Music Scholarships for Independent Schools, Do they encourage child abuse? Options

[Alicia Ocean]

We have a few local independent schools - not specialist music schools, that's rather different - that offer a discount on fees by way of a scholarship in various fields. There's generally a maths scholarship, an academic scholarship, a sports scholarship and a music scholarship.

I know an eight year old entering for grade 5 piano this term. It's essential to the parents that this child continues to show outstanding achievement to maintain their music scholarship and hefty discount at their school. The child gets back from school at 7pm (no homework as it's done at school) and then has time for tea and practice before bed and then doing it all again the next day. I can't say whether the child is enjoying this routine but I know the mother is very, very strict about practice. Isn't this sort of pressure on a child a form of abuse? Are the music scholarships perpetuating this? Any thoughts?

[Tixylix]

If there is a chance though, could your family request that the school mentions in their reference the issues with administration that she has had to put up with? The idea of the reference is that matters like this can be flagged, and the admissions tutor can take them into account. I also seem to recall (its many years since I applied now) that the Cambridge application form had a box where you could write about any reasons that you might not have achieved as well as hoped - so something like this could also help.

Good plan, I'll definitely suggest it. She hasn't got as far as filling in the application form at this point and I know it's changed since I did it, for a start you now get 5 choices instead of the 6 I had in 2006. The UCAS reference is something I'm honestly trying not to think about - at the end of year 11 each pupil's form tutor had to write a sort of reference for them, talking about their achievements and such over the past 5 years and her form tutor told the class to write them all themselves. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif) The tutor did eventually agree to do it after they all refused, though they did some amusing joke ones. I think she has a different 6th form tutor, hopefully she won't be made to write her own UCAS reference, though I suppose that might help. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif)