Stagecoach Blog

This is a guest post from Izzie Stock, teacher and manager at Stagecoach. 

Hi! My name is Izzie, and I am a teacher and manager at Stagecoach. My journey with Stagecoach started when I was four when I joined Early Stages at Stagecoach Leamington Spa. I instantly caught the Stagecoach bug and went to my classes every Saturday until I was 18. 
 

Around the time I was 16, I had my first opportunity to work with Stagecoach when the Principal at my school offered me the chance to help assist the Early Stages classes at my school. This was a huge turning point for me as I was not only able to go to the classes I loved, but I also got to share my knowledge and passion for Stagecoach with other students. During my time assisting Early Stages, I really started to notice the way in which Stagecoach influenced them. I would see very shy four-year-olds coming into their first lessons at Stagecoach, too scared to talk to anyone or not really wanting to join in with the activities, who would then blossom into super confident, chatty and charismatic young people as they went along their journey. I have only seen this more and more as I have taken on other roles at Stagecoach, and it really does show just how valuable the life and social skills taught at Stagecoach are. From the attitudes of the teachers to the healthy relationships built between students, Stagecoach embodies its motto ‘Creative Courage for Life’ and helps students to blossom in a truly unique way. 
 

‘Creative Courage for Life’ is an idea that helps Stagecoach students to reach their potential. It teaches them to always persevere, to always be creative and to always be themselves. One of the most important ways I have seen 'Creative Courage’ realised through my time at Stagecoach is through the sheer freedom that students have during their time at Stagecoach. When they step through the doors to their school, students are free to be whoever they want to be, without fear of judgement. Their teachers and their peers encourage them to be truly and wholly themselves and to be proud of that person. Through drama exercises where different characters are explored, to different styles of dance which might be outside of their comfort zones, students are encouraged to challenge their insecurities and allow themselves to be creative. I have seen this be particularly important to our teenage students who often come to lessons feeling perhaps slightly awkward or insecure. When they come to Stagecoach, however, they are shown that they can let go of this insecurity and just have fun as themselves, again without any fear of judgements. 
 

By providing this platform to students, Stagecoach allows young people, of all ages, to express themselves as they please and to allow themselves to be free. In doing this, Stagecoach students learn the all-important life lesson of self-acceptance, a quality that is so important to their development and one that they will carry with them through life. 

The social skills taught by the teachers at Stagecoach are something else that really helps students to develop their Creative Courage. Whilst at Stagecoach, students are taught that they work as a team and that no one in a class is more important than the other. The teachers at Stagecoach truly believe that in a performance, whether you are the protagonist or you are part of the chorus, every individual is equal. 

I believe this is something really unique to Stagecoach as it removes the barrier of competitiveness with one another and allows students to form valuable friendships instead. Students are able to see their peers as their equals and develop the teamwork skills to always work well with one another. One of the most important aspects of this I have seen at Stagecoach is the student's ability to cheer each other on and be proud of their peers. Often students of all stages may come together to show their work to one another and the positivity and support each stage shows one another is phenomenal. It is such a rare situation in life to see 17-year-olds cheering on 7-year-olds as they show the dance or the song they have been working on, but this is the norm at Stagecoach, and all comes down to the social skills students are taught at Stagecoach. When students get to experience this at Stagecoach, they also develop their confidence without even knowing it. 
 

One of the most important ways students become confident and sure of themselves in life is through acceptance and encouragement from their peers. When they join Stagecoach, students become part of a family that will always lift them up, always cheer them on and always let them know their value. It is due to this that they become super confident individuals. 
 

It is clear through all these things just how unique the skills and life lessons students learn at Stagecoach are. They get to be taught by individuals who are experts in their discipline but who also have valuable lessons about the way of the world which pupils can carry with them through life; they get to be accepted for whoever they are and whoever they want to be, and they have the freedom to explore their individuality without fear of judgement. It is through all of these things that students are able to find their creative confidence at Stagecoach and blossom into the amazing people they have the potential to be.  

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