With the support of Mayor Lode Craeybeckx, Jeanne Brabants founded the Ballet School of the Royal Flemish Opera in 1951. The first school year there consisted of evening-only classes. One year later, the day school was founded for pupils aged 14 and over. At that time, they were not required to attend school anymore. The pupils aged 8 to 14 were given a full-time daytime education and dance classes three times a week during afterschool hours. The number of pupils in the programme rose to 825 in ten years, 28 of whom made it into the professional dance world as soloists or as members of a corps de ballet.