# Tring Park School for the Performing Arts

Tring Park School or Tring Park School for the Performing Arts is a co-educational, independent day and boarding school in Tring, Hertfordshire, England. The school combines academia with vocational courses in the performing arts for pupils aged 8–19. All prospective pupils are required to attend an audition to determine admission, with the exception of those in the Prep School. Around 1 in every 7 applicants are successful.
The school comprises a Prep School, a Lower School, a Middle School and a Sixth Form. Originally known as the Arts Educational School, Tring Park, it was founded as the sister school of the Arts Educational Schools, London. In 2009, it became independent of the London school and was renamed Tring Park School for the Performing Arts.
Tring Park School charges up to £48,093 per year (£16,031 per term, with three terms in the academic year). However, it is one of only twenty-one schools in the U.K. selected to allocate Dance and Drama Awards and one of eight schools selected to allocate Music and Dance Scheme Awards, both government funded scholarship schemes established to subsidise the cost of professional dance and drama training for talented pupils at leading institutions. The school also offers its own scholarships awarded exclusively in recognition of talent during auditions.

## Overview

Tring Park School for the Performing Arts is an independent, co-educational boarding and day school for pupils aged 8–19 years. The school in divided into 4 levels consisting of a preparatory school (years 3–6), a Lower School (years 7–9), a Middle School (years 10–11), and an Upper School/Sixth Form (years 12–13). Recognised as a specialist provider of vocational training in the performing arts, students combine their academic studies with a specialised course of one of the following; dance, acting, commercial music or musical theatre. Thus, vocational studies are supported by a full academic syllabus from prep to A-level.

## History

The school was first founded in 1939 and was originally known as the Cone–Ripman School. It was formed as a result of a merger between the Cone School of Dancing founded in 1919 by Grace Cone, and the Ripman School founded in 1922 by Olive Ripman.
The schools were initially in two parts, the Cone studio located above Lilly & Skinner's shoe shop on Oxford Street and the Ripman in Baker Street. Cone-Ripman School was then based in premises at Stratford Place in London, but following the outbreak of World War II, it was relocated to Tring in Hertfordshire, using various rented buildings. In 1941, the school reopened in London, but a second school continued to operate in Tring. In 1945, the Rothschild Bank vacated the mansion at Tring Park, which had been its temporary base during the war, and the Rothschild family permitted the school to use the premises on a permanent basis. Tring Park remains the school's sole campus to this day and in 1947, the school was renamed the Arts Educational School, Tring Park, with the London school becoming the Arts Educational School, London. In 1970, the school acquired the freehold of the mansion and grounds and began a redevelopment of the site, financed by the sale of unused land. The refurbished building was officially opened in 1976 by the Duchess of Kent. The school was later extended in 1990, with the opening of the Markova Theatre by Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh. In 1993, the school purchased the former St Francis de Sales Convent for use as offsite boarding accommodation for senior pupils. A second house was purchased for use as boarding accommodation in 1994.
Later in 1994, the Arts Educational Schools Trust decided that it was in the best interests of both the London and Tring schools, for them to be run separately. This led to the formation of the AES Tring Park School Trust, which acquired the school and is now solely responsible for its ongoing management. In 2009, to further identify the school as an independent institution, it changed its name to Tring Park School for the Performing Arts. The London school continues to operate, and is commonly known as ArtsEd.
For many years, the school's president was the renowned prima ballerina assoluta, Dame Alicia Markova. After her death, Leopold David de Rothschild CBE became president and the vice presidents are Irek Mukhamedov OBE and Howard Goodall CBE.

## History of the mansion

The current Tring Park Mansion was built to a design of Sir Christopher Wren in 1685, for Sir Henry Guy.
Sir William Gore, Lord Mayor of London, bought the house in 1705 and it remained in his family for two generations. In 1786, it was sold to Sir Drummond Smith, a London banker, who refurbished the interior in Georgian style and remodelled the park in the fashion made popular by Capability Brown. William Kay, a Manchester textile magnate, bought the estate in 1823.
In 1838, Nathan de Rothschild began renting Tring Park as a summer residence. When the property was sold in 1872, Lionel de Rothschild bought it as a wedding present for his son, Sir Nathaniel (later Lord) de Rothschild. Lord Rothschild's family grew up and lived at Tring Park until the death of the dowager Lady Rothschild in 1935.
The house was used by the NM Rothschild & Sons bank during World War II before being taken over by the Arts Educational School in 1945.

## Filming location

Tring Park School has been a filming location for multiple film and television productions. Some of the most notable include;
* Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015). The schools mansion was used to portray a Russian ballet school, seen most notably during the Red Room scene - Black Widow's vision.
* Judy (2019). Directed by Rupert Goold, the school was used to depict Judy Garland's time in England.
* The Serpent (2021). Hertfordshire filming begin in August 2020 after a five month postponement due to COVID-19.

## Notable alumni

* Dame Julie Andrews, Actress best known for films Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music
* Joe Ashman, Actor known for Free Rein, Doctors and Get Even
* Dame Beryl Bainbridge, Actress/writer
* Jordan Bolger, actor best known for Peaky Blinders, The 100 and The Woman King
* Sarah Brightman, Operatic singer, dancer and actress
* Charlie Bruce (Charlotte), Jazz Dancer/West End performer (Dirty Dancing) and winner of BBC1's So You Think You Can Dance Season 1, (2010)
* Anna Carteret, Actress best known for her role of Kate Longton in BBC's Juliet Bravo
* Emma Cunniffe, Actress best known for BBC's television series The Lakes
* Bart Edwards, Actor best known for television series Lykkeland
* Jessica Brown Findlay, Actress best known for television series Downton Abbey as a lead character: Lady Sybil Crawley (2010/11)
* Regan Gascoigne, Dancer, singer and actor. Winner of the 14th season of Dancing on Ice (2022)
* John Gilpin, Classical ballet dancer, founder member of Festival Ballet (now English National Ballet)
* Louise Griffiths, Songwriter, singer and actress best known for BBC TV's Fame Academy (2003)
* Ella Henderson, singer/songwriter and Brit Award winner
* Lily James, Actress best known for Downton Abbey, War & Peace (2016), Cinderella (2015) and Baby Driver (2017)
* Glynis Johns, Actress, dancer, musician and singer
* Lesley Judd, Former television co-presenter of Blue Peter
* Aimee Kelly, Actress best known in leading roles of Maddy Smith in CBBC's Wolfblood and Kayla Richards in film Sket (2011)
* Stephanie Lawrence, musical theatre actress, celebrated star of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Evita and original cast lead of Starlight Express
* Michael Learned, Actress best known for her role in television series The Waltons
* Zienia Merton, Actress played Sandra Benes in television series Space: 1999
* Thandiwe Newton OBE, Hollywood actress and star of films such as The Pursuit of Happyness , Run Fatboy Run, Mission: Impossible 2 and Crash
* Amy Nuttall, Actress and singer best known for West End musical Guys and Dolls, television series Emmerdale and Downton Abbey (2011)
* Rupert Pennefather, Principal Dancer of The Royal Ballet
* Caroline Quentin, Actress and comedian best known for television series Men Behaving Badly, Blue Murder and BBC's Life of Riley
* Daisy Ridley, actress best known for her leading role of Rey in the Star Wars sequel trilogy
* Jane Seymour OBE, actress best known for playing Bond girl Solitaire in the film Live and Let Die, and the television series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman
* Valerie Singleton, former BBC TV co-presenter of Blue Peter, Nationwide, The Money Programme'.
* Geraldine Somerville, actress known for her role of Lily Potter in the Harry Potter films and the film Gosford Park
* Aeronwy Thomas, writer/translator of Italian poetry and daughter of Dylan Thomas
* Claire Trévien, poet, author of The Shipwrecked House