Director of Performing Arts: Miss S Blyth BMus (Hons), PGCE, SLE | Head of Acting: Mr S Eagles BA (Hons), PGCA, PGCE |  Head of Dance: Ms L Monk BA (Hons), GTP (QTS)

Meet the Performing Arts team

 

Steve Eagles Head of Acting	Sarah Blyth Director of Performing Arts (HoD Music)	Laura Monk Head of Dance
SEagles@henleyschool.com	SBlyth@henleyschool.com	LaMonk@henleyschool.com

As we are a specialist Performing Arts School, students have a wide range of opportunities to take part in the arts. We are the only school in South Warwickshire to offer discrete, timetabled Dance, Acting and Music classes with specialist industry-standard teachers at Key Stage 3, giving the best training for success at Key Stage 4.

Our talented students excel and many go onto professional careers in the arts. Students have access to our fully rigged technical suite, dance studio with sprung floor, drama studio, performance theatre, music studio with Apple Mac computers and outdoor ampitheatre. We also have strong links with local professional companies and theatres, including the RSC, MAC and Palace Theatre.

This year, students have performed in the Shakespeare Schools’ Festival at a professional theatre, were regional winners and national runners-up in the National Schools’ Dance Competition in Birmingham, and in the past few years they performed a variety of productions, including Oliver the Musical, Beauty and the Beast, The Crucible and Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest; not to mention many, many more musical and dance showcases at school events!

What opportunities are there to perform and to practise?

There’s something for everyone! We have three dance companies (Inspire, Dynamic and Force) so whether you’re a complete beginner or you’ve been dancing professionally for years, there’s a company to suit you. We have visiting teachers available to teaching singing for pop, for musical theatre or classical styles; multiple instruments and just for fun clubs open to all like our popular Ukulele group and choirs. In Acting, there are multiple productions each year, including our annual musical production, the Shakespeare Schools’ Festival, Henley Arts Festival and more. There are also our popular Performing Arts showcases each term to get involved in. The full list of current opportunities can be found on the Extra-curricular page here.

What qualifications do students study?

We offer graded examinations though the visiting teachers who run specialist music lessons. For Key Stage 4, our students pursue the industry-standard applied qualifications that focus on performance skills. In music, students study towards either the RSL Music Practitioner or GCSE in Music, in Acting students pursue the BTEC Level 2 Technical Award in Performing Arts: Acting and in Dance it’s the RSL Level 2 Cert in Creative and Performing Arts: Dance. At Henley, you have to option of studying all three Performing Arts subjects at Key Stage 4 should you wish to be that triple-threat, rather than being asked to choose between them.

What do our young people go on to do?

Whether it’s starring in films, West End and Broadway theatre, internationally successful television, touring the globe with their bands or dancing alongside the greats, our alumni are thriving in the arts. If you have a story to share, please let us know about all of your successes! You could be our next feature on this page. Click here to read more about our former students’ journeys.