Beth Heathfield
Beth has been a part of the AJSS family for 24 years, having started her journey there as a 2 and a half year old dancer.
Beth trained at The Centre Performing Arts College for 3 years, gaining her diploma in musical theatre performance and ISTD teaching qualifications.
Credits whilst training include Fraulein Schneider in Cabaret and Little Red Riding Hood in Into the Woods.
Since graduating, Beth’s credits include Scaramouche in We Will Rock You (RCCL), Lead Vocalist for Viking Cruises, Shirley in The Best of Wham (UK Tour) and Jill in Jack and the Beanstalk (Hazlitt Theatre).
Beth is currently Spinotti and covers three female leads in the UK and International Tour of Bat Out of Hell.
Amanda-Jane Crowter (Principal)
Amanda attended the Corona Academy Stage School in London, where she trained in all aspects of dance and had the opportunity to appear in the film Oliver. As a teenager, she worked as a professional dancer both at home and abroad. She opened the school in 1981 at Parkwood Community Centre, and is a fully qualified teacher with the BBO. She most enjoys producing our Showtime and summer Gads Hill productions.
Alongside running the school, she also teaches dance & drama at Gads Hill School. as Head of Drama Productions for the Junior school.
Holly-Jane Crowter
Holly has been with AJSS since a baby and has grown up round the school her whole life.
At 16, Holly went to D&B Academy of Performing Arts and later went on to train at The London School of Musical theatre, graduating in 2017 after four years of drama school.
Credits whilst training include Judy in 9 to 5 the Musical and Bridget in a Slice of Saturday Night.
Hollys professional credits include Les Miserables in Concert, South Pacific the musical, Jack and the Beanstalk, The Glenn Miller Story, Sleeping Beauty and Everything's West End and Broadway.
She was most recently a featured soloist in 'Sunday at The Musicals' at the Other Palace and a regular performer in their concerts.
Holly is currently lead vocalist for The Cromer Pier Show this summer.
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Helena Sim
Helena has been a member of The Amanda-Jayne Stage School since she was 3 years old, all the way back in 2001. After training with Amanda for many years, she went on to study a BA (Hons) Degree in Musical Theatre at Millennium Performing Arts in London, which she graduated from with a First Class in 2020.
During her time training, Helena was involved in various shows, often taking on the role of Vocal Captain, as well as creating her own pieces for the shows. In 2019, she performed in an ensemble with Jack Whitehall at the 02 in London. She has also worked on multiple short films with local filmmaker, Tom Harvey, including The Sound of Us and Stomping Ground (for which she also acted as Choreographer for the production).
Kathryn Lucas
Kathryn joined AJSS at the age of 5 and trained with Amanda and many of her family members) throughout the rest of her childhood.
After completing teacher training with the British Ballet Organisation, she was fortunate to return to teach within the school and has been making magic with Amanda for many years. She is delighted that her daughter, Amelia is benefitting from the same training and performing opportunities that she herself enjoyed as a child.
Kathryn is also head choreographer, dance and drama teacher for a pantomime company and enjoys bringing the joy of dance and performing arts to primary school children across schools in Kent and Medway who have won awards and competitions in musical theatre.
FUN FACT:
ALL OF OUR TEACHERS WERE TRAINED AT THE AMANDA JAYNE STAGE SCHOOL AS CHILDREN!
Helen Dallamore-Hynd
Helen is one of Amanda's first roster of students who have been educated via AJSS, then moving on to study dance at the University of Roehampton.
Upon moving back to Kent with her family, she returned to teaching for Amanda. Helen currently works with the younger children and considers the growing of their skills into the talented performers they now are as one of the most rewarding things about her job.
As well as teaching with AJSS, Helen holds a position as the key dance specialist at Chattenden Primary School. Within this role, she often assembles dance squads for country-wide competitions. A notable instance of this would be her success in choreographing and leading her school into first place for the Royal Opera House's National Nutcracker competition. More recently, Chattenden's dance squads found themselves 7th in the nationally ranked Great Big Dance Off!