Twenty productions, casts of a hundred: a York school's musical theatre gets its national nod

At Joseph Rowntree School in York, musical theatre is not an after-school extra — it is an institution. The school has just been shortlisted for the MTI Award for Achievement in Musical Theatre Provision at the 2027 Music and Drama Education Awards, honouring a Vaudeville faculty that has staged more than 20 productions over 16 years, each involving casts of over 100 students from Years 7 to 13 — Matilda The Musical JR. and Les Misérables School Edition among them. Rehearsals are already under way for Newsies, opening in February 2027: another hundred teenagers, another standing ovation in the making.

SDG 4 · Quality education