About us
Vestry School of Dance & Performing Arts was established in 1996 by Lyndsey Ward.
The school has approximately 700 pupils and classes are held six days a week at five different venues around Walthamstow and Chingford. We have recently started running classes in Theydon Bois. Currently the school employs five qualified teachers. Guest teachers are invited to conduct workshops and pupils also have the opportunity to work with visiting professional dance companies and show their work in theatres across London. Ages range from 3 years old to student and adult level.
Classes are held in classical ballet (Royal Academy of Dance syllabus), tap and modern (ISTD syllabus), street jazz, musical theatre, drama (LAMDA syllabus) and singing.
Exams are held every term and can be taken in all of these subjects, except for freestyle jazz.
Shows are performed every two years by both the Junior and Senior School. Our next planned shows are in 2012.
Vestry School of Dance & Performing Arts is an AQA Accredited Centre for GCSE Dance and GCSE Drama and an ISTD approved Centre.
Teachers
All Teachers employed by the school are fully qualified and are ex-professional dancers/performers with many years of experience in their relevant fields.
All teachers have been CRB checked.
A first aid certified member of staff is on site at all times.
Principal: Lyndsey Ward AISTD (DIP), RAD Teaching Cert, AIDTA
Lyndsey trained at the London Studio Centre and The Urdang Academy of Ballet & Performing Arts. After a career as a professional dancer on stage and TV, Lyndsey now teaches full time. She has been the Artistic Director of the Birmingham Youth Dance Company for 18 years. Lyndsey is also the GCSE dance teacher at Trinity Catholic High School, Woodford Green.
Julia Lieberman, RAD Teaching Cert, AIDTA
Julia trained locally in classical ballet and is a member of the Royal Academy of Dance. She has been teaching for twelve years and joined Vestry in September 2000.
David Alexander, BA(hons)Drama
Since finishing his training David has had various acting roles in both TV and theatre. David teaches full time at many schools in and around London and is in constant demand as a Drama workshop leader.
Rebecca Hacet, AISTD Mod Tap RAD Ballet Cert
Rebecca trained at the Stella Mann College in Bedfordshire where she gained her teaching qualifications. She has taught extensively in various full time colleges including Stella Mann and Italia Conti. Rebecca joined Vestry in September 2009
Alison Connell
Vestry is pleased to welcome Alison Connell who has taught for Vestry for the last 5 years. She has been performing in Phantom of the Opera in the West end and is now Joining Vestry on a full time basis teaching both the Performers' and Musical theatre classes from September 2010 Alison is currently away on tour
Plus Guest Teachers including:
Maureen Tarler, Singing
Jo Shepherd, Drama
Eone7 Youth Theatre Company
Eone7 Youth Theatre Company was established in 2002 by Vestry School of Dance’s Principal, Lyndsey Ward and Drama Teacher Jo Shepherd, to provide an opportunity for young people in the community to increase their confidence and performance skills.Eone7 meets one Sunday a month and with the use of drama, singing and dance workshops, work towards a large scale production which is performed at a theatre within the area, with tickets on sale to the general public.Previous productions have included:
- Shake Ripple and Roll
- Honk
- The Wiz
- Bugsy Malone
- Oliver
- Cinder-Alladin
- Tracy Beaker gets real!
Entry into the Youth Theatre Company is by audition, which takes place at the beginning of the school year (September/October), with the production taking place the following year. The youth company is run on a voluntary basis. All guest teachers and instructors are ex performers.
Rules and Regulations
- Pupils are expected to behave in a polite manner at all times.
- Pupils are expected to come to class in correct uniform with hair kept neat and tidy
- Pupils are expected to arrive for class on time
- Parents are not allowed to watch classes unless a pupil is enrolling in the school
- Children are not to be left unsupervised in the changing areas either before or after class
- Children should be collected promptly at the end of class.
- Vestry School of Dance is not responsible for the welfare of pupils outside of their class times.
- Regulation uniform is required for all classes
Uniform
Dancewear uniform can be purchased from Simply Dancewear
For a concise uniform list and to order online please click onto the link below
http://www.simplydancewear.co.uk/shop/schools.php and then click on the Vestry School of Dance logo
As our in-house supplier, Simply Dancewear offers a special discounted rate to Vestry students
Use the promotional code ‘VESTRY’ at checkout to receive a discount of 5% off your total order
Simply Dancewear also holds a shop every Saturday morning.
The Saturday shop is located at Rushcroft School, Rushcroft Road
Opening hours 9am – 12pm Reopening 10 th September
Shop dates and times for other class venues:
Tuesday 13th September St Mary’s Welcome Centre
Friday 16th September St Patrick’s Parish Hall
Tuesday 20th September St Mary’s Welcome Centre
Thursday 22nd September Theydon Bois
Uniform can also be ordered online and Julia offers a 5% discount if you key in the code VESTRY at the checkout.
If you have any queries about uniform, please contact Julia:
Email: julia@simplydancewear.co.uk
Mobile: 07930 363 404