The Arnould School of Dance and Drama has been established for 70 years and has grown into a widely acclaimed theatre academy, with classes held in the Surbiton, Kingston and Chessington areas. Under the present principals, Norma Arnould and her daughter Victoria, the school continues to excel with great professionalism as a result of their own experience working in theatre, television and film. 

Testament to the Arnould’s success is in the sheer number of former pupils returning with their children and grandchildren. Pupils who have trained with the school, some since the age of 3 have appeared in many West End musicals, plays, television and pantomime. Our seniors students move onto dance and drama colleges including Laines, Doreen Bird, Art Educational, Brit School, Urdang and Mountview. Students have also joined the Royal Ballet and other European Ballet Companies. 

Principals

Norma Arnould - ARAD - Victoria McDonald

Both had successful careers working extensively in Theatre, Television,commercials and film before joining the established Arnould School. In 1963 Norma joined her Mother, Phyl Arnould in the running of the School and in the early 1990s Vicky joined her Mother and Grandmother.

Victoria McDonald
Principal

Norma Arnould
Principal

Amber Pierson - Senior and Advanced Musical Theatre

Amber is a professional dancer and teacher.She attended the Arnould School of Dance and Drama and also the Italia Conti Theatre School, before landing a scholarship at Laine Theatre Arts. Since graduating she has had amazing opportunities, performing Live on TV for the Queen, arena tours, music videos, campaigns and catwalks. Amber is trained in various styles of dance such as ballet, contemporary, commercial and ballroom.

Amber Pierson
Dance

Indra Shepherd - Senior Ballet

Indra trained at English National Ballet School and then went onto train at the School of American Ballet in New York . She received a contract with Vienna State Opera house, Austria and performed in Romeo and Juliet , Nutcracker and Sleeping Beauty. She then transferred to the Toulouse Ballet Company in France, performing Giselle and finally onto Kaiserlautern Ballet Company in Germany. Indra then made a transition into musical theatre and performed in the musical ‘Cabaret ‘and ‘Lion King’ in Germany. Indra also worked with different Jazz choreographers touring in Europe and took part in several fashion shows for MTV and Viva. Her last contract was with Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Uk Tour in which she was the Soloist dancer.

After her professional career she gained her qualifications with The Royal Academy of Dance ARAD and Professional Dancers Teaching Course (PDTD ) . At Kingston College she gained her PCGE in Dance and her QTS .

Indra is thrilled to be back teaching at the Arnould School of Dance, having taught here several years ago. She loves teaching and is delighted to be part of the team.

Jade Cawthraw - Junior ballet

Jade Cawthraw started her training at the Susan Robinson school of ballet at the age of 3 and continued until she was 16.

Whilst she was there she completed her RAD Advanced 2 Ballet, receiving a distinction, and then earned a place at The School of Ballet Theatre UK where she gained an upper second BA in Ballet Performance through the University of West London. In her final year at the school, she was given the opportunity to go on tour with the BTUK company with a soloist role in The Sleeping Beauty. Having completed her degree she furthered her training on the pre-professional training programme at Ballet Cymru where she went on tour with the company performing in Romeo and Juliet. Jade is also an experienced teacher who works for a number of other specialist ballet schools in the area and is very happy to be now teaching at the Arnould School.

Jess Henson - Senior Modern/Tap

Jess trained at Performers College and whilst there she had the privilege of performing for Princes Charles’ 60th Birthday, a TV performance at the Wimbledon Theatre, working with John Cleese, Michael McIntyre and Robin Williams. Since graduating in 2010 she has worked for P&O Australia, Princess and Royal Caribbean Cruises. Jess was a lead Irish dancer with ‘Spirit of the Dance’ and had the opportunity to tour with the company to China, Israel, Dubai, Holland and many other countries. Jess is now back home and we are thrilled that she is part of the Arnould School team teaching Senior ISTD Modern and Tap.

Ceri Pierson - Beginner and Junior Ballet/Modern/Tap and Musical Theatre

Ceri started dancing as a child appearing in Pantomimes and fashion shows. After graduating from Elliot Clarke Dance and Drama College she enjoyed many years working in the business in TV, Theatre, Commercials and Fashion Showsand once her 2 lovely children came along went to work on the other side of the fence for a Record Company. Once they were in secondary school she then upgraded her teaching courses and returned to her passion of dance.

Ceri Pierson
Beginners/Improvers and

Junior Musical Theatre

Susanna Klemm - Drama

Susanna trained at The Italia Conti Academy. She spent many years working in theatre for companies including: Donmar Warehouse, Hull Truck, Thorndike Theatre Leatherhead and serveral national tours. Productions included a "A Midsummer Night's Dream", "Annie", "Black Comedy", "Macbeth" and "Tales of Toad Hall". Her last big tour was just before she had her son George in the aptly named George's Marvellous Medicine. T.V Includes "The Tourist Trap", "Crimewatch" and several commercials.

Susanna Klemm
Drama

Sam Giffard - Singing

Originally from Plymouth, Sam moved to Australia as a child and trained at the John Curtain College of Arts in Perth. Credits: Mrs Darling in Peter Pan at Epsom Playhouse, Caroline in “Summer of Love’ (Sweden), Princess Rose in ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ at the Epsom Playhouse, Roz in ‘9 to 5’ at Upstairs at the Gatehouse, Mezzo-Soprano Swing at the ‘Thursford Christmas Spectacular’ 40th and 41st Celebration, ‘Children of Eden’ at the Union Theatre, Dorothy in The ‘Wizard of Oz’ at the Epsom Playhouse, ‘Little Shop Of Horrors’ , Mother/ Tribe in ‘Hair’, at the Ljubljana Festival Slovenia, Penny Pingleton in ‘Hairspray’ , Buttons in ‘Cinderella’ , Witch 1 in ‘Macbeth' (UK Tour/ Gibraltar), Marta in ‘Company’ (Union Theatre), Wendy Darling in ‘Peter Pan’ (Richmond Theatre and The Churchill Theatre Bromley), Hermia in ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream' (UK Tour). She has featured as a backing vocalist for Will Young, a soloist in 'Toonful' and various concerts for the new writers Tim Prottey-Jones and Jonathan Eio. TV Credits include presenting for the kids channel Nikelodeon Austalia and Lisa in 'Mamma Mia!' for 'Telethon' Network Ten, Australia. Samantha has also been gigging and singing all over the country for the past few years in many concerts, cabarets, hotels and events. She manages her own vocal act “Counterpart Duo” who perform regularly in London.

Sam Giffard
Singing

Brogan Ritchie - Junior Ballet

Brogan began dancing with the Arnould School of Dance and Drama at 4 years old. Following this she studied at The Margaret Howard Theatre College gaining her Foundation in Dance and performed as part of The Margaret Howard Theatre Company. Brogan has performed with "Ballet Imaginaire" The Queen Mother’s 100th birthday pageant, the DVD  for ISTD Intermediate Ballet syllabus, music video for the band Twenty Twenty, International Youth Arts Festival and Disneyland Paris Mardi Gras. Brogan extended her studies at The Royal Academy of Dance and returned to the Arnould school as a teacher in 2010.

Brogan Ritchie
Junior Ballet

Kate Rendall - Beginners Musical Theatre/Singng and Beginners Tap

Kate started dancing at the Arnould School when she was 5 years old. Over the years she completed her examinations to an advanced level in ISTD Modern and Tap, RAD Ballet and Lamda Drama. She has enjoyed various performance opportunities through the school, including Pantomimes, Music Hall, television, commercials and of course many Arnould Shows - her favourite role playing Mary Poppins! Most recently Kate has started studying Latin and Ballroom dancing and has already won a collection of trophies and competed in the ISTD finals in Blackpool! In addition to the administration at the Arnould School, Kate enjoys teaching the younger pupils and adults her favourite discipline, tap

Kim Miller - Guest Teacher (Ballet)

Kim started dancing with the Arnould School. At the age of Sixteen, Kim went to the Royal Ballet School and then joined the London Festival Ballet for three years. She played the part of a young "Marie Rambert" in the film "Nijinsky". In 1981 Kim joined The London City Ballet becoming Principal Ballerina. She danced all the leading roles and received superb critical acclaim for her interpretations of "Juliet" and "Gisele". Since the closing of The London City Ballet, Kim has married and retired from dancing. She is now the Senior Ballet teacher with The Arnould School.

Lacey Creed- Guest Teacher

Lacey has been dancing from a young age, performing in numerous cabarets & professional productions. Lacey went on to further her studies in Musical Theatre at D&B School of Performing Arts. After graduating , Lacey performed as a vocalist & dance captain for TED productions across the world. Other credits include: Emma Goldman (Assassins), Olive (The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee) Dory (Merrily We Roll Along) & Rita O'Grady (Made in Dagenham). Lacey has choreographed Barnum & 9 to 5 (Hampton Hill Theatre) for TOPS Musical Theatre Company. Recently she qualified as a yoga teacher in Thailand. Lacey is currently dancing for various tribute acts across the UK and is part of the Motownellas.

Kate
Beginners Musical Theatre/Singng

Jenny Luard - Guest Teacher

Jenny works internationally as a Dancer and takes real pleasure in teaching at The Arnould School. Jenny first came into contact with school in 2009 whilst working as Dance Captain in Dick Whittington at Epsom Playhouse.  After being very impressed with the standard of the school, Jenny has kept in touch with Miss Vicky ever since and was thrilled to be able to take on the role of teaching Musical Theatre as of September 2014.  Jenny has worked in television, theatre and events and likes to use her varied experience to inform the students.  From performing to an audience of 15 000 as a cheerleader in Hyde Park during the Olympics to appearing as a Vegas Showgirl in last year’s MacDonalds advert, Jenny understands the importance of being a  versatile dancer and works on a large range of styles with the students.  In addition to teaching at the Arnould School, Jenny also works at Pineapple Dance Studios which enables her to keep up with the latest dance styles and techniques.  She also works regularly as a backing dancer for Hear’Say’s Danny Foster and The Big Soul Corporation.

Jenny Luard

Senior Musical Theatre

Antony Johns
Choreographer/ Director

Di Cooke
Choreographer

Janet Williams
ISTD Examiner

Nicola Bacon
Choreographer

Karl Morgan
Choreographer