Our new Director of Drama, Laura McConville is a very welcome addition to the St George’s family this term.
Laura recently returned to England after a couple of years living Stateside in Boston with her family and is thrilled to return to teaching and to live theatre after these difficult years of restricted learning.
Prior to moving to Boston, Laura was Head of Drama at Gordon’s School in Woking and brings with her years of experience and a passion for seeing young people engage with and benefit from their experience of the performing arts. Here Laura shares her first impressions of the school and her future ambitions for her Department:
My first impressions of St George’s are very positive. It is a school that is looking to deliver to the highest standard in every area. The staff are incredibly warm and welcoming and the girls are enthusiastic and engaged. It is a pleasure to see so many openly express a real passion for the Arts.
'They have clearly been raised on superb Drama and it is evident to see that the Performing Arts are already in great shape at the school. I am very excited to be joining such a talented team within the Drama Department and I am particularly looking forward to collaborating with them to deliver high performance Drama both within the curriculum but also as part of the co-curricular provision here at St George’s.
Looking forward, I want to continue to grow a love of performance in the girls from an early age and ideally develop the numbers taking Drama at both GCSE and A Level. I am probably asking more questions at this stage than I am providing answers, but I know, with a fair Covid wind, that I want to build more connections with theatre professionals and practitioners and broaden pupils’ opportunities to work with a range of theatre professionals in school. I also want to ask questions like how we can develop opportunities for pupil leadership within our Department and whether we can showcase the girls’ performances more effectively. Exciting times ahead with our Second Year production of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe already underway. I cannot wait!'