A Guide to UK Conservatoire Junior Departments

Written By Dr Xiaoyun Peng

Inchwise Research · Conservatoire Admissions Unit

Data current to 26 September 2026. Applies to entry in September 2027.

繁體中文版

In brief

A junior department is a Saturday conservatoire. The child stays at their ordinary school all week and attends the conservatoire on Saturdays during term, for a first-study lesson, musicianship, choir and ensembles. It is not boarding, and it is not a specialist music school.

Six English conservatoires run one: the Royal College of Music, the Royal Academy of Music, Guildhall, Trinity Laban, the Royal Northern College of Music and Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. Scotland has one, at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Wales has none: the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama discontinued weekly junior provision in September 2024.

Published annual fees for 2026/27 run from £4,212 to £5,188 in London. The Department for Education funds means-tested places at the English departments through the Music and Dance Scheme. That funding carries a residence test: three years' ordinary residence in the British Islands immediately before the grant is taken up. The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland is not in the scheme.

Entry is by audition in March and April, for September the same year. Standards differ, and three departments publish a grade: Guildhall expects about Grade 5 distinction at 10 and Grade 8 distinction at 16.

01 What a Junior Department Is

A part-time specialist programme, attended one day a week during school terms, alongside full-time schooling elsewhere. Junior Trinity, founded in 1906, was the first.

The core of a Saturday is the same everywhere: an individual first-study lesson, a musicianship or theory class, a choir, and chamber or orchestral playing. Second study is an extra charge at every department that offers it.

The day is long. Junior Guildhall runs 8am to 6pm. Junior RNCM runs 9.30am to 4.30pm. Junior Trinity runs about 09:00 to 17:00. The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland runs 9.00 to 17.00. Royal Birmingham Conservatoire runs about 9am to 5pm across 30 Saturdays a year.

The Department for Education classifies the English junior departments as Centres for Advanced Training. None of the six uses that term on its own website, so a family reading the conservatoire's pages will not meet the words that gov.uk uses.

02 Who Runs One

England. Royal College of Music Junior Department, South Kensington, London. Junior Academy at the Royal Academy of Music, Marylebone Road, London. Junior Guildhall, Silk Street, Barbican, London. Junior Trinity at Trinity Laban, King Charles Court, Greenwich, London. Junior RNCM, Oxford Road, Manchester. Junior Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Jennens Road, Birmingham.

Scotland. Junior Conservatoire of Music at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Renfrew Street, Glasgow.

Wales. None. The Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama announced on 19 July 2024 that the current model of weekly activity with Young RWCMD remains financially unsustainable and therefore will not continue in September 2024. What remains is weekend workshops, free instrument days and holiday courses, not a weekly auditioned programme. Directory listings that still show a Cardiff junior conservatoire are out of date.

Two further London centres are not conservatoire junior departments but are funded on the same basis. The Centre for Young Musicians, at Morley College near Waterloo, is part of the Guildhall Young Artists network; it is open access rather than auditioned, and it publishes fees per term. Guildhall therefore appears twice on the government's list, as Junior Guildhall and as CYM.

03 Ages and Entry Points

The entry age is not the same at each, and the gap is wide.

Royal College of Music Junior Department: 8 to 18. Singers apply from 14. Students are normally admitted for a minimum of two years, and gap-year students are not normally admitted.

Junior Guildhall Music Course: 8 to 18. Singers from mid-teens; treble voices are not taken. Younger tiers exist below it: Brass, String and Wind Training Programmes for Years 2 to 6, and a Kindergarten course for Reception and Year 1.

Junior RNCM: 8 to 18, with a shortened Foundation Section for the youngest. Year 12 is normally the last entry point.

Junior Royal Birmingham Conservatoire: 8 to 18, with the Young Strings Project taking beginners from age four and a Primary Winds Programme for primary Years 3 to 6.

Junior Trinity Main Programme: 10 to 19. Below it, String Time and Band Time run from age 3 to 11.

Junior Academy at the Royal Academy of Music starts at 12, not at 8. This is the most common mistake made about it. Under-12s enter through Primary Academy, for school years five to seven, or First String Experience, from Reception to Year 3. Junior Jazz is 14 to 18 and Musical Theatre is 13 to 18, each a separate course with its own fee and its own deadline.

Royal Conservatoire of Scotland Junior Conservatoire: S1 to S6 and above, and the College states you can apply to join at any point in secondary school. Below it, Pre-Junior takes P4 to P7 by audition, and the Primary Instrumental Programme takes P2 to P7 by ballot rather than audition, on Sundays rather than Saturdays.

04 Standard of Entry

Three departments publish a figure, two publish a softer one, and two publish none.

Junior Guildhall: candidates will normally have attained a standard of about Grade 5 distinction at the age of 10 and Grade 8 distinction by the age of 16. Grades need not have been taken.

Royal College of Music Junior Department: for applicants aged 11 and under, your first study will need to be at least Grade 5 level when you join JD; older applicants are expected to be more advanced, and our sixth formers are almost always at or beyond Grade 8 standard. A lower level may be accepted on viola, bassoon, horn, trombone, tuba, harp, organ and double bass.

Royal Academy of Music: we expect ABRSM Grade 6–7 distinction level (or equivalent standard) from our younger applicants for Junior Academy, and at least ABRSM Grade 5 distinction for Primary Academy.

Junior RNCM: as a rough guide we are looking for at least ABRSM Grade 5 with distinction, though we appreciate that some of our younger applicants may not yet have attained this.

Junior Trinity: applicants are expected to be at least Grade 5 standard or equivalent on their first study instrument. The department also states that being of the right standard alone is not a guarantee of acceptance.

Royal Birmingham Conservatoire: no grade standard published. The stated test is exceptional potential and the ability to achieve it.

Royal Conservatoire of Scotland: we do not ask for any minimum grade — instead the panel will be looking for applicants of great potential who demonstrate they have the commitment and ability to work hard. It does require that the applicant is already having lessons on the chosen principal study.

05 Fees, 2026/27

Fees are published on different bases, which is what makes them hard to compare. RCM, Junior Guildhall, Junior Trinity and Junior RNCM publish an annual figure only. The Royal Academy and Royal Birmingham publish both a termly and an annual figure. The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland publishes a figure for 30 weeks, and words it as a floor.

Royal College of Music Junior Department, 2026-27. Core curriculum £5,188 a year, covering a 45-minute first study lesson, musicianship, choral training, orchestra and ensemble. An additional individual study of 30 minutes a week is £1,272; an extra 15 minutes a week is £636. The mini-bass course is £2,043.

Junior Guildhall, 2026/27. Music Course £4,359 a year, covering a 40-minute first study lesson, a Musical Awareness class and ensembles. Jazz £4,875. Electronic and Produced Music £4,875. Brass, String and Wind Training £2,565. Kindergarten £945. Invoiced annually, payable in one payment or three equal termly instalments.

Royal Academy of Music, 2026/27. Junior Academy £1,415 a term, £4,245 a year, covering a one-hour first study lesson, chamber ensembles, academic classes, orchestras and choirs. Primary Academy £780 a term, £2,340 a year. Junior Jazz £580 a term, £1,740 a year. Musical Theatre £690 a term, £2,070 a year. First String Experience £390 to £1,290 a year by year group. Second study is £330 a term, £990 a year, at both Primary and Junior level.

Junior Trinity, 2026-27. Main Programme £4,212 a year, covering a 40-minute first study lesson, musicianship, choral ensemble and chamber or large ensemble. The version including GCSE and A level classes is £4,834. First study extension to 60 minutes £891. Second study £1,352. Alexander technique £676.

Junior RNCM. The published figures are still headed 2025/26: Junior Standard £4,751, Junior Foundation £3,368. Payable annually, termly or by standing order over ten months, with one term's notice to withdraw. ABRSM entry fees are billed separately.

Junior Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. The published figures are still headed 2025-26. Classical, principal study only: £1,086 a term, £3,258 a year. Classical, principal and second study: £1,407 a term, £4,221 a year. Junior Jazz, classes only with no one-to-one tuition: £449 a term, £1,347 a year. Young Strings Project £399 a term, £1,197 a year. Primary Winds £338 a term, £1,014 a year. The chamber music fee is not published.

Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, 2026/27. Junior Conservatoire begins at £2,760 for 30 weeks — a floor, not a flat fee, with subsidiary study and longer lessons charged extra at a rate that is not published. Pre-Junior begins at £1,525. Primary Instrumental £855 to £1,560. The Music Centres in the west of Scotland are free.

Centre for Young Musicians, 2026/27, per term. Full Programme £935. Core Programme £627. Taster Course £532. Prelude Strings and Youth Brass £232.

No junior department has published a 2027/28 fee.

06 Audition and Application Fees

Royal College of Music Junior Department: £45 audition fee, non-refundable even if the candidate is not recalled for a second round. Waivers are available but must be agreed in writing before the application is submitted.

Royal Academy of Music: no application fee; £45 payable if invited to a live audition.

Junior Trinity: £35, non-refundable. Waived for existing String Time and Band Time students.

Junior RNCM: £30, one-off.

Royal Conservatoire of Scotland: £45.

Junior Guildhall: an application fee exists — the site refers to refunding it where a first-study piano candidate cannot be offered an audition — but the amount is not published.

Royal Birmingham Conservatoire: no application, audition or registration fee is published. That is an absence of a statement rather than a statement that none is charged.

07 Dates for September 2027 Entry

Auditions are held in March and April almost everywhere, for entry the following September. Royal Birmingham is the exception, at April and May; the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland runs late February to early April.

Junior Guildhall publishes a standing deadline: applications open in early January and close at 11.59pm on 1 March each year. It is the only department whose deadline can be read off the page today.

Royal Conservatoire of Scotland: the 2027/28 application form is available from Tuesday 27 October 2026, with auditions commencing in March 2027. Its next in-person Open Day is Saturday 14 November 2026.

Royal College of Music Junior Department: information about applications for September 2027 will be published in January 2027. The 2026 cycle closed on 1 March 2026, with recordings due 6 March and live auditions from 23 March to 18 April.

Junior Trinity: applications for 2027 entry open in early autumn; auditions in person in March and April. The 2026 deadline was 28 February 2026.

Royal Academy of Music: 2027 dates for the main Junior Academy course, Primary Academy and Junior Jazz are not published. Musical Theatre is the exception — its taped-audition portal opens in early January 2027 and closes in early March 2027. First String Experience forms appear from early November 2026.

Junior RNCM: 2027 dates not published. The 2026 cycle opened 30 January and closed 6 March 2026.

Royal Birmingham Conservatoire publishes no deadline at all. Applications are held on file and the department contacts applicants when it is next recruiting; closing dates are obtainable only from the Junior Conservatoire office.

08 What Happens at the Audition

Two contrasting pieces on the first study, scales and arpeggios, sight-reading, aural tests and a short interview is the common pattern.

Two departments run a recorded first round. The Royal College of Music takes a first round by video and portfolio, with second-round auditions in person at South Kensington; the submission is an introductory video of two to three minutes and two short contrasting pieces to a maximum of ten minutes. The Royal Academy runs a video submission followed by a live recall for selected applicants.

The others publish no recorded route. Junior Trinity states auditions are in person. Junior RNCM requires the use of the official accompanist provided. Junior Guildhall, Royal Birmingham and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland describe in-person auditions and mention no video stage.

Accompanists: Junior RNCM and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland provide one; Junior Guildhall provides one unless the candidate prefers their own.

Composition is auditioned by portfolio at the Royal College of Music, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and elsewhere, rather than by performance alone.

A place at Junior RNCM is not held for the duration. Students are re-auditioned each year and must demonstrate satisfactory and significant progress to retain it. No other department publishes an annual re-audition requirement; the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland states that progression through its Pre-Junior levels is not automatic.

09 Government Funding: the Music and Dance Scheme

The Department for Education funds means-tested places under the Music and Dance Scheme, which gov.uk describes as providing grants and help with fees at 8 schools and 20 Centres for Advanced Training. Eligibility runs from 8 to 19 for music schools and music CATs, and to 25 for disabled students at CATs.

The music CATs named on gov.uk are: Advanced Young Musicians; Centre for Young Musicians; Guildhall School of Music & Drama; Royal Academy of Music; Royal Birmingham Conservatoire; Royal College of Music; Royal Northern College of Music; Sheffield Music Academy; South West Music School; The Glasshouse International Centre for Music; Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance; Yorkshire Young Musicians.

Applications go directly to the department, not to the government. The Royal Academy states that bursaries are means-tested on Music and Dance Scheme household income criteria and that students selected for scheme support are sent a further form. Junior Guildhall calls its scheme money National Grants. Royal Birmingham publishes numbers: 45 Music and Dance Scheme National Grants and 40 Leverhulme Trust Scholarships. The Royal College of Music states that eligibility for its bursaries is judged in accordance with the scheme's criteria.

The 2026/27 means-tested scale for a Centre for Advanced Training place, as published by the national CAT network: no parental contribution where relevant income is £35,262.46 or less, after deducting £2,440 for each dependent child; maximum grant £4,344; the grant tapers to zero at relevant income of £77,578.92 or more.

None of the six English conservatoires publishes a maximum or typical bursary figure of its own. Junior Guildhall publishes a separate scholarship range of £250 to £1,000, awarded at audition with no application.

10 The Residence Rule

This is the condition that decides whether a family newly arrived in the UK can be funded, and it is a funding rule, not an admissions rule.

The scheme's rules set a residence test measured in years of ordinary residence in the British Islands — defined as the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands — immediately before the grant is taken up. For a place at one of the four specialist music schools the period is two years. For a place at a Centre for Advanced Training, which is what a junior department is for this purpose, the period is three years. The national CAT network states the same rule as having been living in the UK for at least 3 years.

A further condition applies to the child's schooling: a CAT student should be a full-time registered pupil at a maintained or independent school or college in the UK, or home educated.

On first entry to CAT training a pupil should not be over 16 on 1 September of the year training starts.

The scheme's application asks for evidence of income for all relevant parents and proof of address in the UK, and states that no grant is awarded where acceptable evidence of income is not submitted.

Admission and funding are separate gates. No junior department publishes a residence requirement, a travelling-distance limit, or any statement about applicants living outside the UK. The published constraint on admission is attendance: every Saturday of term, in person. Junior RNCM lists students travelling from Northumberland, Cumbria, Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, the Midlands, Wales, the Isle of Man and Guernsey; the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland describes more than 350 young people travelling from across Scotland and the north of England. Both are descriptions of who attends, not rules about who may.

11 Scotland and Wales

The Music and Dance Scheme applies to England. No Scottish or Welsh institution appears on its list, so the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland Junior Conservatoire has no equivalent national means-tested grant. It offers its own named funds instead: the Agnes Allan Bursary, ABRSM Junior Scholarship UK, Wolfson Foundation Scholarship, Stevenson Scholarship, Miss Nancy Williamson Bursary, William R MacFarlane Scholarship and Savoy Scholarship. It does not publish whether these are means-tested, or what they are worth.

Scotland's other specialist route sits inside the state sector, at local authority schools: Douglas Academy Music School, the City of Edinburgh Music School at Broughton High School, Aberdeen City Music School at Dyce Academy, and Sgoil Chiùil na Gàidhealtachd at Plockton High School. Separately, the Scottish Government funds aided places at St Mary's Music School in Edinburgh.

Wales has no conservatoire junior department and no equivalent individual grant scheme. The Royal Welsh College's stated reason for discontinuing weekly junior provision was that it receives no direct funding for pre-College education from the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales.

12 Eight Things Commonly Got Wrong

1. RNCM Young Artists is not the junior conservatoire. It is a programme for pop musicians aged 11 to 18 from across the North West, delivered by the RNCM's Popular Music Department, across bass guitar, drums, guitar, keyboards and vocals, at £1,250 a year for 2026-27. The classical Saturday school is Junior RNCM.

2. Trinity Laban's page headed Centre for Advanced Training is the dance CAT, ages 12 to 17, at £4,344. The music provision is Junior Trinity. Trinity Laban appears twice on the government list, once under music and once under dance, and they are different programmes.

3. Junior Guildhall and the Centre for Young Musicians are not the same school. Different buildings — Silk Street at the Barbican, and Morley College near Waterloo. Junior Guildhall is auditioned and selective; CYM is open access and recommends only a year of prior learning. Junior Guildhall quotes an annual fee and CYM a termly one, which is why the two headline numbers appear to be in the wrong order.

4. Junior Academy at the Royal Academy of Music begins at 12. A fee quoted for Junior Academy without naming which of its five courses it belongs to does not mean anything.

5. Wales has had no junior conservatoire since September 2024.

6. The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland is not in the Music and Dance Scheme, so the English grant route does not exist there.

7. Junior RNCM does not allow an outside instrumental teacher. Its own wording: Our students are not permitted to have instrument lessons with other teachers as this may lead to conflicting advice. Outside ensembles are allowed. No other department publishes such a rule.

8. A junior place is not a route into the senior conservatoire. Not one of the seven departments publishes any statement that attending helps entry to its own undergraduate courses. Royal Birmingham's wording is that it trains young musicians to a level where they could gain a place at a senior conservatoire. Junior RNCM states that around three-quarters of its leavers go on to study music.

13 Points to Confirm Before Applying

The 2027/28 fee. No department has published one.

The 2027 application deadline, at every department except Junior Guildhall and, from 27 October 2026, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

At Royal Birmingham, the closing date at all, which is held by the Junior Conservatoire office rather than published.

Whether a recorded audition is possible where the candidate cannot travel to the audition in March or April. Only the Royal College of Music and the Royal Academy publish one.

The value of a bursary. No department publishes a maximum or typical award.

Whether the department's own Saturday programme is the Centre for Advanced Training named on gov.uk, or whether the funded cohort sits inside it. None of the six uses the term on its own site.

Second study cost, which is charged separately everywhere it is offered and is excluded from a full bursary at the Royal Academy.

Junior Guildhall's application fee, which is not published.

Sources

Dr Xiaoyun Peng
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