Boy Soldiers, a short film made last year by our afternoon blue group, has already made it in to several film festivals world-wide, and last night, at the Limelight Film Awards in London, it won not only Best School Production but also Best Film.

Amy, our film and TV tutor, and some of the cast of the film were at the awards ceremony to collect our trophies which we shall add to our growing collection.

The whole evening had an ‘Oscars’ feel to it and was ‘one of the best nights ever’.

We will be celebrating at our academy for a while and we look forward to releasing our next film Out of Darkness in the Autumn.

PQA Alyesbury’s short film “CTRL” which was featured at PQA’s Leicester Square awards ceremony last November is featured in this month’s Time Out Magazine.

To read the full article just click HERE

In spite of the torrential rain, spirits were high and not one of the sixty children, ranging from six to 16, involved complained.

This short film, based on the children at the academies ideas, written by Amy Coop, scored by Ashley Turner with lyrics by Laura Bower, features a young girl who opens a portal door to a whole other dimension featuring the good Wood Spirits and evil Lunatishees. With original songs, excellent dialogue and of course stunning performances, this fifteen minute musical promises to outshine our previous short films which have in the past made it in to festivals around the world.

The Pauline Quirke Academy prides itself on its friendly, fun atmosphere with the children learning new skills and working with people in the industry. This project has seen the children from both the morning and afternoon academies coming together and working exceptionally well in some very difficult conditions. As their principal, I am so proud of them.

Look out for the film this Autumn!

Bugsy Malone

Ever fancied performing in this hit musical? Now is your chance with this years’ Summer School at PQA Aylesbury.

Dates: Tuesday 27th – Friday 30th August

Time: 10 am – 4 pm

Place: The Mandeville School, Ellen Road, Aylesbury, HP21 8ES

Cost: £150 non- members, £130 members

10% sibling discount available.

Places are limited so to avoid disappointment, book your place now by contacting Kym on 07800 921373 or emailing kym@pqacademy.com for a booking form.

All places need to be booked before the end of July to secure a place.

A schoolboy is transported back to the trenches of Passchendaele where he experiences what it was like to be a WW1 Boy Soldier.

Shot in an afternoon on a budget of £100, and based on a story devised and developed by the cast (aged 11-14yrs), ‘Boy Soldiers’ was an end of year film project with a group of PQA students. It was selected for finals of the PQA / Empire Cinemas Film Festival in 2012 where it screened on Remembrance Day at the Empire Cinema, Leicester Square.

This has now been shortlisted in to the ‘Best Student Film’ category.

Well done to all the children at PQA Aylesbury, and particularly the Blue Afternoon group, for all their hard work and dedication which goes in to making such a film.

If you want to find out more about this festival, or watch the trailer, go to: www.stokeyourfires.co.uk.

The full version of this film will be available to watch on the PQA cinema shortly.

PQA Aylesbury certainly have lots to celebrate at the moment, and their Blue groups short film CTRL being shortlisted for a film festival in New York is certainly one of our proudest moments.

CTRL was a short film devised by and starring our children all aged between 10 and 12. It is about a young boy who finds a remote control in a school rubbish bin and uses it to control his friends in to doing all sorts of wild things! A completely silent film, this comical masterpiece had audience members rocking in their seats at its screening at The Empire Cinema in Leicester Square back in November.

Continue reading “PQA Aylesbury film get international recognition” »

We are so excited to announce that Stuart Campbell, one of our red group members has successfully landed the role of MacDuff’s son in Shakespeare’s Macbeth.

Starring James McAvoy, this highly-acclaimed play will be shown in the newly refurbished Trafalgar studios in London.

Due to the strength of Stuart’s audition, he is to be the ‘lead’ boy of the three playing the part. He is performing on the opening and closing night, along with the press night.

Lesley Campbell, mum, said “Obviously his Scottish accent and the great teaching at PQA helped.”

Stuart has been rehearsing hard and the play opens on 9th February and runs until 27th April.

This years end of term showcase saw the children performing a combination of plays, improvisations and poems to their parents.

All the children in the academy had a part to play, whether it was Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, Widow Twanky in Aladdin,  a narrator in Twas The Night Before Christmas or their own character in their devised improvisations.

Continue reading “PQA Aylesbury Comedy and Drama Christmas Showcase” »

Her mum, Gloria, said ‘Immy was very excited to have been offered a part following a successful audition, and I thank PQA Aylesbury for their instruction over the past year which I believe has afforded Immy the confidence and skills needed to audition for outside theatre companies.’

This new version of Half a Sixpence has the familiar storylines and characters of the original show but with more scenes, pace and humour. With numbers such as “Flash, Bang, Wallop” and “Half a Sixpence”, this has something for everyone.

Continue reading “Immy gets role in Half a Sixpence” »

Last Sunday, PQA Aylesbury strutted down the red carpet amidst rapturous applause for the premier of their short films at The Empire Cinema in High Wycombe.All films, scripted, directed, acted and devised by our own members and overseen by their teacher, Amy Coop, were extremely well received.

“We are used to being impressed with the quality of work the academy produces, but Amy has completely excelled herself with the films. They were all fantastic. Great storylines, well filmed, excellent performances and the editing and music were amazing.” Sarah Schofield, PM parent.

The screening started with adverts which the children had made and these in themselves were hilarious! Amy, working with the children, had filmed their own take on current television adverts like Dove where the children showed the youthful qualities of the product by swapping the actress with a member of our youngest group!

Continue reading “Lights, Camera, Action!” »