 and above: entrance audition, applied for through the online audition application
• Year 12: course audition in Acting, Musical Theatre, Commercial Music or Dance

How the 11+ audition works

Entry at 11+ is by an entrance audition in the child's chosen discipline, with a short academic assessment added according to the admissions policy. There is no written entrance paper from an external provider; the school decides places on the talent and potential shown at the time of audition, and it describes itself as not academically selective.

Dance candidates for Years 7 to 9 take a ballet class, a modern class, a flexibility assessment, a prepared dance solo and a physio screening. Performance Foundation Junior candidates for Years 7 to 9 take a modern dance class, perform a monologue, and sing a musical theatre song from memory chosen from a list the school provides.

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How the 13+ audition works

Entry at 13+ into Year 9 uses the same Lower School audition as Year 7, because the Dance course and the Performance Foundation Junior course are each set for Years 7 to 9 together. Candidates therefore sit the same classes, solo, monologue or song described for 11+, together with the short academic assessment named in the policy.

No Year 6 pre-test, conditional offer, Common Entrance paper or scholarship paper is named on the admissions or audition pages. Year 10 entrants have their own audition: Dance candidates take a ballet class, a modern jazz class, a flexibility assessment, a solo and a physio screening, and are ideally expected to have at least three years of classical ballet training, whilst Performance Foundation candidates take a jazz class, a monologue and a song.

Registration and the admissions timeline

Families register by completing the online audition application, and the admissions policy asks them to do so as soon as possible in the year before the intended year of entry. Years 3 to 6 apply by email to admissions@tringpark.com, and no closing date is published on the pages read.

• Apply: the single-course or multiple-course form for Year 7 and above, or an email for Years 3 to 6
• Audition date: allocated on a best-fit basis, with later applications placed on a waiting list once dates fill; screening rests on vocational experience and years of study
• Preparation details: sent after the application is completed, covering what to prepare, wear and bring
• Audition or assessment day: classes, prepared pieces and the short academic assessment
• Decision: the school advises whether the applicant has been successful, aiming to make offers soon after the audition; suitable candidates may be invited to a final audition for a Music and Dance Scheme award or a Dance and Drama Award
• Acceptance: a registration fee applies, part non-refundable, part deducted from the first term and part refundable as a deposit on leaving, with different amounts for UK and non-UK pupils

Interviews and references

Tring Park asks the Head of the candidate's current school for a reference, and the admissions policy says references and other information from previous schools or vocational teachers are requested as part of the assessment. Parents also need to tell the school at the outset about any special educational needs, disabilities or allergies, and to send relevant reports with the registration form before the assessment takes place.

Interviews are short and informal. The policy states that Year 12 candidates are informally interviewed, and the Acting, Musical Theatre and Commercial Music pages each list a short informal interview within the audition. The Year 7 to 10 course pages do not list one, and the Prep assessment day relies on observing small-group interaction.

Scholarships and bursaries

Tring Park offers talent scholarships worth up to 10% of termly fees in Performance Foundation, Acting, Musical Theatre and Commercial Music, open to new pupils, to Year 6 pupils moving to Year 7 and to Year 11 pupils moving to Year 12. Successful candidates may be invited to a scholarship audition, and honorary scholarships are occasionally awarded. No funding is available for Prep pupils.

Means-tested bursaries are open to pupils who hold a scholarship, and parents complete an online bursary application with supporting documents before the scholarship audition. Both parents provide proof of income and assets, an external assessor normally visits the family at home, and support can extend to full fee remission in cases of high ability and proven need.

Government-assisted Music and Dance Scheme places go to talented classical dancers aged 11 or above, and Dance and Drama Awards go to dancers aged 16 entering Year 12, both subject to income limits set out on the fees and funding page.

Fees and what they include

Tring Park publishes fees per term, inclusive of VAT, with separate day and boarding rates for Prep, Lower School, Middle School and sixth form, and the day and boarding figures for the main entry year appear in the key facts above. Fees may rise with one term's notice and are non-refundable.

Charges outside the termly fee include an audition fee, optional healthcare insurance, the school fees refund scheme, personal effects insurance, uniform, music supplies, course books, exam fees, educational visits, RAD lessons and Prep for day pupils. A 10% sibling discount applies to the second and further siblings attending together, and a 10% forces discount applies to families eligible for the Continuity of Education Allowance.

How the 16+ audition works

Sixth-form entry is by a course audition, and offers into Year 12 are conditional on a minimum of grade 6 at GCSE in any subject the candidate wishes to study at A level. Courses are Acting, Musical Theatre and Commercial Music over two years and Dance over three, and the school lists no numbers of places.

Acting candidates take a drama workshop or movement class, perform two contrasting pieces, and complete a short informal interview and an academic assessment. Musical Theatre candidates take a jazz class, sing two musical theatre songs, perform a monologue from a published play and have a short informal interview. Commercial Music candidates perform two popular songs from memory, sit aural and theory assessments, and complete an interview and academic assessment. Dance candidates take a ballet class with pointe work for female applicants, a contemporary class, a flexibility assessment, a solo and a physio screening, and should be working at Advanced 1 level or above.

How to prepare

Preparation starts with the audition page for the chosen course, because the content differs between Dance, Performance Foundation, Acting, Musical Theatre and Commercial Music, and the school sends full details of what to prepare, wear and bring after the online application. Applicants for Year 7 to 10 courses usually benefit from regular class work in the relevant style, and dance candidates should check the ballet and flexibility expectations named for their year group.

For singing and acting routes, candidates tend to be best served by learning the monologue or songs thoroughly enough to perform from memory, and by choosing songs from the school's list where one is given. The academic assessment is short and described as light touch for Prep, so familiar classroom reading, writing and number work is usually enough. Families who need adjustments for any assessment should raise them when registering.

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Preparation for the Tring Park School for the Performing Arts 11+ tends to go best when it starts early and stays steady, and most families who work with us begin between twelve and eighteen months out. Our tutors, who have prepared pupils for entry to leading independent and grammar schools including Westminster, St Paul's, Wycombe Abbey and Eton, plan the work backwards from the school's own assessment format and registration deadline.

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