LAMDA Access and Participation Plan (APP) (2020-21 to 2024-25) Introduction LAMDA is a small, specialist provider, and is the oldest drama school in the UK. Its mission is to provide exceptional vocational training to actors, technicians and directors, regardless of their background or economic circumstances. LAMDA has been offering HE programmes since achieving University of Kent validation and joining the Conservatoire for Dance and Drama (CDD) in 2004. LAMDA achieved independent registration with the Office for Students in 2018 and left the CDD in July 2019 to become a fully independent HE Provider (HEP). Our first APP comes into effect in 2019-20 but will be superseded by this current document from 2020 onwards. In keeping with our conservatoire ethos, student numbers are kept deliberately low in order to ensure a highly personalised student experience and the best possible quality of learning, teaching and graduate outcomes. Only around 400 individuals train with LAMDA in any one year (HESES return 2019). Of those, only around 140 take full-time first degree courses, and the FT UG entry cohort is only around 55, of whom 48 will typically be UK domiciled. This APP should be understood in that context. In February 2019 we announced the appointment of our new Director, Sarah Frankcom, who will join LAMDA in November 2019. Sarah is one of the UK’s leading theatre directors with a high profile and reputation for championing accessibility and inclusivity. We are already engaged with Sarah about providing additional impetus to our existing commitment to inclusion and enabling a student experience that celebrates diversity in all its forms. In order to gain a deeper understanding of the changing nature of our student cohorts, we are building our data capture, handling, analysis and planning capabilities. In the last year we have invested significantly in ICT infrastructure and are planning further system innovations. Our previous membership of the CDD inevitably meant a relationship slightly removed from the OfS and HESA, we are now subscribing to HEIDI plus and have recently created an Assistant Registrar role focused on student data. Adopting Microsoft 365 tools for data sharing and collaboration and changing timetables to allow managers and teams to come together more frequently to evaluate reports and plan changes are other measures which will underpin more evidence-based planning, implementation and evaluation to ensure the achievement of our APP.
This Plan aims to ensure that, in line with the Equalities Act 2010 and the published OfS objectives for equality and diversity, LAMDA can draw on its unique collaborative ensemble ethos to play a full part in nurturing a diverse industry which fully reflects the society it serves and to continue removing barriers to participation in the performing arts.
1.
Assessment of performance As a newly registered HEP, identifying and interpreting good quality comparative data sets has been a challenge, notwithstanding our previous status as a constituent part of another HEP. One of the key aims of this five year plan is to build up a consistent set of measures, appropriate for
1