About us
Learn more about the Helen O'Grady Drama Academy
The Helen O’Grady Drama Academy provides children’s drama classes across South West London.
The Academy was established over 35 years ago in Australia. Our programme now runs in 28 different countries with 50,000 children attending classes each week, making it the most popular drama curriculum in the World. We’ve been running in the UK for over 20 years and have 45 different branches, with over 15,000 children attending our wonderful classes every week!
Helen O’Grady South West London is dedicated to providing children aged 4-16 with speaking, listening, language and social skills as well as improving their self-esteem and confidence. We do this using a variety of techniques in our Drama Classes.
Our one-hour classes are held throughout South West London, in Balham, Clapham, Tooting Bec, Stockwell and Southfields.
Developmental drama
Reach new heights with our curriculum
Our curriculum is specifically designed to develop children’s speech, confidence and communication skills.
Each of our lesson are carefully planned. The curriculum includes introductory activities, speech, verbal dynamics, creative movement, mimes to music, language development, structured improvisation, dialogue development, snippets, scene starters, mini-scripts, dress-up days, parent day presentations and end of year productions on a main stage!
Our classes
Our classes will help:
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Children who need a confidence boost
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Aspiring young performers who want to develop their acting talents
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Young people who feel shy about talking in front of or to others
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Children for whom English is a second language
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Youngsters who would like to improve their social skills
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Children who want to have fun & make new friends!
Our teachers
Teaching drama is our passion
All Principals and teachers have undergone extensive training in Helen O’Grady curriculum and teaching methods and, naturally, all are DBS checked.
Our specialist trained teachers will help to nurture your child’s development and bring out their full potential using positive re-enforcement, praise and encouragement.
JANE KORTLANDT, Principal
Jane has been involved with theatre and drama for more than 35 years, ranging from school plays, youth theatre, professional school tours to amateur dramatics. She also has a passion for education, having worked with primary-age children on summer holiday camps in Germany and taught in a secondary school as a language assistant in France. She has been working in an office for many years, but when the opportunity arose to combine her two passions in Helen O’Grady she grasped it with both hands.
Jane fell in love with drama from a very young age. She says:
“I caught the bug during drama lessons at school, did speech and drama exams, and then joined a club in the evenings. Drama is the most fun, and I have made many really good friends, but it is much more than that. It gave me confidence when meeting new people, and it helped me to stand up and present my ideas both at work and in social settings. As an adult, I know that if I had to move anywhere in the country, that I would have a way of making new friends, by joining the local drama group.
I am thrilled now to be working for such an inspiring organisation and to be able to share my passion for drama with the next generation, and hopefully fill them with as much enthusiasm for it as I have.”
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LUCY ANNABLE
Teacher
Lucy grew up in Skipton in North Yorkshire and has performed in musicals and plays regionally there from a young age. Since completing her training in Musical Theatre at the Arts Educational Schools London last year, Lucy has performed in plays at Theatre N16, Theatre Royal Stratford East and spent the month performing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this past summer. Lucy has always loved teaching drama to children because she knows that attending drama classes when she was young helped her to develop hugely as a person as well as a performer (as well as becoming the best part of her week!).
EDWARD NKOM
Teacher
Edward's love for acting and performance is fuelled by his passion to have fun and the exploration of imagination. Edward trained and graduated at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and received a BA Honours in Acting. He has performed in many plays aimed at younger audiences ( Pegasus Theatre Oxford, Theatre Centre etc) and facilitated workshops in schools during the tours. When he is not stage, Edward dedicates his time to the Ben Kinsella Trust as a facilitator which tackles knife crime and teaching drama.