A welcome from the
Principal Director

Welcome to ESA Academy. 

I love this place and I believe in what we are up to here... I wish this kind of school had existed when I was 14.  Alas, my era of education had not yet had a ‘creativity’ movement, ‘cultural learning’ was not yet ‘a thing’ and dedicated arts schools didn’t exist (at least not free and inclusive ones).  Thankfully, things are changing!  There are now some schools, like ours, that have been designed to challenge the ‘one size fits all’ approach to education and equip innovative and talented young people to realise their creative potential.  We do this in a number of ways - we have innovated a specialist, applied curriculum which is relevant to the creative sector, we’ve devised a relational and restorative approach to the way we learn together as a community, and we have developed partnerships with industry players to ensure that our students and trainees get vocational, hands-on industry experience.  

Cultural, creative education is vital to young people.  It develops empathy, reflection, interpretation and confident communication and importantly, it teaches collaboration, original thought and making.  In a world of AI and machine manufacturing, these creative and cultural capabilities are utterly crucial to wellbeing and employability.  Also, it is now widely accepted that the creative arts, crafts and trades are something that the UK are brilliant at - among the very best in the world.  Film, music, TV, gaming, theatre and digital are enormous growth areas in this country.  Indeed the creative industries are worth over £115 billion to the UK economy - more than aerospace, life sciences and the automotive industries combined. 

This creative sector continues to grow so fast that the crafts, trades and technical disciplines that underpin these industries are suffering a skills shortage.  This is an important moment for us to equip young people with the technical skills, knowledge, training and experience to increase access and opportunity for them to have creatively fulfilled working lives and to provide this thriving industry with a pipeline of fresh, diverse and vibrant talent.  To this end, we are so fortunate to be located in Elstree and Borehamwood, the home of British film and TV and central to the ‘British Hollywood’ right here in Hertfordshire.

If your heart beats to the drum of all things TV, film, music, game and theatre, if you love creative arts and making beautiful and thoughtful creations, then you’re among friends and collaborators at ESA Academy.  

Chris Mitchell
Principal Director of Elstree Screen Arts