A performing arts school where academic performance also shines
Pupils benefit from an outstanding academic education, whilst being able to specialise in Dance, Musical Theatre, Acting and Commercial Music courses.
Our balanced curriculum sets us apart from other schools and provides pupils with a well-rounded education, enabling them to achieve high academic excellence and versatility as a performer.
Welcome
Tring Park School is a co-educational boarding and day school based in Hertfordshire, UK, educating and training young people from the age of 7 to 19. Pupils receive rigorous training in the performing arts, that is combined with an extensive academic programme of study. Our Preps benefit from a unique private school education with an emphasis on performing arts and creativity. From Year 7, pupils can specialise in either Dance or Performance Foundation, with the option to focus on Dance, Commercial Music, Musical Theatre, Acting or Technical Theatre at Sixth Form level.
Our pupils are dedicated, committed, enthusiastic, and hard working. It’s an energetic and vibrant atmosphere – and that is something that quickly rubs off on new pupils.
A message from our...
Simon Larter-Evans
Principal
Tring Park School for the Performing Arts provides an environment which allows for a fusion of natural talent and creativity combined with fine teaching and training.
What we offer here is unique. Talented children and young people benefit from an excellent standard of teaching in the Performing Arts, and this is reinforced by a very high level of academic education. This results in rounded individuals who are fully prepared for life; not just trained performers, but ‘thinking’ performers. It is this depth and breadth of education that will give them the best possible chances in their future careers.
We know that every single one of our pupils is different, each with their own blend of ability and ambition. We endeavour to provide a training and education which meets the needs of each pupil and allows them to achieve their very best.
Tring Park is a very exciting place to be. Visitors comment on the buzz and energy that is about the place. A cursory glance at the timetable will show how much we do during the week, vocationally and academically, both inside and outside school. Additionally, all our vocational departments present productions that run in our own Markova Theatre throughout the academic year.
All this performing, training and learning requires a great deal of dedication and commitment from both staff and pupils and this creates a stimulating environment within a supportive community.
Come and visit us to see and experience the school for yourself – I very much look forward to welcoming you.
Georgia Scott
Lead Prefect
Tring Park School for the Performing Arts has been my second home and family for the past six magical years. The school’s dedication to both academic excellence and nurturing our vocational passions has not only laid a solid foundation for my future endeavours but also prepared me for life beyond the school gates.
Tring Park’s unique approach emphasises that the best performers are educated performers. This speaks volumes about the school’s vision and curriculum. Every day, I am fortunate to be inspired and amazed by the passion and dedication of both my peers and the staff. The energy, fuelled by the diverse talents that fills the halls of Tring Park is palpable and something I wish to soak up in my final year. The variety of courses offers a home for all and creates endless opportunities for students of all aspirations to develop and thrive under the support of an equally enthusiastic and devoted staff.
The people at Tring Park are truly something special, all sharing the same buzz of performing, all with infinite dreams. Over the years, Tring Park has helped me not just grow as a performer but as a person, supporting me through academic pressures and encouraging us all to chase those infinite dreams.
Looking back at my 12-year-old self on my first day, wide-eyed, immensely nervous, and with a backpack as big as I was, I am still amazed at how the past six years have already transformed into a collection of wonderful memories. But as they say, “Time flies when you’re having fun,” and I have no doubt that this is exactly why.
Tristan Brookes Blake
Lead Prefect
I know first-hand that Tring Park School for the Performing Arts takes pride in its joint academic and vocational training, giving us the best possible chance to achieve our potential as well-educated performers. We treat one another with respect. We are inclusive and socialise across vocational courses, united by our love of performing.
This is what I believe makes Tring Park special…
We receive our brilliant vocational training from industry-leading professionals, who share the love for their craft and inspire us to excel with our talents, embrace and advance with our weaknesses in order to shape the best actor/singer/dancer/musician we can be. Throughout my first year, I have seen the mutual passion for our artistry between the staff and students, using that drive to gain the most out of our time at Tring Park.
Tring Park has taught me four main things: to seize every opportunity provided, from chamber choirs to film festivals, ‘open mic’ to full productions; to find the spark in yourself that keeps you going when challenges arise; to respect, love and learn from one another unconditionally. Before I left home last September, extremely nervous about my first time boarding (I had only been to non-specialist state schools), I was given a card which quoted Lady Bird Johnson, not properly understanding it at first. I can now confidently say in that Tring Park has taught me my fourth lesson of many more to come – “become so wrapped up in something that you forget to be afraid”.
It’s not often we are fortunate enough to say we feel we belong somewhere, finding our ‘tribe’; I believe for once I can.
Our Vision, Purpose, Aims & Values
Vision
To be the pre-eminent centre of excellence for training and educating the next generation of the world’s most versatile performance artists.
Purpose
We provide a creative environment in which pupils with a love of the performing arts can flourish. A vocational, arts-based education enhances all aspects of our pupils’ learning and allows them to develop life skills such as creative thinking, confidence and resilience. Our vocational training in dance, drama, musical theatre, music and technical theatre provides students with the best possible opportunities for a career in the performing arts. Combining this with a full academic curriculum and qualifications gives them access additionally to a wide range of other career options. In short, Tring Park’s integrated dual curriculum gives pupils the best opportunity to fulfil their potential. Our excellent pastoral care and commitment to safeguarding provide pupils with a safe, caring and supportive environment in which to pursue their studies.
Aims
We aim to provide this education to pupils from all backgrounds who have the potential to benefit from this specialist environment, and to make our specialist facilities and teaching expertise more widely available to children and young adults with talent and potential beyond the School.
Values
At Tring Park School, we value Excellence, Creativity and Resilience. We also promote social and life skills such as collaboration, adaptability, tolerance, consideration for others and self-discipline, in order to prepare pupils to be successful and valued members of society. Training in the performing arts places a key emphasis on these values.
Our History
- The first Mansion was designed by Sir Christopher Wren and built by Henry Guy around 1673. Guy was Groom of the Bedchamber to Charles II.
- In 1702 Guy sells the estate to Sir William Gore, Lord Mayor of London.
- In 1786 Sir Drummond Smith buys the estate. He becomes the first Baronet of Tring Park.
- 1823 William Kay buys the estate but rents it out.
- 1872 Baron Lionel Rothschild buys the estate for his son Nathaniel, who later becomes the 1st Lord Rothschild. By 1888 Nathaniel Rothschild had encased the Wren house with the house you see today. He doubled the house in size and added a floor.
- The Rothschilds had moved out by the start of World War II but used the Mansion as a place to store documents from the Rothschild Bank in London and a place of safety for expectant mothers from the east-end of London, helped by their Jewish charities.
- The school arrived in 1945 and has been present ever since.
1919
Olive Mary Ripman (co-founder) was born in 1886, in Teddington, Middlesex. It is believed she started her first dance school in Croydon around 1919 at the age of 33. Olive Ripman was, by the 1930’s, a highly respected dance teacher and chorographer whose reputation preceded her. Olive Ripman died in Newton Abbot, Devon in 1981.
1922
Grace Cone (co-founder), full name Angela Nadine Grace Cohn, was born in Lewisham in 1892. The Cone family were originally from Germany and came to the United Kingdom sometime between 1885 and 1891. The earliest newspaper cuttings found see Grace dancing at the age of 17 in Worthing in 1909 and her applying for licences to London County Council for her dancing business in 1927. Grace Cone died in Hove, Brighton in 1980.
1940
The school moved to ‘Loddington Hall’, Uppingham in Leicestershire. ‘The Sketch’ newspaper did a piece on the school and took some unusual photographs! The house was once again requisitioned, this time by the Paratrooper Regiment, so they moved back south to Folly Court in Wokingham. After a short stay at Wokingham the next move was to ‘Rawdon Hall’, Holyport near Maidenhead. The last move before they came to Tring, was to a farmhouse called ‘Ystumllyn’, an old 16th century building near Porthmadog in Wales.
1945
The school moved to the Rothschild Mansion in Tring Park. During the war the Rothschild Mansion was used by the Rothschild Bank for administration and to house important documents, which they wanted to store away from the bombing in the capital. The Mansion was also used as a hospital for people from the east end of London who were struggling with life and the blitz.
1949
During the war years the school’s name was a bit of a mystery but in 1947 we know it was called ‘The Cone Ripman School’. Then in 1948 the school’s name was changed to the ‘Tring Park School of Theatrical Arts’. By 1949 it was changed again to the ‘Arts Educational Schools’. Eventually the two schools became more commonly known as, ‘ArtsEd Tring’ and ‘ArtsEd London'.
1960s
In 1963 Grace Cone and Olive Ripman took a backseat and Beryl Grey an ex-student, later to be Dame Beryl Grey became the Director of the School. 1955 Mrs Hearn became Principal of the school and she retired in 1967. Miss Janet Sinclair took over but for a year then Marie Jack arrived and was to stay for the next 19 years.
1970s
In 1970 The Arts Educational Schools Trust, then still allied with AES London in Chiswick, acquired the freehold of the Mansion and 17 acres of the former park and gardens from the Rothschild family. Things are beginning to change, and great plans are being made.
1980s
The new School dining room was built in 1982 and was named the Cone-Ripman Hall in honour of the founders. A plan was developed to build a school theatre. An Appeals Committee was set up to raise funds for construction of what was to become the “Markova Theatre”. In 1988 Marie Jack collected her OBE at Buckingham Palace. Mrs Jack retired in 1989. Mrs Margaret Sweet was appointed Headmistress.
1994
In 1994 the decision was taken to separate from AES London. When the Schools separated, Tring Park School was set up as an independent company with the title ‘AES Tring Park School Trust’. As part of the separation, the Tring school acquired freehold title to Tring Park.
1998
In 1998 the school won the Sainsbury’s Choir of the Year Competition, under the direction of Vaugh Meakins. The choir later toured America. The picture is from a performance the choir did with Val Doonican.
2000s
In 2001 Mr Stefan Anderson was appointed Principal of the school. In 2002, the science laboratories in the ‘New Block’ were enlarged and refurbished, together with the IT Suite and the Design and Textiles Room. The Courtyard area was also completely reconfigured. In 2007 Eve Pettinger became a Member of the order of the British Empire. In 2009 the school changed its name to Tring Park School for the Performing Arts.
2011
2011 saw the opening of five new dance studios and won a design award presented by The Chilterns Conservation Board. The Commercial Music Course arrived one year later in 2012.
2016
The School Choir, known as the 16, won the BBC Songs of Praise Choir of the Year, under the direction of Liz Norris. The 16 once again won the award in 2019.
2019
Elizabeth House was finished in 2019 and now houses a theatre set design space, three large performances spaces and two classrooms on the lower ground floor with seventy-two bedrooms on the other three floors.
2023
Simon Larter-Evans is to succeed Stefan Anderson as Principal of Tring Park School for the Performing Arts, as Stefan Anderson retires after 21 years at the school and over 40 years in education.