What we're doing about COVID-19

East 15 Acting School is a member of the Federation of Drama Schools (FDS) which represents twenty of the United Kingdom’s leading providers of professional conservatoire performance and technical training. 

As a community of artists, creators, and innovators, we have come together during the COVID-19 pandemic to provide support, guidance, reassurance and inspiration to our students, staff, graduates, alumni, colleagues and friends within the creative industries. 

The scale and impact of the coronavirus crisis has been significant upon our sector and related industries, which holds dear the ethos of embodied practice and the necessity of physical interaction in pursuit of understanding and celebrating the human condition. Whilst we are unable to determine the duration of the outbreak we are united in meeting the societal and educational challenges we collectively face with a shared determination and limitless imagination.

Download the full statement regarding the FDS response to COVID-19. 

Visit the Federation of Drama Schools website for more information.

Teaching comes in various styles at East 15: workshops, supervised rehearsals, skills classes, coaching, lectures, seminars, tutorials; assessment will be continuous and based on satisfactory participation in sessions, performances, portfolios, single and group presentations.

Our successful third term of 2019-20, when due to government guidelines face-to-face teaching had to be suspended, we found for some, teaching the face-to-face experience can be supplemented with effective online techniques that enhance the learning experience and respond to our changing industry. Our ‘Summer Season’ moved online, and students creatively embraced all medias, including film, audio, animation, digital performance and even Minecraft!

This year, group sizes may be smaller, some exercises can be viewed online, alternating with studio time, however the learning experience for our students will remain practically orientated. The bulk of the teaching will still be studio-based, with student bubbles created to enable performance. We have set aside additional weeks for taught classes in the 2020-21 calendar year that will allow us greater flexibility in delivering teaching under social distancing guide-lines.

Students will be able to safely access practical and vocational training with changes that effectively mirror what is happening in the industry as it adapts to the challenges of Covid-19. Students will now leave with more technical and creative skills enabling them to make work online and thrive in circumstances where the immediate prospects for live performance are compromised. You will leave East 15 with a greater volume and higher quality of digital footage to support your self-promotion and employability. The use of smaller groups offer more personalised learning and the live-streaming of student productions allows work to be seen by a wider audience than in a theatre building. Fundamentally, your training will instil the flexibility and resilience required for drama practitioners in a rapidly changing and unpredictable world. 

The retention of studio driven learning maintains quality of learning and all of the education will be delivered by our experienced teaching staff and a high proportion of freelance professionals who are currently active in the industry.

If adjustments to the amount of face-to-face teaching are required in light of changing circumstances, we now have tried and tested strategies to ensure that a dynamic range of classes can continue and learning outcomes can be fulfilled through online provision. Additionally, our new structure of term dates builds in the capacity to reschedule key activity to other points in the year if face-to-face teaching has to be temporarily suspended. All of our training provision is discussed and reviewed by external examiners who are similarly established educators at other universities and drama schools and/or active drama practitioners pursuing successful professional careers and we will continue to receive regular feedback from our students to ensure that we maintain high standards that we are known for around the world.

Students at East 15 follow a set of core modules for each course, and all modules to complete your studies are on offer in this current year. Overall course structures remain intact with minor adjustments, and we are ready to flex the timing of these if it is possible to benefit from any future relaxation of social distancing measures while keeping you safe. Any changes or alterations that have been made to courses are the result of our constant process of reviewing provision to ensure industry relevance and to take account of student feedback.