Lucy Receives Royal Invitation

A Year 5 pupil at Barrow Hills School has been invited to join the prestigious Royal Ballet School.9 year old Lucy Isherwood has been accepted into the Royal Ballet School Junior Associate Programme, joining fellow Barrow Hills ballerina Molly Charlton who started in September 2014.  Both girls have been trained at Barrow Hills, where there is an active focus on encouraging children with clear talent to audition for additional ballet opportunities.

Lucy has already successfully auditioned for Surrey Youth Ballet and performs with them later this month at the Epsom Playhouse.  Molly has recently performed with the National Youth Ballet at Sadlers Wells and this year she will be auditioning for a full time Ballet School placement (starting September 2016), at The Royal Ballet School, Elmhurst Ballet School and Tring Park School for the Performing Arts.

The Royal Ballet School Junior Associate Programme attracts applications from hundreds of hopeful ballerinas across the country. An invitation to join the Saturday morning training sessions is the first step towards becoming a full time pupil at the exclusive Royal Ballet Junior School (White Lodge) in Year 7 – but competition is fierce with only 12 children accepted per year from all around the world.

Anna Holford, Head of Ballet at Barrow Hills says, “naturally we are incredibly proud of Lucy and Molly who have already achieved so much in simply being recognised as talented ballerinas by the Royal Ballet School.  Both girls have worked so hard and thoroughly deserve their place on the programme and I know they will continue to put 100% effort into their dancing to make the most of this amazing opportunity.”