BRIT School
The BRIT School | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Address | |
![]() | |
The Crescent , CR0 2HN England | |
Coordinates | 51°23′24″N 0°05′29″W / 51.3899°N 0.0914°WCoordinates: 51°23′24″N 0°05′29″W / 51.3899°N 0.0914°W |
Information | |
Type | City Technology College |
Established | 1991 |
Local authority | London Borough of Croydon |
Department for Education URN | 101849 Tables |
Ofsted | Reports |
Principal | Stuart Worden |
Gender | Mixed |
Age | 14 to 19 |
Enrollment | 1350 |
Website | http://www.brit.croydon.sch.uk/ |
The BRIT School is a British performing arts and technology school located in the London Borough of Croydon, England, with a mandate to provide education and vocational training for the performing arts, media, art and design and the technologies that make performance possible. Selective in its intake, the school is notable for its celebrity alumni.[1][2][3][4]
Established in 1991 under the CTC programme, the school is funded by the British Government with support from the British Record Industry Trust and maintains an independent school status from the local education authority. The school is remarkable as being one of only three performing arts and technology schools in the country that are free to attend.
History[]
Mark Featherstone-Witty had been inspired by Alan Parker's 1980s film Fame to create a secondary school specialising in the performing arts. By the time he started trying to raise money through the School for Performing Arts Trust (SPA), he had refined a novel integrated curriculum. He approached Sir Richard Branson to be the project champion who agreed, on the condition that other record companies chipped in. As it happened, the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) were concerned with home taping and realised they had no political influence to bring the necessary pressure to bear. The then Conservative government needed to give impetus to their flagging City Technology College scheme.
For nearly 30 years, the BRIT School has been the beneficiary of funding from the British record industry, with a substantial annual contribution from the proceeds of the Brit Awards, administered via the record industry's charity, the BRIT Trust.[5]
The school's former principal Sir Nick Williams was knighted in the New Years Honours List 2013 for services to education.
Mandate[]
The school was founded in 1991 under the auspices of the City Technology Colleges (CTC) initiative with sponsorship from the British Record Industry Trust (BRIT). Each year the BRIT Awards Music Ceremony raises money, some of which is used to help the continuing sponsorship of the school along with other music charities.[5]
The school recognises that most of its students intend to make a career in the arts, entertainment and communications industries, but the school expects all to follow full-time courses to completion. It has two professional theatres, the Obie Theatre, which can seat audiences of up to 324 and standing audiences up to 500; and the BRIT Theatre, which opened in January 2012 and seats audiences of up to 280. There are also various dance studios, musical theatre studios, and TV and radio studios. YouTube Music has just funded a new Television Studio to be opened in 2019. https://www.musicweek.com/digital/read/we-re-passionate-about-the-work-of-the-brit-school-youtube-music-funds-studios-for-students/075400
Entry[]
Entry to any of the school's courses is initially by application. If applicants meet the initial entry criteria, they may then be invited to interview or audition in their chosen focus (either Film and Media Production (FMP), Community Arts Practice (CAP), Dance, Interactive Digital Design, Music, Music Technology, Musical Theatre, Production Arts, Theatre and Visual Arts & Design, for sixth-form entry students), plus a meeting with relevant tutors. Entry to the Music course also includes oral and music theory tests and an audition, with entry to the Dance, Theatre and Musical Theatre courses also including audition rounds.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/13/Steerthestartsdancers.jpg/220px-Steerthestartsdancers.jpg)
Growth[]
The school expanded in 2012, acquiring part of the former Selhurst High School building next door. Three new courses, Production Arts, Interactive Digital Design and Community Arts Practise were introduced to coincide with this. There are currently 1352 Students on role.
Media appearances[]
- Music Week The BRIT Awards 2019 donates £250,000 towards mental health wellbeing for young people https://www.musicweek.com/media/read/the-brit-awards-2019-donates-250-000-towards-mental-health-wellbeing-for-young-people/076625
- The Times Black Midi: the Brit School boys who are the most exciting band of 2019 https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/black-midi-the-brit-school-boys-who-are-the-most-exciting-band-of-2019-xxx6g9gn3
- GMTV did a one-week focus on the BRIT School, which was shown in the mornings for a week.
- Alan Carr's talk show, Alan Carr: Chatty Man. spoke about the BRIT School on the episode that aired on 13 December 2010.
- An episode of Celebrity Masterchef was filmed at the BRIT School in spring 2011, which included the final four candidates serving lunch.
- A documentary was filmed and shown on the CBBC channel.
Criticism[]
Although the Brit school has produced many successful alumni, the school has attracted criticism: a 2011 BBC News article discussed the issue of whether students who attended the school have an unfair advantage over those who did not.[6]
Notable alumni[]
![]() | This article's list of alumni may not follow Wikipedia's verifiability policy. (November 2019) |
- Ace and Vis (TV/radio presenters)[citation needed]
- Adele (singer-songwriter)
- Leona Lewis (singer-songwriter)
- Marsha Ambrosius (singer-songwriter and member of Floetry)
- Percelle Ascott (actor)
- Bashy (rapper/actor)
- Jamie Isaac (singer-songwriter)
- Will Bayley (Paralympian)
- Jade Bird (singer)
- Billie Black (singer)
- Black Midi (band)
- Dane Bowers (singer-songwriter and former member of Another Level)
- Breakage (musician)[citation needed]
- Gemma Cairney (radio presenter)
- Benjamin Coyle-Larner (rapper, under the stage name Loyle Carner)
- Laura Angela Collins (Poet, producer, award winning Irish Traveller author.)
- Cush Jumbo (actor)
- Laura Dockrill (poet, author and illustrator)
- Shawn Emanuel (singer)
- Robert Emms (actor)
- Ella Eyre (singer-songwriter)
- Tania Foster (singer)
- Lynden David Hall (singer)
- Harris J (singer-songwriter)
- Blake Harrison (actor)
- Emily Head (actor)
- Imogen Heap (singer)
- Tom Holland (actor)
- Jessie J (singer-songwriter)
- Richard Jones of the band The Feeling
- Katy B (singer-songwriter)
- Eman Kellam (presenter/YouTuber)
- King Krule (singer)
- Ashley Madekwe (actor)
- Katie Melua (singer-songwriter)
- Jessica Morgan (singer)
- Róisín Mullins, dancer and presenter
- Kate Nash (singer-songwriter)
- Octavian (rapper)
- Harrison Osterfield (actor and model)
- Tara McDonald (singer)
- Stuart Matthew Price (singer)
- Joel Pott (singer/frontman of Athlete)
- Luke Pritchard (singer)
- Raye (singer-songwriter)
- Rex Orange County (singer-songwriter/producer)
- Freya Ridings (singer)
- Rizzle Kicks (hip hop duo)
- Cat Sandion (presenter)
- Polly Scattergood (singer)
- Dan Gillespie Sells of the band The Feeling
- Kellie Shirley (actor)
- Shingai Shoniwa of the band Noisettes
- Charlene Soraia (singer)
- Natalie Stewart (singer and member of Floetry)
- Nathan Stewart-Jarrett (actor)
- Nancy Sullivan (actress)
- Kae Tempest (spoken word performer, poet, recording artist, novelist and playwright)
- FKA Twigs (singer-songwriter and dancer)
- Twist and Pulse (performers)
- Joivan Wade (actor)
- Shelby Logan Warne (singer and multi-instrumentalist)
- Rickie Haywood Williams (presenter, Kiss FM)
- Amy Winehouse (singer-songwriter)
- Jamie Woon (singer)
References[]
- ^ "Alumni". The BRIT School. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
- ^ "The BRIT School – UK Music". www.ukmusic.org. Archived from the original on 16 November 2016. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
- ^ Truelove, Sam (13 October 2016). "11 of the most famous people who studied at Croydon's BRIT School". croydonadvertiser. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
- ^ "BRIT School which tutored Adele sells star-making skills to business". inews.co.uk. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
- ^ Jump up to: a b The BRIT School Celebrates Twenty Years of Success, 22 September 2011 Archived 19 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine BPI. Retrieved 5 February 2012
- ^ "Do Brit School graduates have an unfair advantage?". Archived from the original on 10 April 2018. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
External links[]
- City technology colleges in England
- Educational institutions established in 1991
- Secondary schools in the London Borough of Croydon
- Educational charities based in the United Kingdom
- People educated at the BRIT School
- Schools of the performing arts in the United Kingdom
- Dance schools in the United Kingdom
- Science and technology in London
- 1991 establishments in England