Children's Drama Club

LJM

just to clarify im not knocking anyone who is willing to pay that amount

miss_independent

I'm a LAMDA Drama teacher but as well as doing private lessons I do group lessons at a theatre school which are £3.50 an hour and parents pay every six weeks. If I put up rates, I'm positive that most parents would complain or pull their children out, but it seems to be that I'm not charging alot on a national scale. My drama teacher was £17.50 per half hour for a private lesson years ago!

My one concern is the 8-15 age group. That is a HUGE difference in age, ability, life experience etc and on a weekly basis (as opposed to a summer school or one day workshop), as a teacher, I would refuse to teach an age group that wide. My groups, are 3-5, 6-8/9, 9-12, 12/13 - 15, 16 +. I always look for the level of maturity in each individual child and if they are not being challenged enough in class or they are like a fish out of water in their current group they get moved into another group. I myself as a just turned 12 year old was put in a drama class with mainly 15-18 year olds because of my ability. However, after two months I burst out crying in a rehearsal where I was playing Juliet in Romeo and Juliet because I was being ridiculed by the other kids for not knowing various sexual terms and I was being made to do kissing and "love scenes" with an almost 19 year old and was too embarrassed to say no. This is not at all typical of drama classes, however, and was a case of a teacher just letting the students do whatever they wanted and forgetting that I was 12 and not 15 or older. Most of my 8 year old students are petrified of the older teenagers lol!

Its a brilliant hobby though and I've seen so many children develop confidence and have their lives changed for the better through drama and, even though I've only been teaching 6 years, I have books full of cards, drawings and letters from students and their parents letting me know how much of a positive impact drama has had on their children's lives. Also, drama CAN be done outdoors as a pp has said, although we don't often get the weather. A love of the arts is a great thing to encourage in a child and I congratulate the OP for looking into it as a hobby for their child. Of course, its not for everyone, but I sincerely hope your child enjoys the drama club.

square_bear

Having again looked at the prospectus the club age range is actually for 8 - 11 years.

Sorry for the mistake.

Thanks very much for the positive feedback though!

Frith

I looked up Stagecoach tonight for my son and it is £315 per term!!!!! Needless to say, he won't be going....

miss_independent

The drama group I was referring to where I had a bad experience was actually a Stagecoach. Each Stagecoach is different because they employ different teachers but I can honestly say I learned nothing there and I regret the money my parents forked out. They decided to spend the money on private lessons instead and the result is I qualified as a drama and musical theatre teacher aged 19 and I also work professionally as an actress and classical singer. I doubt it would have gone any further if I'd stayed at the local Stagecoach. I recommend looking into local theatre groups (ran by the council or your local working theatre), and also the junior division of local amateur dramatics societies which I also was involved with whilst at school. Some of these produce amazing work at a fraction of the cost of franchise theatre schools. An alternative is to go round your local dancing schools annual performances, see which has the best students and overall impression, and enquire as to whether they also do drama classes. Good Luck!

square_bear

Update:
My son has been going for four weeks now and he loves it :j