Stagecoach - Good, bad or indifferent?

[NorthernNell]

DD is desperate to be a performer, was wondering about enrolling her at Stagecoach, but thought I'd check it out with the oracle first . It does seem a little expensive. Has anyone had any experience of Stagecoach and if so what are they like?

Not Stagecoach but DS goes to the Paul Nicholas school and absolutely loves it. It's £8 for a two hour lesson.

Ds goes and loves it - but it is a franchise so I think it is very dependant on the person running your local one...

I've thought about Stagecoach for DS too as it runs from our local school on a Saturday morning. I gather it's not cheap but haven't actually bothered to look into it. How much are sessions and do you need to sign up for a block or anything like that?

I think around £300 a term - but if she gets an idea of what 'performing' is, rather than just saying it. I blame too many american imports! I don't want her thinking life is all Miley Cyrus and other pre teens having a great life and just happening to be 'stars'. She can be a bit of a diva now (she's 10)if she wants to 'perform' I want her to know its hard work and just as much a job as being a hairdresser or a plummer.

Its 3 hours a week.

One hour of drama including improvisation,devising, character work, some script work, mime, voice production and stagecraft.

One hour of jazz/modern based dance - warm ups, corner excercises, centre work, posture, rhythm learning steps and putting them into a routine.

One hour of singing - warm ups, breathing, intonation, rhythm, developing musicality, interpreting lyrics etc.

Fees generally include any costumes except for simple items to be found at home and most schools do not charge for tickets to presentations unless they choose to take part in an optiojnal extra event such as the Stagecoach at Her Majesty's events.

Don't expect glitz and glam and jazz hands with stagecoach, if that is what you want, find a dance school (not knocking dance schools, dd goes to both). Do expect an emphasis on classwork and demonstrations of work in progress.

Children start off by paying for a 2 week trial £50, if they stay then they have to commit to a term at a time (you can pay monthly).

The main differences with Stagecoach that many other similar schools is that you have to do all three subjects so for example organisations like Helen O'Grady who only do drama are a lot cheaper because it is only 1 hour long. Also the principal does not teach so is there to monitor the teachers and oversee things. Schools where the principal teaches obviously have 1 less staff member to pay. There is a maximum of 15 children per class (a similar much cheaper school local to me has 30 in a class) and each school is inspected with only 20 minutes notice once a year by an independent agency.

Only just noticed this thread so apologies at bringing up something a few months old.

As blackduck said it is a franchise so standards can vary enormously. I wish the one DD went to had bean inspected a little more often! If you are still interested then ask around about your local one specifically rather than just going by the description of the organization as a whole.

Frankly we felt very ripped off by the one DD went to and only continued to send her becasue she was enjoying it and at the time we could afford it.

The end of term productions were woeful - the performances she took part in at school were streets ahead of anything Stagecoach could put on. Mostly they seemed to be used as a vehicle for the egos of the individual teachers and the principal seemed too spineless to bring them in line.

One of the worst experiences was when DDs Stagecoach, plus two others, were taking part in a charity performance in a theatre in a nearby city. The kids prepared for this for a whole term and DD was really looking forward to it.

Each Stagecoach had an alotted 30 minutes. DDs lot had each of their three groups (determioned by age) performing a scene that put together would tell a whole story. On the afternoon of the performance, at the dress rehearsal, they noticed that it was going to overrun considerably. (FGS they had been rehearsing for a whole term how could they get to 2 hours before without realising?) Cuts needed to be made - but rather than take a bit out of each scene they simply dropped entirely the scene that DDs group had been working on. So in the end she and the rest of her group were on for about 20 seconds of the opening dance then back on in the last 2 minutes for the closing song. Poor kids spent the rest of the time looking on - bitterly disappointed that they had worked on this for a whole term for nothing - while we, the parents, watched in blank bewilderment wondering what had happened to our kids!

Of the other two StageCoach schools though the last one did an absolutely cracking set. All the kids on stage all the time, all knowing what they should be doing and giving a thoroughly enjoyable performance. I don't think this was due necessarily to them being a more talented group. It was just that the school was run by someone who knew what they were doing and how to put together a good performance.

No doubt if my DC had been a pupil at that StageCoach I would think it was an excellent organization.

However, as I said - very variable....

Hmmm...interesting that. We thought of Stagecoach, but asked around and in the end went for a local theatre group that was slightly less expensive and does 4 hrs a week. We are very happy with this: dd is getting very good insights into what performing is actually like and performances are well planned and executed. Incidentally, local ballet school also very professionally run, but dd had to give up due to joint trouble. Both schools also very inclusive.

It's like ordinary schools: you have to look at the individual place, not just at the concept.

Don't do it!!
Go for something local which will be at least as good at a fraction of the price!

Our local theatre company charge £2.50 a week! They spend 6 months on techniques and small works and then audition for a part in a major production which they then spend the next six monhs working on and the perform in the local town hall. We sometimes have to pay a bit more towards costumes (which we don;t get to keep) but it's not much - about £10.

My Niece was a very shy child who could not even speak out loud in class let alone in a school play. Cue two years at an excellent stagecoach group (Cambridge) and she is part of the child cast appearing in every third show in the Really Useful Groups touring 'Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat' for around 1 month last Christmas.

DD goes to the local theatre youth group, it's around £6 per 2-hour session and is excellent. They spend a lot of time on technique, but the kids have fun as well.

My DD goes to Stagecoach and loves it but I also think the local theatre groups are very good. Saw the Redditch production last week of their Youth Theatre and it was excellent. The vocals were amazing. For us Stagecoach was just closer and at a more convenient time. The principal is very good at this one and the teachers very professional.

I worked for Stagecoach, as a teacher, for over 8 years. I've worked in a number of franchised schools and I have to echo what some of the others have said. Some of these schools are fantastic, have great teachers/principles and lots of opportunities but others are not as high quality. It is a little bit 'luck of the draw'. They are inspected but very irregularly and I don't believe the inspectors always see a true picture of the school. My DD attends a smaller theatre school locally and loves it! It's half the price of Stagecoach and has excellent staff and puts on fantastic productions.My advice, is do your research. Your local Stagecoach may be great and good value for money but there also may be an equally good alternative for a much smaller cost.

DD went to a similar thing to Stagecoach for 7 years, but the commitment of the staff became iffy.
My friend is setting up her own next month, with amazing teachers.