WHAT? WHERE?

Tring Park School for the Performing Arts is one of the UK’s top performing arts schools, with a rollicking alumni list – Lily James, Thandiwe Newton, Daisy Ridley, Jessica Brown Findlay, Ella Henderson and Matthew Bourne’s ‘swan stranger’ Max Westwell – that reflects the school’s specialisms in dance, drama, musical theatre and commercial music.

It takes children from 7-11 in the Prep (10-12 per class) and 11-18 in the Senior school (15-20 per class), reflecting Tring Park’s unusually strong focus on academic results alongside its elite performance arm (it’s no surprise that its own website description is ‘The UK’s leading performing arts and academic school’).

Location wise it’s just about perfect, sitting in a gorgeous 16 acre site up a long driveway accessed from Tring High Street, and centred around a grand mansion originally designed by Sir Christopher Wren in the 1680s – think oak-turned staircases, ceiling freizes, rolling lawns, grand ballrooms, and more servant bells in the basement than Downton would know how to deal with.

The school currently sits at around two thirds girls and one third boys, with boarding (available from 8 years old) making up 60% of the pupils here.

FACILITIES

Heavily tailored towards performance of course. It’s surely no accident that the first thing visitors see as they pull up the long gravel driveway is an eye view of a ballet class. And as you walk through the portico and into the entrance hall, there the dancers are again – floor to ceiling window showing them at work. It’s a pretty spectacular introduction to Tring for would-be pupils and their parents. The day I visited it wasn’t all perfect pirouettes though – all the pupils take dance classes to give them 360 experience, as well as fitness, so it was good to see definite non-dancers stretching, jumping and enjoying themselves.

There are three further large rehearsal spaces in the mansion building plus a music suite and small rehearsal rooms, and there’s a stunning 2010 wing of five rehearsal spaces in the Tring Park Studios (below) that still feels modern and shiny.

There’s a separate acting space, and an on-site theatre with top notch sound rig and flexiblity to move seating so that, for example, performances can be in the round when required.

There was word of a new theatre being built, but post-Covid that’s currently not the priority. What did get built, though, was a swanky £200,000 dining area/cafe on site – apparently the kids love it and it’s easy to see why.

Musicians are well supported here too – there’s a natural emphasis on contemporary composition and performance with the Commercial Music Course, though the school has also it’s fair share of classical success – its choir, the so-called ’16’, which won the BBC Songs of Praise Choir of the Year in 2016 and 2019.

SPORTS

Plenty of lawn for playing around but understandably there are not masses of sports facilities here – students are exercising at least half the day anyway on dance or body conditioning (even those not on the dance course), and they have to be careful not to sustain injuries. There are regular swimming lessons off site for younger pupils though. There are plans to develop the gym further and there are some interesting sports science discussions taking place with experts within the FA about the relationship between performance and psychology – how to peak at the right time and handle the pressure when it matters.

ACADEMICS

The USP for Tring Park is its commitment to academic rigour along with the professional performance training, so that there’s a Plan B in place if the dreams of stardom don’t go quite to plan. How does this manifest itself? Well, whereas the majority of performing arts schools might offer anywhere from 4-10 subjects at A level, Tring Park offers 19 – Film Studies and Photography are obviously crowd pleasers but according to the kids, Science is also really strong too with a 100% pass rate at GCSE for 2023.

Popping into various classrooms to see the children at work, they all want to read aloud, and answer questions; everyone smiles and interacts, they show great manners – it’s a teacher’s dream. The Prep school kids I met looked like they were having a total ball, all getting up to show me their work and have a chat about why they loved the school (much of it being about fitting in, kindness and enjoying all the performing).

There’s a Technical Theatre programme being developed for the Sixth Form to run alongside the acting course to start September 2025, which makes sense when you realise there are 16 major, wide-ranging shows from pre to post production running at Tring Park each year – great practise that will hopefully then lead to work-shadowing in the industry proper.

Musical Theatre, Commercial Music and Acting courses are expected to take three A-Level subjects whilst Dance course students have more flexibility due to the Trinity Diploma. Either way, results are undeniably impressive, particularly when you factor in that the school is academically non-selective. For GSCE 2023, 58.1% of students achieved grades A*-A, and 36.2% attained grades 9-7. At A level, the results were 59% A*-B grades and 82 per cent A*-C.

PERFORMING SUCCESS

It’s perfectly normal for various children to be away for months in West End musicals or pulled last minute into TV ads and dance shows but somehow the school avoids what could be a toxic competitive atmosphere by focusing on personal growth and improvement.

PASTORAL CARE

Anecdotally from parents I know who have children here, the pastoral care is well-regarded, with the children well supported by the teachers, two counsellors that come to school every week, the Lead Nurse (the school’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Lead) and each other – one of the benefits of the small cohort. In addition to the boarding staff there is also a day housemistress for the day pupils, external talks on PSHE, SMSC and wellbeing as part of PSHE programme.

The interactions between teachers and pupils that I saw were playful, friendly and respectful.

THE PRINCIPAL

Principal Simon Larter-Evans took up the mantel in Sept 23 from Stefan Anderson, who had led Tring Park School for 20 years. Larter-Evans started his career as a dancer after training with the Rambert Academy before moving into publishing and PR and eventually retraining as an English and Drama teacher.

Having been Head of English and Boarding at the Yehudi Menuhin School, and Head at St Paul’s Cathedral School in London where he was involved in the Evensong immediately after the announcement of Queen Elizabeth’s death (talk about stressful), being Principal at Tring Park school seems like the perfect fit for his background and talents. Charming and full of enthusiasm, he’s clearly loving it, and has an open, kind way with the children.

BOARDING

There are three boarding houses – one new, one renovated (both for girls), and the third all boys’ block, Clock House (the former stable block for the Rothchilds built in 1709) is next up for an interiors tickle. All the boarding houses are perfectly presentable with the younger children in bigger dorms, moving to single or doubles for Year 12-13 teens.

Children can board here from eight years old, and so a strong relationship is forged between the littlies and the older kids – boarding houses are run vertically here, spanning all year groups, and the younger children are taken under the wing of those in years above.

Day pupils can stay overnight if there is a bed available at an additional cost.

QUIRKS

There are costume departments, and then there are costume departments. Tring Park’s version is vast and rambling, with War Horse heads on tables and row upon row of frills, sequins and ruffs.

Sports Day at Tring Park sounds like a gas and, er, slightly not about sport – there’s a lot of effort that goes into the opening ceremony and the most popular races are things like ‘how many doughnuts can you eat in a minute’ and some kind of shuttle race involving costume changes.

Finally, it’s not an official game but probably should be – we can all play ‘Spot Tring Park’ in a gazillion of different films and TV shows including Renée Zellwger’s Judy, Avengers: Age Of Ultron, and The Serpent.

WRAP AROUND CARE

With an 8am start and kids normally collected at 4.30pm (Junior) and 6.30pm (Senior) they are long, busy, physical days. Pupils can stay for supervised prep with prior notice, and often they will have to stay later anyway for rehearsals and shows. There’s also a free minibus to and from the nearest train station.

ISI REPORT

A regulatory compliance report in 2021 and a material change report in 2022 both showed all areas ‘met’ in terms of quality. See all reports here.

FEES

Hovering a little higher than an average public school I’d say, costing £5,135 – £9,190 per term for day pupils, or for boarders £8,730 – £13,880 per term. If that’s too punchy for you, it’s worth knowing that 46% of the pupils here have some kind of financial support, and the school is launching a bursary scheme with a target of an annual fund of £500,000 – the equivalent of 10 fully-funded places.

WORD ON THE GROUND

I know several kids who board here and they love it. I mean, really love it. Admittedly they are very serious about working in film and dance industries (and in fact are already working) and I suppose for children so driven by performance, they will fit in better around like-minded kids who want to sing and dance all day with them. I haven’t heard any dissent from the parents – not surprising when you can see how successful it’s been at producing famous alumni.

THE MUDDY VERDICT

Good for: Children who have the drive and passion to be a professional singer, dancer or actor and basically want to spend hours and hours every day working towards that goal.

Not for: Enthusiastic amateurs. The half a day of vocational training means that hockey, netball and more general school activities are not possible, so while it provides brilliant opportunities your child won’t be playing the full gamut of sports. Anyone wanting an even pace and quiet life, don’t bother applying.

Want to see for yourself? The next Open Day will take place in October for September 2025 entry. However, they are still taking applications for Years 3-6 for Sept 2024 entry!

Tring Park School for the Performing Arts, Tring, Hertfordshire, HP23 5LX.

Tring Park School for the Performing Arts

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