(1) Building Confidence – Our Mini Mumbler joined PQA last October and gosh what a wonderful journey she has been on. It has been amazing to see how her confidence has grown and the love she has developed for the arts.
(2) Making new friends – PQA has been an amazing opportunity for her to meet new friends, with children from 4-18, from all walks of life, she’s loved getting to know everyone and from the moment she walked through the door, everyone has been so kind.
(3) Being encouraged to be herself – While PQA can help support those students who wish to develop their skills professionally, what we love is that there is absolutely no pressure to do so. PQA is full of inclusive practice and they encourage each and every child to be themselves, recognising that each child is different and unique.
(4) Learning new performing art skills – Here at STAG, we both have theatre degrees, but we never wanted to force our Mini Mumblers into the arts, we wanted it to be something they chose for themselves. We have been blown away at how much she has learnt about the various theatre disciplines, things we didn’t learn until we were much older and at college and university.
(5) Having fun on a weekend – Our Mini Mumbler loves to be busy and therefore a quiet weekend might not be her cup of tea, that’s why Saturdays are so much fun. She knows that every Saturday lunchtime, it’s time to put on her uniform and spend the afternoon at PQA. What does this mean for mummy? I get 3 hours a week to go have a cuppa, do the weekly shop and 
spend quality time with her little brother.
(6) A taste of independence – Having spent the first few years of her life always having mummy or daddy with her at classes and groups, this would be the first time she ever went it alone and understandably we were anxious. We soon learnt that we had nothing to be worried about, she barely looked back as we left her and we knew how well she would be looked after.
(7) Watching herself on the big screen at Vue Cinema – Her first big moment was in May when she attended her very own cinema screening. The PQA team had spent weeks creating a series of short films, all students contributed with acting, sound and lighting and it ended with a cinema screening. Students and families were invited to Vue Cinema, York and were advised to dress up. When we arrived, students were greeted by a red carpet and OSCAR style statues and had professional photographs taken. We grabbed our popcorn and went and took our seats in the cinema. The lights went down and who was the first person to appear on the screen? Our very own Mini Mumbler. She couldn’t believe her eyes, she had only ever been and watched the big box office hits, so couldn’t believe she was watching herself on the big screen.
(8) An opportunity to perform at The Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre – In the last few weeks the students have been busy learning all about Shakespeare and I couldn’t believe my eyes when I received the parent newsletter, telling us our Mini Mumbler would be performing A Midsummers Night’s Dream at the amazing Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre , what an opportunity. Sadly, on the day, we were met with torrential rain, making it unpleasant and perhaps unsafe for the students to perform. The PQA Team could have quite easily cancelled the performance and had some very disappointed students…..NEVER!! They used their
skills and quickly adapted the staging, enabling the students to perform at their PQA base instead.
(9) An opportunity to join a Summer School, performing in a musical created in just one week – In August, we needed some childcare, so decided to register our Mini Mumbler for a full week of childcare with PQA. Included in the price, she received her very own Summer School T shirt and each day she came home, she was on a complete high, practising over and over again, her songs and dance moves. On the 5th day, all parents were invited to the theatre to watch the final performance of High School Musical. While we knew all the students would have worked hard, we were not sure what to expect given they had pulled it together in just 4-5 days. Perhaps it would be a special short version of the musical, perhaps the movement and songs would be limited, perhaps there wouldn’t be many students performing…….how wrong we were! There were approximately 50 students on stage, it was the full musical and it was jam packed full of every song, complete with an array of wonderful choreography. We are still in complete shock as to how on earth this incredible group of teachers pulled this off, but we were truly blown away. Seeing our Mini Mumbler fully embracing every moment of it and seeing her beaming smile looking at us as she took her final bow was wonderful, nanny and I were bawling (yes embarrassing I know), but we couldn’t have been prouder of her first performance on stage.
(10) She’s being welcomed into a wonderfully supportive, caring family – Last but not least, is the wonderful PQA family she has been welcomed into from day one. We have the upmost trust in their ability to care for our Mini Mumbler and we cannot thank them enough for the endless opportunities they have given her.
We just cannot recommenced PQA enough. They have open days coming up soon, so if you’d like your Mini Mumbler to give it a go, then simply get in touch to arrange a free, no obligation taster session.
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