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2025 Full Inspection Report

What does the provider do well and what does it need to do better?

Leaders and staff have an extremely clear vision for CAPA College to provide specialist education that enables talented young performers and students in creative production to access a high-quality performing arts education.

Trustees and governors take an active role in holding college leaders to account to ensure they maintain very high standards of education. Leaders have a relentless focus on providing the best teaching, support and outcomes for their students. They ensured that students continued to receive an extensive teaching programme throughout the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, and as a result students continued to make very good progress during this time.

Leaders recruit students from a diverse range of educational backgrounds. Through an audition and helpful induction process, teachers identify any gaps in students’ knowledge and skills. They use this information to provide very effective support for those students who need more time to develop their skills and for those with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

Leaders have constructed an ambitious curriculum and set high expectations for students to enable them to develop exceptional performance or production skills. Students benefit from a range of opportunities that allow them to explore their interests fully. Students studying creative production and media benefit greatly from being able to stage-manage large-scale productions in the college. Students on performance courses benefit from participating in regional and national competitions and working with external organisations such as the National Theatre.

Teachers ensure that students increase their technical performance and production skills so that they become more fluent in movement, singing, acting and production over time. Musical theatre and dance teachers use core sessions to develop students’ muscle memory, which makes them faster and more precise in their performance skills. Singing teachers rehearse singing techniques using a range of training methods so that students have a secure and confident grasp of their higher register range.

Teachers participate in masterclass workshops for their own development as industry professionals, and they use this experience to inform their teaching. Consequently, students gain a better and up-to-date understanding of the performing arts industry and benefit from working with experienced choreographers, musicians, actors, technicians and stage managers.

Teachers carefully encourage students to become fluent in the technical language that they need to use in their work. Students can recall important terms quickly when rehearsing or producing creative works. Teachers use assessment very well in lessons to identify misunderstandings and are quick to correct errors. For example, ballet teachers direct questions to students about French terms used in ballet and this ensures that students use these terms accurately in lessons and in their work.

Students benefit from an excellent programme of careers guidance throughout their two years at the college. This supports them well to progress to prestigious universities and performing arts conservatoires and develops their awareness of alternative opportunities available to them, including employment and apprenticeships. Staff ensure that students hear from external speakers who provide them with very good insights into the creative and performing arts industries, the varied range of opportunities available to them, and how to prepare for these future roles.

Staff teach students very well how to stay physically and mentally safe. For example, during core activities at the start of each day, staff teach students the importance of adequate warm up before engaging in practical performance classes. Students learn how to maintain healthy relationships with their peers and how to respect personal and physical boundaries.