As well as working on monologues for the exams we also mix in a lot of ensemble building games and exercises to our sessions. These really help encourage a playfulness which is essential for any performer. Feeling free and playful enables us to be more confident to try new ideas in our work and therefore get the most out of our performances! We also spend time talking through and planning the knowledge section of the exams — these are just as important as doing a showstopper performance as they show the examiner that you really understand your character and their situation, a vital part of being an actor! Each lesson is completely different: one week we may focus entirely on the monologues, another we may be looking at skills building the whole time. The LAMDA coach will take an intuitive approach to plan what the group needs overall at that time.

We want to support our pupils to become thoughtful and confident performers and so feel it is important that we don’t have an exam factory approach. As the LAMDA coach gets to know each group, they will decide how long they need to work on their material and book the exam accordingly. As a rough guide we would expect that we can work through one grade each academic year, however once reaching medal grades (6, 7 and 8) we will work at a slower pace due to the complex content of the exams. If you feel your child would benefit from working slightly differently to this there is always a conversation to be had, so do feel free to reach out.

If you are in grades 1–5 you will be set a monologue from the LAMDA Acting Anthology. Your LAMDA coach will pick a monologue for your whole class to work on. This means the whole class can share ideas about the piece, character, staging and so on, so the focus on this monologue is relevant to everyone. As well as the set piece you will need to pick an “own choice” monologue. LAMDA has particular guidelines for these choices that your coach will explain during class, but you may research and find these yourselves. Alternatively the LAMDA coaches have built a big library of monologues online which is always sent to parents and students to peruse. The medal grades (6–8) do not have set monologues and must find all of their own pieces. If you’re really stuck your LAMDA coach can try and source appropriate pieces for you — just ask!

The LAMDA exams require you to learn your monologues off by heart, yes. When we are starting out learning new pieces we do understand if you don’t know your lines straight away, but will always encourage pupils to be off book as soon as possible. We will often give deadlines by which you must have your lines learnt, after which you will no longer be allowed a script in hand during practice. It is much easier to rehearse without holding a script anyway, so you are only doing yourself a favour by getting off book as soon as you can.

No. Entry Level and the early grades are designed for children starting from nothing. We place each child at the grade that suits them.

Our two LAMDA groups are broadly School Years 6–8 (5.00pm) and School Years 9–13 (6.00pm). We place each child by where they are, not only by age — if your child is younger and keen, talk to us.

Yes. Grades 6, 7 and 8 are Level 3 qualifications and carry UCAS tariff points towards university applications. They are also strong evidence in school and drama school interviews.

£105 per five-week term (£21 a week), invoiced by the term like our Saturday classes.

Exams are taken at an external LAMDA exam centre, in a room with one examiner — not on a stage in front of an audience. For a lot of quieter children, that is precisely why LAMDA suits them.