Bird College

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Bird College" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (January 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Bird College – Conservatoire for Dance and Musical Theatre
thumb
Address
Alma Road Sidcup, London , DA14 4ED England
Coordinates	51°25′42″N 0°06′20″E / 51.428467°N 0.105655°E / 51.428467; 0.105655
Information
Type	Independent further and higher education college
Motto	When Performance Counts
Established	1946 (1946)
Founder	Doreen Bird
Local authority	London Borough of Bexley
Department for Education URN	50701 Tables
Ofsted	Reports
President	Stephen Mear
Chair	Geoff Pine
Principal / CEO	Christopher Costigan
Deputy Principal	Jamieson Dryburgh
Staff	130
Gender	Mixed
Website	birdcollege.co.uk

Bird College – Conservatoire for Dance and Musical Theatre is an independent performing arts college,^[1] located in Sidcup, South East London, in the London Borough of Bexley.

The college was founded as a dance school by

The college prepares students for a professional career in the

, musical theatre, singing, voice and acting.

Bird College is an accredited college of the

(ISTD), and students can study towards the ISTD dance teaching qualifications.

History

Overview

Doreen Bird first founded the Doreen Bird School of Dance in Sidcup in 1946.^[4] This was the predecessor of today's Bird College. Bird initially taught pupils in her parents' living room, rolling up the carpet to provide a suitable dance surface, although she later used a local church hall. In 1951, she established a full-time performing arts course with six students,^[4] which became known as the Doreen Bird College of Performing Arts.

In 1954 Doreen Bird acquired a former vicarage, which was renamed Vicarage House and would be the college's first permanent premises. In 1964, it moved to Studio House, which continued in daily use by the college until 2016. To enable the college to expand, it became necessary to seek larger premises and in 1979, Bird was successful in securing the freehold of a former

and was the college's main campus until 2007. In 2007, as part of the college's contract to provide pre-vocational music and dance services on behalf of Bexley Council, Bird College was granted residency of the former Bexley Centre for Music & Dance, which became the college's principal campus, renamed The Centre. The college vacated all of its existing buildings early in 2016, with the acquisition of a new one-site facility on Alma Road in Sidcup.

The Doreen Bird College of Performing Arts first offered a nationally recognised qualification with the introduction of a

, becoming the National Diploma in Professional Musical Theatre. The college has further expanded its range of courses with the introduction of the Foundation Degree in Creative Industries: Acting and the MA by Research in Dance & Theatre Performance, both validated by the University of Greenwich. A one-year pre-vocational foundation course has also been established, which offers an intensive course of study for students who need extra preparation before applying for a place on a full professional course.

Doreen Bird was principal of the Doreen Bird College of Performing Arts until her retirement in 1998, when she appointed Sue Passmore as Principal and Executive Director. It is also around this time that the name Bird College was first introduced, replacing the full title that had previously been used. Doreen Bird continued to be a trustee and Governor of the college for the rest of her life and in 1999 she was awarded an honorary Master of Arts by the

.

Before becoming Principal of the college in 1998, Sue Passmore had previously been Head of Theatre at the former Bush Davies School of Theatre Arts. She joined the Doreen Bird College of Performing Arts in 1988, as Artistic Co-ordinator and Head of Drama, becoming Artistic Director in 1989. She founded the Bird Theatre Company in 1991 and was also appointed to the Executive Council of the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing. After becoming the college's Principal and Executive Director in 1998, she held the post for seven years. Passmore retired from Bird College in 2005.

From 2005, the college was managed by Shirley Coen as Principal & Chief Executive and Luis Abreu as Deputy Principal. De Abreu is an alumnus of the college, serving as Deputy CEO & Artistic Director but formerly he was Head of Acting and Head of Performance Studies. In 2019 De Abreu became Joint Principal with Coen and in 2022 he became Principal and Artistic Director. Coen and De Abreu were both trustees of the Doreen Bird Foundation and retired from their positions in December 2024.

In 2007 till 2021, Bird College became the providers of pre-vocational music and dance services for the London Borough of Bexley, working in partnership with Bexley Council.

Since January 2025 Bird College - Conservatoire for Dance and Musical Theatre is currently led by Christopher Costigan as Principal/CEO and Dr Jamieson Dryburgh as Deputy Principal.

Live performances are an integral part of the curriculum, with students receiving performance opportunities throughout their training at the in-house Doreen Bird Foundation Theatre. The college used to perform in public under the title of 'Bird Theatre Company', staging productions both in the UK and Internationally.

Bird College productions have been staged at the Whitworth Theatre, the

and the Orchard Theatre in Dartford.

Bird College takes part in the annual event, 'MOVE IT'. Bird students perform in the showcase and give demonstrations, with staff of the college teaching workshops and giving lectures.

Examinations

• ISTD

In November, Bird College moved to its new campus on Alma Road in Sidcup, bringing all of the college's facilities onto one site for the first time. The Alma Road site was originally built as the Sidcup Secondary School (1955–1965), with two matching adjacent buildings; one for girls and one for boys. One of these buildings now houses Birkbeck Primary School. The second, which now houses Bird College, was used as the Sidcup Adult Education Centre prior to its acquisition by Bird College. An architectural competition was launched by the Royal Institute of British Architects in the autumn of 2011, with the design brief for a complete overhaul of the site, providing state of the art facilities for the college. The winning designs were submitted by Hoskins Architects of Glasgow, work started in 2015. The college took partial residence of the building in the autumn of 2015 and almost full residence in November 2016.

From 1965 onward the college was based at Studio House, a detached Georgian property occupying the corner plot of Station Road and Crescent Road in Sidcup. Originally a residential property, the ground floor reception rooms were used as dance studios until the 1990s, when a large studio/theatre extension was built on what was the rear garden. Studio House was the college's principal campus until the acquisition of Birkbeck Centre in the 1970s.

Birkbeck Centre was a former

. Birkbeck Centre comprised a number of dance studios of different sizes, including a large studio located in a pre-fabricated building to the rear of the property. Adjacent to Birkbeck Centre was the Admin Cottage, which housed the college's administrative, marketing and finance teams, the Principal's office and a teachers rest room and kitchen. Birkbeck Centre remained the college's primary campus until 2007 when the college moved to 'The Centre' on Station Road.

Studio House, Birkbeck Centre and the Admin Cottage were sold in early 2016.

The Centre Bird college's previous main site is a former school located on Station Road in Sidcup. It was a music and dance complex owned by the London Borough of Bexley and was previously known as the Bexley Academy of Music and Performing Arts. It was used primarily as a venue for pre-vocational dance and music training. When the College became the official approved provider for music provision in the London Borough of Bexley in 2007, Bird College took residency of the building and was responsible for the management of the site. The Centre offered (within the main building and annexes on site) a range of dance studios with sprung flooring and installed sound systems, tuition/practice rooms and performance opportunities in the larger studios.

This article's list of alumni may not follow Wikipedia's verifiability policy. Please improve this article by removing names that do not have independent reliable sources showing they merit inclusion in this article AND are alumni, or by incorporating the relevant publications into the body of the article through appropriate citations. (January 2025)

• Helen Anker, actress, singer, and dancer
• Gary Avis, ballet dancer^[6]
• Warren Carlyle, director and choreographer^[7]
• Melanie C, singer and songwriter^[8]
• Sue Hodge, actress
• Gavin Lee, actor^[9]
• John Partridge, actor, dancer, singer, panelist and television presenter^[10]
• Lara Pulver, actress
• Aaron Sillis, dancer and choreographer

• Doreen Bird – ISTD Autobiography
• University of Greenwich Press Release – Doreen Bird, Honorary MA
• Gavin Lee, Olivier Award Interview
• Bexley Council Press Release – Junior Music & Dance Provision
• Obituary of Doreen Bird – See page 4^{[dead link‍]}
• Council for Dance Education & Training (CDET) – List of Accredited Dance & Musical Theatre Courses
• Dance and Drama Awards (DADA) Scheme – List of colleges offering Government funded places

• Media related to Bird College at Wikimedia Commons
• Bird College – Official website
• Council for Dance Education and Training