Inchwise · Questions we are asked

Questions, answered from what the schools publish

Admissions questions are usually questions about facts: who takes which age, what standard, what it costs, when the window opens. Below are the ones families ask most, answered from each institution’s own published pages.

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Every figure below is what the institution itself publishes, checked on 8 October 2026 and recorded with its source in the relevant Inchwise guide. Fees and dates change; the guide for each school carries the full list of what that school has and has not published.

Specialist music schools

What is a specialist music school?

A school where the child is educated full time and the musical training is built into the school day rather than added to the weekend. England has four: the Yehudi Menuhin School, the Purcell School, Chetham's School of Music and Wells Cathedral School.

This is a different arrangement from a conservatoire junior department, where the child stays at their ordinary school and attends on Saturdays.

How big are they, and where?

The Yehudi Menuhin School takes just under 100 pupils at Stoke d'Abernon in Surrey. The Purcell School has around 200 pupils at Bushey in Hertfordshire. Chetham's School of Music is the largest of the four, with 331 pupils on roll against a capacity of 355, in central Manchester. Wells Cathedral School is in Somerset.

Each has its own Inchwise guide with the full set of published facts.

What ages do they take?

The Yehudi Menuhin School admits pupils aged 8 to 19; applicants must be no younger than 8 and no older than 16 in the academic year before entry. Chetham's takes musicians from age 8 to 18.

Menuhin states that there is no fixed entry year: a place exists in a given year for a given instrument, or it does not.

Is there an entrance exam?

The Yehudi Menuhin School admits on instrumental audition alone — no entrance exam, no school report, and no 11+ or 13+ gate.

The Purcell School is the only one of the four English specialist music schools that publishes indicative grade standards by age, which lets a family judge readiness before applying. The grade table is reproduced in the Purcell guide.

What do they cost?

Published 2026-27 fees at the Yehudi Menuhin School are £49,260 day and £50,564 boarding excluding VAT, which is about £59,112 and £60,677 once 20% VAT is added. The Purcell School publishes £42,498 day and £54,262 boarding, VAT included.

Those are list prices, and most families do not pay them. Menuhin states that around 90% of its pupils receive some form of financial support. On the 2026/27 Music and Dance Scheme scale, a household with £100,000 of relevant income pays £18,587 for a boarding place.

Which instruments and disciplines are taught?

It varies by school, and the range is wider than families often expect. Chetham's teaches across eight departments, including organ, harpsichord, harp, guitar and saxophone, and has a jazz department and a historical performance department.

Each guide lists the published principal studies for that school.

Conservatoire junior departments

What is a conservatoire junior department?

A Saturday department attached to a conservatoire. The student stays at their ordinary school on weekdays and attends the conservatoire on Saturdays during term, typically for a principal study lesson, chamber music, musicianship or theory classes, choir and orchestra.

Seven UK conservatoires run one: the Royal College of Music, the Royal Academy of Music, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, the Royal Northern College of Music, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Trinity Laban, and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

What ages do they take?

Royal College of Music Junior Department: 8 to 18. Junior Guildhall: 8 to 18. Junior RNCM: 8 to 18, with the beginning of Year 12 the last point of entry. Junior Trinity: 10 to 19. Junior Royal Birmingham Conservatoire: 8 to 18. RCS Junior Conservatoire: 11 to 18. Junior Academy at the Royal Academy of Music admits from age 12.

The Royal Academy of Music also runs Primary Academy for school years five, six and seven, and Royal Birmingham Conservatoire takes beginners from age four on its Young Strings Project.

What standard does a child need to reach?

Each department states this differently, and some state nothing at all:

• Royal College of Music Junior Department: Grade 5 by the age of 11; sixth formers almost always at or beyond Grade 8
• Junior Guildhall: Grade 5 distinction at 10, Grade 8 distinction by 16
• Junior Trinity: at least Grade 5 on the first study
• Junior RNCM: as a rough guide, at least ABRSM Grade 5 with distinction
• Junior Academy (Royal Academy of Music): for younger applicants, ABRSM Grade 6–7 distinction level as a stated guide; the department says it is looking primarily for musical potential
• RCS Junior Conservatoire: no minimum grade requirement
• Junior Royal Birmingham Conservatoire: no grade level is stated

What do they cost a year?

Published tuition for the most recent year each department states:

• Royal College of Music Junior Department: £5,188 (2026-27)
• Junior RNCM: £4,751 Standard, £3,368 Foundation (2025-26, the latest published)
• Junior Guildhall: £4,359 (2026/27)
• Junior Academy: £1,415 a term, £4,245 a year (2026-27); second study is charged separately
• Junior Trinity: £4,212 (2026-27)
• RCS Junior Conservatoire: from £2,760 for 30 weeks (2026-27)
• Junior Royal Birmingham Conservatoire: no fee amount is published

Audition fees are separate: £45 at the Royal Academy of Music and at RCS, £30 at Junior RNCM. Royal Birmingham Conservatoire does not publish a junior audition fee.

How many Saturdays a year is it?

Royal Birmingham Conservatoire runs 30 Saturdays a year, typically 9am to around 5pm, with younger students usually starting on a shorter day. RCS runs 30 weeks of tuition, 9.00 to 17.00, from September to June. Junior Academy publishes a year of 11, 10 and 11 Saturdays across three terms, plus an Intensive Day in September.

The Royal College of Music Junior Department year is 30 teaching weeks, 9am to 5pm.

What is a second study, and does it cost extra?

A second instrument studied alongside the principal one. At Junior Academy, second study at 30 minutes is charged separately, at £330 a term. At Junior RNCM a second study is part of the published timetable, and most students choose piano, though the department says this is flexible.

At RCS a subsidiary study instrument or extra one-to-one time costs more than the base fee; the amounts are not published.

Can my child keep their current teacher?

It depends on the department. Junior RNCM states that students take weekly instrument lessons within the department and cannot take lessons with outside teachers, though they may join ensembles outside Junior RNCM if there is enough practice time in the week.

Where a family wants to keep an existing teaching relationship, this is worth settling with the department before applying.

Is a place held for the whole of a child's school career?

Not automatically. Junior RNCM re-auditions students each year to keep their place. RCS assesses students each year if they wish to continue. Junior Academy states that under normal circumstances there is no admission for a period of less than two years of study, and the Royal Northern College of Music prefers a minimum of two years.

Junior Academy students usually remain until they are 18 or 19, subject to progress.

Can a child study composition, jazz or traditional music rather than an instrument?

Yes, at several. Composition is a principal study at the Royal Academy of Music, Junior RNCM, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and RCS. Jazz runs as a separate course at the Royal Academy of Music (Junior Jazz, ages 14 to 18) and at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, and as a principal study programme at RCS.

RCS also runs Traditional Music as a principal study, with clarsach, fiddle and bagpipes among the instruments; pipers have lessons at the National Piping Centre rather than at Renfrew Street.

Does my child have to leave their school?

No. A junior department runs on Saturdays during term only. Students attend their ordinary school on weekdays.

A specialist music school is a different arrangement: the child is educated there full time.

Applications and auditions

When do applications open and close for September 2027 entry?

Two departments have published dates. Junior Guildhall states that applications for September 2027 open in January and close on Monday 1 March 2027. The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland states that the 2027-28 application form is available from Tuesday 27 October 2026, with auditions commencing in March 2027; no closing date is published.

For the Royal College of Music, the Royal Academy of Music, Junior RNCM, Junior Trinity and Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, 2027-entry dates were not published as of 8 October 2026. Junior RNCM auditions are held each March and April, Junior Trinity holds in-person auditions in March and April, and Royal Birmingham Conservatoire auditions mainly in April and May.

What happens at the audition?

The common core is two contrasting pieces on the principal study, sight-reading, aural tests, and a short conversation about the applicant's musical experience and intentions. One piece on a second study is usually heard where the applicant has one.

The Royal College of Music and the Royal Academy of Music run two rounds, the first by video. Junior RNCM, Junior Trinity, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and RCS audition in person in a single round. RCS auditions everyone who applies on time.

What are the rules on accompanists and backing tracks?

They differ, and they matter on the day. Junior RNCM requires candidates to use the official accompanist and to arrange rehearsal time beforehand. RCS provides a pianist and allows applicants to bring their own, with no rehearsal before the audition.

For the Royal Academy of Music video round, backing tracks are not allowed and an accompanist is optional.

Is there anything specific for percussionists or composers?

Yes. RCS asks percussion applicants to prepare one piece each on tuned percussion, timpani and snare drum, with less-advanced players able to offer two instruments by prior agreement, and a total performance time of no more than twelve minutes.

Composition applicants at RCS send a portfolio of no fewer than two pieces written for contrasting instrumentation before the audition, and also play one piece on an instrument of their choice. At the Royal Academy of Music, composers submit a portfolio of three compositions with scores, and recordings where available.

What if we miss the deadline?

Some departments consider late applications and say so. RCS states that late applications may be considered through an online form, and that accepted late applicants are also charged the audition fee. Royal Birmingham Conservatoire states that extra auditions may be offered during the year if places are available.

Whether a particular instrument has a vacancy in a particular year is a question only the department can answer, and it changes.

Funding

What is the Music and Dance Scheme?

A government scheme for England that means-tests parental contributions towards tuition at eight specialist music and dance schools and at a number of Centres for Advanced Training. Household income decides what a family pays.

On the 2026/27 scale, a household with £100,000 of relevant income pays £18,587 for a boarding place at a specialist music school.

Does it apply in Scotland?

No. It is a scheme for England. The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland is in Scotland, and the scheme is not mentioned on any of its Junior Conservatoire pages.

No Scottish Government funding scheme for Junior Conservatoire tuition is published on the RCS site as of 8 October 2026.

Do junior departments offer bursaries?

Several do, on means-tested terms, and the detail varies. Junior Academy publishes a bursary process in full, including that a full bursary covers basic fees and the core timetable only, that income is assessed on the previous financial year, and that a new form is completed each year.

Junior RNCM states that a limited number of scholarships and bursaries is available for cases of financial hardship, without publishing amounts or criteria. Royal Birmingham Conservatoire names three bursary sources but publishes ten bursary questions with no answers rendered on the page. RCS names seven funds and sends the application link after an offer is made.

Is there a residence condition?

The Music and Dance Scheme sets residence conditions as a condition of the funding itself. The conditions are stated on the government's scheme page and in the Inchwise guide to the scheme.

Inchwise does not advise on anything beyond what a funding scheme states as its own condition.

Is help available with an instrument?

Sometimes, through named schemes rather than as a general entitlement. Junior Academy lists the Benslow Musical Instrument Loan Scheme among the funders and schemes supporting its students.

Instrument loan schemes are separate from tuition funding and have their own applications and conditions.

Guardianship

Why does a boarding school ask for a guardian?

British boarding schools require an international boarder to have a responsible adult based in the UK: someone the school can reach in an emergency, who arranges accommodation when the school is closed, and who can attend when the school asks a parent to attend.

Each school sets its own requirements. The school is the authority on what it expects, and its own policy is the document to read.

What does a guardian actually do during the year?

The recurring work is a named guardian and a 24-hour emergency contact in the UK; accommodation for exeats, half terms and the parts of the holidays the school is closed; medical registration, appointments and attendance when the student is unwell; communication with the school and attendance at parents' evenings when asked; airport transfers at the start and end of term; and written reports to parents with a record of every arrangement made.

Those are the duties Inchwise contracts for. The guardianship page sets the list out in full.

How is guardianship for a music student different?

The duties are the same; the week is not. A musician's year is built around terms and around auditions, competitions, courses and concerts, which fall in the gaps the school calendar leaves open.

Inchwise separates the two halves. Guardianship covers care and safety. Music support covers practice during holidays, contact with the instrumental teacher and the music department, competitions, auditions and masterclasses, and the instrument itself. The two are contracted and charged separately, and a family can take the first without the second.

What happens to practice during the holidays?

Inchwise chooses accommodation on the condition that practice at a reasonable hour is accepted. Where a home cannot take it, a room is arranged elsewhere.

Three weeks with no instrument and nowhere to use it is three weeks a teacher then has to recover, which is why it is a condition of the placement rather than something settled afterwards.

Can a relative in the UK act as guardian instead?

That is a question for the school. Schools set their own requirements for who may act, how near they must live, and what they must be able to do.

The school's own policy is the document to read before a family decides.

Working with Inchwise

What happens when a family first makes contact?

An assessment comes before any list of schools: where the young musician stands now, what the next step realistically is, and what the family can sustain.

The assessment looks at current playing level and technical foundation, musical potential and rate of development, repertoire and practice, the academic stage and the family's circumstances, how well the target schools or departments match, and the key dates over the next twelve to twenty-four months.

Do you promise a place at a school or conservatoire?

No. Inchwise does not promise admission to any school, junior department or conservatoire, and does not represent any institution.

What the guides contain is what each institution publishes, with the date it was checked, including an explicit list of what that institution has not published.

Do you teach?

Inchwise Music runs its own programmes — a youth string ensemble, half-term workshops, a summer festival and community concerts in London — and these are taught by its faculty.

Guardianship is separate. It carries information between a student's teacher, the school and the family; it does not give musical instruction, and it does not intervene in the relationship between a student and their teacher.

Where are you based, and what languages do you work in?

London. Inchwise Edtech Ltd is a UK company registered in London.

The guides and service pages are published in English and in Chinese, and Inchwise also publishes in Korean, Japanese, German, Spanish and Russian. Correspondence with schools and teachers is in English; correspondence with families is in whichever language the family prefers.

How current are the figures on this site?

Each guide carries the date its facts were checked, and the source link for every figure. The guides also carry an explicit list of what the institution has not published, which is often the part that decides a family's timing.

Fees and dates move. Where a decision turns on something recorded as not published, the institution's own admissions office is the only source that can confirm it.