Stagecoach

Sally Messham of Yarm Further Stages stepped in to save a local amateur production. With only a few weeks to go the cast had lost a key member because of job relocation so Sally was auditioned and volunteered to help them out. Sally plays the daughter of a couple who unwittingly live opposite to a couple of Russian spies in the play “Pack of Lies” which is based on a true story. The chairman is very pleased with Sally and sent us a letter to prove it. She says, “the director is absolutely delighted with Sally`s performance and she has been an absolute pleasure to work with.  Here is a poster about the play -  and Sally. Well done Sal - you did us proud and prompted the chairman to say that no doubt in the future they will look to us again when they are needing children in their parts.

Cameron Wright`s mum from Yarm PM school sent me this note at the start of term that she kindly said that I could add to the web site.

Thanks and a cheque for £50 towards our £2250 total raised for Cancer Research UK,  from Eston Residents Association after STARE performed at their Christmas celebrations

Caitlin Morrow of Darlington Friday School was nominated by me for a Vibe Award because, together with her mother, she has launched a charity to help other children who suffer with phobias and other mental health issues. They are wanting to buy some books for Darlington`s Mulberry Centre on a range of issues so that children can borrow them to use at home. It will be called Caitlin`s Library and it is hoped that the charity can also support other centres on a national basis eventually. Well done Caitlin. It is always a great thing when you can turn around a personal difficulty and make something worthwhile tohelp other people. We are proud of you and will try and hold some collections for your charity soon.

A week ago today, we were inspected on the usual random basis by the team of independent inspectors who visit us in every main school every year.  Despite the fact that there was nothing official that she could inspect, because there was no teaching going on because our “Billy Elliot” auditions were running all night, she decided to stay and really enjoyed seeing the children of the Thursday Darlington school perform. She left this comment with us on our report form:-

“I was impressed by the professionalism of the principal and teachers and the high standard of skills of the students.”

V.Munnich 21.01.10

Received from Matthew Barrass` mum in Friday Darlington Stagecoach and now All Boy Dance Class 

Matthew loves the boys’ dance class.  He said “It’s the best thing he’s ever done in his whole life!”.  Obviously after such an announcement we have decided he should continue with the rest of the term.

I recently received this e mail from Olivia and Matthew Barrass` mum after the Friday Main School Demonstration. When I asked her could I add it to the web site, she replied

“I could write more if you like.  There are so many great things I could say on the subject of Stage Coach.”

My husband and I were so impressed with the presentation by the children on Friday night. Olivia and Matthew love coming to Stage Coach, and you have a great team of staff.  It’s great news about the Billy Elliott opportunity

Received from the organiser of the charity fundraising show at Middlesbrough Theatre that STARE and the All Boys Dance Class appeared at recently 

Feedback from the hotel events staff at Rockcliffe Hall Hotel has been very positive about the dummy run of our “paparazzi night” on Wednesday. Apparently everyone was very taken with the idea and thought that it added interest to their event. Claire from the events team wanted to stress how professional and enthusiastic she thought everyone had been on our team and even the M.D. was impressed (not sure if that means Steve Gibson the Chairman of Middlesbrough FC or not because I know the land and the hotel project are very much his and his daughter Katie was a Yarm Stagecoach student for several years.) SO …..well done to all those Further Stages students and Darlington PM Stage 3 students who did 2 rehearsals in 2 nights and kept up our Stagecoach standards so beautifully. And thank you to parents who made it all possible by ferrying children back and forth to the Forum and Hurworth. Great stuff. The hotel is now very open to letting us be involved in other projects in the future. And there are still 5 REAL paparazzi nights to go.

On Sunday morning Yarm AM Stagecoach was pleased to welcome Jean Harding to our school. Jean is the chief of Harding Associates - an independent team of inspectors who inspect each of my schools every year.

The inspector`s arrival is unannounced and therefore provides the most reliable kind of feedback because we cannot put on a “show for the inspectors”. What they see is a normal week in action. Many of the inspectors that we see, are Ofsted inspectors during the week so they know what they are looking for. I have been very touched in the past by how positive has been their reaction to Our Yarm and Darlington  schools

I was very flattered when Jean said that she had been reading a succession of excellent reports from my schools for years and had to come and see for herself.

At the end of the morning, she was very enthusiastic in her appraisal of what she had seen. I quote from her report on the Early Stages class:-

“A delightful school. Students learn well and behave well as a result of the very good teaching. The principal, teacher and helper work very well together, as a result the children enjoy their practice for the show.”

Of the Yarm AM Main school she chose to call the teaching “Outstanding” and said that “the inculcation of creativity is a strength of this school. The teaching is organised and creative. Students respond accordingly and acquire not only very good skills but a `feel` for performance.”

In her summary, she said “This is a super school. Students display a wide range of well-developed integrated skills and also have great fun. They are very well behaved because they are so focussed. Fabulous range of genre. Students LOVE coming.”

This was a particularly pleasing report because Jean is such a senior inspector, with many years of experience to call upon.

In 12 years, I can honestly say that all our reports have been ones to be proud of.  As we get future reports I will post the results to the web site and if I get five minutes might also get chance to post up some past reports too.