A Guide to Royal College of Music Junior Department Admissions

Written By Dr Xiaoyun Peng

Inchwise Research · Conservatoire Admissions Unit

Data current to 28 September 2026. Applies to entry in September 2027.

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In brief

The Royal College of Music Junior Department is a Saturday conservatoire in South Kensington for musicians aged 8 to 18. The child stays at their ordinary school all week. Thirty Saturdays a year, 9am to 5pm, three terms of ten weeks.

The published entry standard is Grade 5 by the age of 11, and sixth formers almost always at or beyond Grade 8.

The core curriculum fee for 2026-27 is £5,188 a year. Second study is charged separately.

The first audition round is by video and portfolio; the second round is in person. The department publishes a language condition: it is essential that students and parents have a good grasp of written and spoken English.

01 What the Department Is

A Saturday department of the Royal College of Music, teaching at the College itself — Prince Consort Road, London SW7 2BS, next to the Royal Albert Hall. The nearest stations are South Kensington and Gloucester Road, both about ten minutes on foot.

The programme runs on Saturdays during term only, 9am to 5pm. The year is 30 teaching weeks, normally three terms of ten weeks.

Attendance is not optional: the department's handbook states that it expects all students to attend every term-time Saturday.

The Department for Education classifies the Royal College of Music as a Centre for Advanced Training under the Music and Dance Scheme. The department's own pages do not use that term.

02 Ages and Entry Points

8 to 18. Students are admitted from the age of eight and normally remain until the end of secondary schooling.

Singers apply from 14, which the department words as being for reasons of vocal maturity.

A minimum of two years. Students are normally admitted for at least two years of study, and gap-year students are not normally admitted.

The mini-bass course is a separate route, established in 1985 for young double bassists on scaled-down instruments, with a 30-minute individual lesson and an hour of group basic theory. The department's own page states the age range in two different ways on the same page — aged between eight and ten in one place, and admission from the age of eight (occasionally six or seven) in another. The two statements differ.

Mini-bass students are expected to reach a level to audition for full membership of the department after three to four years.

03 Standard of Entry

The department publishes the following standard.

Aged 11 and under: your first study will need to be at least Grade 5 level when you join JD.

Older applicants: more advanced is expected, and our sixth formers are almost always at or beyond Grade 8 standard.

Late-start instruments are treated differently. On viola, bassoon, horn, trombone, tuba, harp, organ and double bass, a lower level of attainment may be acceptable.

Grades do not have to have been taken. The standard is the level, not the certificate.

04 What the Saturday Consists Of

The core curriculum, all of it inside the core fee: first study, 45 minutes a week; musicianship studies, one hour; choral training, one hour; orchestra, between one and two hours; ensemble, one hour.

Forty-five minutes is shorter than the Royal Academy's one hour and longer than Junior Guildhall's and Junior Trinity's forty minutes. Across thirty weeks the difference is seven and a half hours of individual teaching a year in each direction.

Everything beyond the core is charged: a second individual study of 30 minutes a week, or an extra 15 minutes a week on the first study.

05 First Studies Offered

Bass trombone, bassoon, cello, clarinet, composition, conducting, double bass, flute, French horn, guitar, harp, harpsichord, jazz piano, jazz saxophone, mini-bass, oboe, organ, percussion, piano, recorder, saxophone, trombone, trumpet, tuba, viola, violin, voice.

Conducting and harpsichord are offered. The Royal Academy's Junior Academy does not list them.

Organ is offered. Junior Guildhall and Junior Trinity do not publish it as a first study.

Jazz is offered as jazz piano and jazz saxophone only; there is no jazz course. Jazz first-study programmes exist at Junior Guildhall, the Royal Academy of Music and Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.

Composers are auditioned on a portfolio of recent works rather than on performance alone.

06 Fees, 2026-27

Core curriculum: £5,188 a year.

Additional individual study, 30 minutes a week: £1,272 a year.

Individual study extension, an extra 15 minutes a week: £636 a year.

Mini-bass course: £2,043 a year.

No termly figure is published. The department gives annual amounts only, although it sets out the three-term structure. Junior Guildhall invoices annually and allows three equal instalments. The Royal Academy and Royal Birmingham publish both a termly and an annual figure.

Mini-bass instruments up to quarter size are provided free and fully insured at the start of the course. The department states it cannot cover the hire cost of larger mini-basses.

2027/28 fees are not published. The department says only that fees are set for each academic year and are subject to increase as required.

07 The Audition Fee

£45, payable with the application.

It is non-refundable whether or not the candidate is selected for the in-person second round.

Waivers exist. The department writes that it does not wish the cost of the audition to prevent anyone from auditioning, and that concerns about payment should be raised with it directly. A waiver must be agreed in writing before the online application is submitted.

No application fee, registration fee or deposit is published.

08 Applying: the Two Rounds

Entry is competitive by audition in March and April for entry that September, and the department states this is its only audition period, with auditions outside it only in exceptional circumstances.

Round one is recorded. An introductory video of two to three minutes, plus recordings of two short contrasting pieces on the first study, ten minutes maximum in total. A second study submission is optional. Composers submit a portfolio.

Round two is in person at the College in South Kensington and covers the same pieces plus aural tests, first study sight reading, and a discussion with the panel.

Junior Trinity states its auditions are in person. Junior RNCM requires the use of its own accompanist. Junior Guildhall, Royal Birmingham and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland publish no recorded route.

Dates for September 2027 entry are not yet published. The department states that information about applications for September 2027 will appear on its pages in January 2027, and offers a form for an email reminder when they are. As at 7 October 2026 the department invites late applications from viola players of all ages and violin players entering Year 12, by email to jd@rcm.ac.uk with the subject line Late application enquiry.

The 2026 cycle ran as follows,: applications closed at the end of Sunday 1 March; recordings and portfolios were due by the end of Friday 6 March; invitations to live auditions went out on Saturday 14 March; live auditions ran from Monday 23 March to Friday 18 April, with percussion on Saturday 28 March; results were issued on Monday 20 April; offers had to be answered by Friday 1 May.

Visit days are held in the spring term and are allocated on the basis of eligibility to apply for the following September. Dates for spring 2027 are not yet released.

09 Bursaries and Government Funding

Bursaries are means-tested and allocated according to financial need. The department states that it is its aim that no student is prevented from attending for reasons of financial hardship.

The department's wording on government funding: Eligibility for financial support is judged in accordance with the criteria set out for HM Government's Music & Dance Scheme. This describes the criteria the department applies. The department does not state that it distributes scheme grants.

The bursary deadline falls after the audition. For 2026-27 it was the end of Friday 1 May 2026, the same day offers had to be answered.

No maximum or typical award is published, and neither are the income brackets. The department asks families to contact it for those.

Where a family does pursue Music and Dance Scheme money, the scheme's own residence condition applies: three years' ordinary residence in the British Islands immediately before the grant is taken up, for a Centre for Advanced Training place. That is a funding condition. The department publishes no residence requirement for admission.

10 The Language Condition

Beyond age and standard, the department publishes one further condition, which applies to students and parents.

Its wording: All elements of the curriculum as well as all written and spoken correspondence are delivered in English. It is essential that all students and parents have a good grasp of both written and spoken English.

The Royal Academy publishes no equivalent. Nor do Junior Guildhall, Junior Trinity, Junior RNCM, Royal Birmingham or the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

The condition covers the curriculum and all written and spoken correspondence, which includes timetables, absence requests and bursary paperwork.

11 What the Department Does Not Say

Nothing about residence, travelling distance, applicants living outside the UK, or visas appears anywhere on its pages, in its audition information or in its pupil and parent handbook. It neither states that it sponsors visas nor that it does not. The published constraint on attendance is attendance itself: every term-time Saturday, in person.

Nothing about progression to the senior College. No statement exists that attending the Junior Department helps, or does not help, an application to the Royal College of Music at undergraduate level. The nearest wording is that many students go on to study music at universities and conservatoires in the UK and abroad, and that a good number choose alternative careers.

No termly fee, no bursary figures, no income brackets, no 2027/28 fee, no 2027 dates.

12 Points to Confirm Before Applying

The 2027/28 fee, and whether it can be paid termly.

The 2027 application deadline and audition window, published from January 2027.

The mini-bass age range, which the department's own page states two ways.

The bursary income brackets and the size of a typical award.

Whether the College's Centre for Advanced Training status, as named on gov.uk, is the Junior Department itself or a funded cohort inside it.

For a late-start instrument, the level the department will accept. The published concession names the instruments but not the level.

Sources

Dr Xiaoyun Peng
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