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Our Teaching Team
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Rachel Morris : Principal
Rachel has been dancing since she was 3 years old. At 18 she went to train at the prestigious college, Laine Theatre Arts. While there she was chosen to perform with Kerry Ellis at the London Palladium, played the lead role of 'Cassie' in A Chorus Line and landed her first job with Qdos pantomimes.
Since then Rachel has worked professionally for over 12 years. Most of that time was spent at sea with Carnival Cruise Lines where she travelled the world while performing in shows 6 nights a week. She has also performed in numerous tours, pantomimes and corporate shows, which have taken her all over the UK, including the UK's answer to The Rockettes; 'Thursford Christmas Spectacular'.
Rachel is passionate about using her talents to inspire the next generation. She is a qualified dance teacher with the ISTD, is Paediatric First Aid and Mental Health First Aid trained.
The school is named after her mum who was a singing and music teacher and was passionate about teaching children about the arts. 
LIKES: Being a Mummy, walks with her dog Ralph, Jamiroquai and crisps!
DISLIKES: Seafood, not getting enough sleep
FUN FACT: Miss Rachel performed for Prince George,
Princess Charlotte and the Duchess of Cambridge.
​She’s also a qualified bookkeeper and has her own bookkeeping business too.
Mia West- Singing Teacher 
​Mia is 24 years old. She began training in Musical Theatre at the age of 3, starting with dance classes at Kirkham Henry School of Performing Arts, and then soon joining classes in singing, drama and speech and drama. During her time at Kirkham Henry she took many examinations in dance, singing and speech and drama, and also was lucky enough to assist the teachers in dance, drama and singing classes for 3 years. At the age of 18 she attended The Arden School of Theatre in Manchester, and has just this year completed her BA(Hons) degree in Musical Theatre, and alongside her professional training, has taught classes and workshops both in Manchester and in and around Ryedale. Mia is currently represented by David Shaw from RedShaw Management, and also is working with a community interest company Musical Memories, which is a social singing group for elderly people. Mia has also recently gained her PGCE in Music and Drama.
Mia has a huge passion for all things musical, and is really excited to be joining the team at Frances Lyn Theatre School and is looking forward to sharing her passion for singing with the children!
LIKES: Horror films, Sunday dinners and
​her two cats ‘Starlight Express’ and ‘Magic Johnson’
DISLIKES: Tomatoes
FUN FACT: she has a fear of squirrels!
Stuart Piper - Drama Teacher
Stuart has trained with, taught at and/or directed for NYMT, NYT, Arts Ed, Tring Park, Stagecoach, PQA, Stagebox, Damien Poole, YRAD, Allstars, MTS, and many others schools and colleges across the UK. His favourite thing is teaching children and working in education, which has led him to study at York St John University while continuing to teach.
As an actor Stuart toured the UK and performed in the West End in productions including Bugsy Malone, Scrooge, Me and My Girl and Honk, and on television acted in TV dramas and films including MGM’s Tom’s Midnight Garden and he even had 2 lines in Absolutely Fabulous!
He worked on his first two films in recent years this time behind the camera on the production team (Mrs Lowry & Son - Netflix, The Time of Their Lives - Amazon) and hopes to work on more. He also worked for many years as a London agent to actors in theatre, television and film before moving north for family life to live near his son Charlie.
LIKES: Film, books, exploring the outdoors and being a dad.
DISLIKES: Too long without  holiday! 
FUN FACT: Stuart is also a talent coach who has recently  been coaching many of the children in Disney's upcoming Pinocchio movie, starring Tom Hanks!
Lucie Whitaker - Dance Teacher
Lucie is 23 years old and began dancing when she was three. She trained in all different types of dance including Russian ballet, tap, jazz, freestyle and more. Lucie was a freestyle dance champion at the age of 16 and knew her passion was dance. At the age of 18 she went off to study musical theatre at Midlands Academy of Dance and Drama in Nottingham where she graduated with a level 6 trinity diploma in musical theatre in 2021. During college Lucie achieved many dance goals including dancing on the move it main stage in an Alan Harding jazz piece.
Since graduating Lucie has worked for haven as a dancer (dancing in a Grahame Pickering show, jasmine Eccles show and many more) , Transun (Lapland Finland) as an actor, Lyon’s holiday park as a dancer and piglets adventure farm as an actor. 
LIKES: DOGS!! Also obsessed with the drink Pepsi max and don’t go a day without one and I’m a big foodie and especially love pizza!
DISLIKES: Being hangry 
FUN FACT: I can make the best cup of tea
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Gina Hobson - Guest Dance Teacher
Gina discovered entertainment at a very young age, attending Northern Academy of Performing Arts (NAPA) where she performed across Yorkshire and at Edinburgh Fringe in musical productions and dance competitions. She then chose to develop her skills by studying a degree with Leeds Metropolitan University in Musical Theatre, whilst also gaining Business and PTLLS teaching qualifications.
Following her success, she furthered her training and education at SLP College, gaining numerous performance skills from industry professionals. Since graduating, Gina has worked non-stop professionally as a dancer/singer across the UK with touring productions and holiday parks and has now gained her PGCE in Musical Theatre, heading up the musical theatre department at Hull College.
Gina is very excited to be joining the Frances Lyn team sharing her skills and experience to the students.
LIKES: Sewing, candles and musical theatre
DISLIKES: Milk from other houses, being left out
FUN FACT: Her favourite number is 81.
She can do the Mexican wave with her tongue!
​Previous Singing Teacher - Clark Brydon
Clark is a professional musician and singer. He found his passion for music whilst taking part in a local performing arts school much like Frances Lyn Theatre School. What at first was a bit of fun over the summer holidays, led him to make the decision to take his music study more seriously and eventually decide to study it at university. First coming to church music at the tender age of fifteen, he planned on training as an organist, but instead ‘gave singing a go’. Something clearly worked out because Clark held the title of Bass Choral Scholar at Hereford Cathedral, under the musical direction of Geraint Bowen, for the academic year 2016/17. Clark is currently reading a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) degree in Music at The University of York. He is Organist and Master of the Choir at St Lawrence Church, York, as well as Director of Music for local community choirs, in addition to working at the National Centre for Early Music. Alongside playing the organ and piano, and singing, Clark’s compositions have been performed all around the world. He is also a presenter and producer at University Radio York.
Clark is really excited to be joining the team at Frances Lyn Theatre School and hopes the children may be inspired, as he was, to develop a passion that they can study in further education.
Previous Drama Teacher - Charlotte Emerson
As a teenager Charlotte was extremely passionate about Drama. She wanted it to be more than just a hobby and so made the decision to move away from home and study at Tring Park School for the Performing Arts. After leaving there she went on to train at Birmingham School of Acting for a year and then London College of Music, receiving an all round education in the performing arts and gaining her grade 8 in LAMDA Musical Theatre and Acting. Charlotte is now studying a BA (Hons) degree in Theatre: Directing, Writing and Performance, at the University of York. Throughout her training Charlotte has performed with Youth Music Theatre UK, National Youth Theatre and at West End venues such as Her Majesty's Theatre and Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. As well as performing, Charlotte is passionate in passing her skills on to the next generation. She has been teaching drama for the past four years, working for a variety of theatre schools including Razzamataz, Stagecoach and Wildcats. Charlotte is really looking forward to joining the team at Frances Lyn Theatre school.
We also have special guest teachers who come and teach West End workshops regularly throughout the year.
​You can see pictures from some of our past workshops here:
All our teachers are of the highest standard. They have been DBS checked and have signed our Child Protection Policy.

FRANCES LYN THEATRE SCHOOL

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