I love being principal of Stagecoach Performing Arts School in Farnborough.
You just never know what is going to happen form one lesson to the next. Being responsible for up to sixty children in one go could be seen as very stressful. But reality is, all the kids in the school are amazing characters. Some characters that want to build on their performing arts skills and others who want to improve their confidence and self-esteem. It is a great mix of characters that works very well.
The kids are the most important part of the school, then the parents who invest in our expert teaching and then the teachers themselves. The teachers are so important to every Stagecoach school, it is them who have to keep up the enthusiasm and energy that makes Stagecoach such a great success.
With teachers moving on and taking on family commitments I recently advertised for teaching posts for the first time in many years. There was huge response – everyone seems to want to be a Stagecoach teacher. It was a tough decision whittling it down to six candidates to interview for two disciplines. It was not an easy decision to choose.
The latest term has been busy, but also a very high profile too. As well as making every day decisions dealing with marketing, finances and dealing with enquiries I also need to raise the profile the school. To ensure everyone knows what Stagecoach has to offer and where it can lead.
A year ago I met Dee Anderson, she is daughter of Sylvia and Gerry Anderson who created the iconic Thunderbirds, Stingray and Captain Scarlet TV shows way back in the sixties and seventies.
I was a big fan of those shows when I was a kid, even as a grown up! Dee had written a show especially for Stagecoach with a throwback to those iconic shows. I agreed that Farnborough would perform the show, but it turns out that Stagecoach Farnborough will be putting on the first ever performance of this show – A world premier no less!
It was my job as principal of the school to secure a show for the Christmas term 2017. To meet the daughter of one of my childhood heroes and work with her was a great experience. As this was going to be a ‘World Premier’ I wrote to the local press who started to take an interest. Although it was a long shot, I wrote to TV companies too. It paid off, one local channel came to film and broadcast the piece about Stagecoach Farnborough (although they said it was in Aldershot!) and broadcast it on ‘That’s Hampshire’. It’s still on their You Tube even now. The BBC have since contacted me and are due to come down to film and broadcast the dress rehearsal of Dee Anderson’s show. The fact that she is daughter of such iconic TV producers is certainly attracting the media attention so my work contacting them is starting to pay off.
TV coverage is the icing on the cake for our Stagecoach lessons. I have been principal at Farnborough for fourteen years and those years have just flown by. I live in Farnborough so it is great see students growing up and being successful in many different fields using the life skills and confidence they’ve built whilst they have been at Stagecoach. Many of them have gone on to study performing arts at college and university. Students from Farnborough have starred in Hollyoaks, performed in a BBC sit com, appeared in ; Shrek the Musical’, feature in many pantomimes and shows. They have also performed at Shaftesbury Theatre – home of award winning ‘Motown – the Musical’ at Her Majesty’s Theatre – Home of ‘Phantom of the Opera’ and sung on stage with an X Factor finalist. It all makes getting up early every Saturday morning very much worth while.
PS. The most important thing after the teachers is the bell – the school just would not start without it!
https://www.stagecoach.co.uk/farnborough
Collingwood College Drama Department 