Welcome to
Footlights Urmston
Contact: jfisher@footlightstheatre.co.uk or call Jo on 07956 423895
JOIN THE NORTHWEST’S LEADING STAGE SCHOOL!
Does your child want to learn how to act, sing and dance?
Register now for a FREE TRIAL
Where we are:
We’re based at
Filxton High school
Urmston Road
Manchester
M41 5DR
Your child is welcome for a free trial at anytime, for more information email enquiries@footlightstheatre.co.uk or call Jo 07956 423 89.
About Us
The Footlights Head Office is based at Media City in Manchester, just around the corner from the main hub of the BBC & ITV studios. We were established in 2005 by our founder Jo Fisher, a trained actor and teacher, and who continues to have a hands-on role across our stage schools. Read more about Footlights and our history here.
We have robust processes to keep your child safe; all of our staff have DBS status and a trained first aider is always on site at each of our venues. You can read and download our safeguarding policy here.
What are you waiting for?
Book a no-obligation free trial today.
Do you live in or around Urmston?
If so, does your child…
Love performing & dream of being on the West End stage, on TV or in film?
Want to learn how to act, sing and dance?
Want to meet & make friends with children who share their interests?
Does this sound like your child?
Then Footlights Urmston is the right place for them!
What to expect?
During your child’s time at Footlights Urmston, our tutors will mentor them to help them realise their dreams of becoming a performer, by sharing their professional experiences, as well as facilitating and teaching performance techniques.
Footlights delivers quality performing arts training and our aim is to ensure that each child gets the most out of their experience by building their essential life skills and instilling confidence, whilst having lots of fun and meeting new friends. In addition to core performing arts skills, they will:
- Have confidence when socialising and in nursery or school
- Be encouraged to talk expressively in a structured, yet exciting forum
- Be inspired when taking part in discussions
- Be listened to when building skills in decision making
- Always be working as part of a team
Their learning will give them the basics and arguably the most important components of the performing arts.
The younger the child is when they take up an activity or interest the better, as in the right environment and with the right teacher they underpin the foundation to their learning and will already have a head-start on their peers.
You will find the Footlights approach friendly and energetic. We pride ourselves on inclusivity and being an encouraging company for your child to thrive in acting, singing and dance. We have superb progression rates from our schools, with the majority of our young students going onto performing arts colleges and drama schools.
We know you want to find the right balance between ensuring your child gets a good performing arts education, has fun and at the same time keeps up with their important mainstream education. We understand this, so this is why our method to developing your child’s Acting, Singing and Dancing will complement their academic studies. Plus, at Footlights, your child will benefit from the opportunity to take internationally recognised examinations through LAMDA (London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts).
There is also the option for students to audition for professional work in film, theatre and modelling via our agency, Footlights Personal Management (our recent successes include Game of Thrones and the CBBC series ‘KATY’).
Book a free trial today at Footlights Urmston and see for yourself.
Want to know more? Why not take a look at our FAQ’s
Shows
Each summer, all of our children take part in a performance. It’s a full-scale show where parents/carers, family and friends can come and watch their progress.
The Autumn/Winter and Spring term schedules focus much more on skills and technique with a shorter informal presentation at Christmas.
The teaching teams provide written feedback each Easter, so you can track your child’s progress. We also practice an open door policy for anytime that you wish to discuss your child’s progress. You can use this form to contact us, or speak to us directly.
We hope you enjoyed reading all about us and look forward to greeting you and your child at our school – just sign up here or message us.
Exams
We offer both Arts Award and LAMDA exams – find out more via your school
Class Timetable
Tuesday
Tiny’s (3-6 years) 5.30pm – 7pm
Main School (7-18 years) 5.30pm – 8pm
Saturday
Tiny’s (3-4 years) 9.30am -11am
Tiny’s (5-6 years) 11.30am – 1pm
Main School (7-18 years) 9.45am – 1pm
Our Staff
Jo Fisher
Founder of Footlights
Read Bio
Footlights Urmston was our very first school, founded in 2005. It like all our schools has the heart and passion of Footlights running through it. You will find Jo in her Footlights t-shirt and trackies any Saturday at one of her four company owned units in Media City, Prestwich, Urmston or Wigan. If you arrive between 9.45-10am, be warned; she’ll probably ‘persuade’ you to join in the most energetic warm up of your life! At 50 years of age she is more passionate and livelier than ever. Jo is always hands on with classes at the schools as well as her franchisees. She thrives off the buzz of Footlights and of course inside theatre she and Sue have built over the last four years at Media City ‘The Empty Space’
Tommy Garside
Acting Tutor
Read Bio
Tommy Garside is an actor from Manchester. He studied acting at Manchester School of theatre where he performed at the Nation Theatre in Tokyo. His recent credits include ‘Sexy Beast’ Paramount Plus, ‘Bodies’ Netflix and ‘Casualty’ BBC – all in 2023 so we are delighted he has stayed with us for well over a year now!
Tommy has a wonderful way in which he teaches acting, always fun first,he has a great relationship with students and teaches acting through improvisation, script and stage technique, the children and young poeple adore him and this can be seen in his classes and shows.
Carrie Pearce
Singing Teacher
Read Bio
Carrie is a trained actress and musical theatre performer from South Africa! She is a fabulous pianist and gives your child and young person a safe and supportive space in which to work from. In our singing classes, your child will learn how to warm up their vocal chords, how to use their bodies to create the best sound, they will learn breath control, how to support their voice and how to sustain it. We’ll train them to sing in harmonies, a group as well, or in a duet. They will learn about composers from Musical Theatre, as well as sing pop songs. In class, we also encourage them to sight read and recognise terminology. All this is done in a safe environment where they will learn to relax so the voice can sing – we can’t wait to hear them!
Amy Millington
Dance Tutor
Read Bio
Amy loves to teach your child brand new skills in dance, commercial, ballet, street and of course musical theatre. Her passion and drive will keep your child engaged and develop their excitement even further in the art of dance. Your child will work on timing, precision and technique as well as choreography, Amy will tailor her lesson to the groups skill set, so if your child is a little more advanced she will challenge them and if your child is brand new they will be set short term achievable goals to inspire them.
Hannah Simms
Tiny’s 3yrs – 6yrs
Read Bio
Hannah absolutely loves her job, she is a trained actress and mum ot her gorgeous Aeva and still finds time to commit to her 3yrs – 6yrs each staurday morning, Her sessions are uplifiting and fun!
All our tutors have extensive in experience both in the performing arts sector and education. In Tiny’s your child is taught acting, singing and dance in bite-size chunks, so that they can grasp the techniques easier, have fun and develop a love for the arts from a young age.
The Tiny’s concept is to prepare your child for main school. By the time that they leave the Tiny’s group, your child will be ahead of most 7 year olds who are new to performing arts. Our passion to teach will bring your child’s confidence to life.
Our daughter who is 9 started at Footlights when it first opened, Within a couple of weeks she transformed into a confident girl whose personality has blossomed! Anna and her team are the absolute best in finding strengths in the children and encouraging them non stop. I’m constantly kept up to date and I can always text with any issues. The end of term show was AMAZING, my mum was in tears at the transformation of Maisie and couldn’t believe how well organised and brilliant the children were! Thank you!
