Youth Lyric News

Letter to Parents

31st March 2021

Dear Parents

It’s hard to believe that we’ve now been running our online classes for 3 months. It’s been wonderful to see how the students have adapted to this new way of learning drama and dance. They have been amazing and we would like to thank you all for your support in helping us to make this happen. We currently have 14 online classes being held across Belfast and Antrim with over 120 students registered from P3 – Yr 14. If you know anyone who might like to join please let us know.

Term Dates

Unfortunately, we are still not able to re-start face to face classes so we will take a two-week break over Easter from this Saturday 27 March and will resume online classes again week commencing Monday 12th April and run online classes until Saturday 5th June.

Trinity College Examinations

We have been so encouraged by how many senior students are keen to be entered for Trinity Solo examinations this year despite not having face to face classes. A separate email will be sent out to all those senior students who are taking exams in due course. Unfortunately, we are not able to offer this opportunity to our junior students but will hopefully be able to do so next year.

Social Media

Please check out our website www.youthlyric.co.uk which is updated regularly with our latest news, merchandise offers, new staff members information and most recently, photos from our Titanic Production which you can download and print. If you would like to make a small donation for any photos printed you can do so online in the usual way referencing Photos. Thank you! Our social media sites have been a great way to stay connected with students and parents during the pandemic and we regularly upload class screenshot photos and student reviews, plus useful information such as casting opportunities and recent radio interviews as well as a very special video message which will be coming soon to our students so keep looking! Please also check out our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram sites listed below and feel free to like, share and comment on any of our posts.

Hoodies Order

We have started a new hoodie and merchandise order that will be placed over Easter – does your child’s hoodie/T Shirt still fit them? We currently have an offer on our lanyards BOGOF so if you would like to order any items please use the attached form and return it to us as soon as possible. Thanks!

You will be contacted soon with regard to any outstanding term fees as well as new zoom invitations for classes next term. You may have noticed that an automated email is now sent to your email address 1 hour before classes begin to help remind you of your child’s class, which we hope is helpful – if you wish this email to be sent to a different email address please let us know.

We would like to wish you all a very Happy Easter and we look forward to seeing all the students back online after the holidays.

Kind Regards

— Rachel Robinson Administrator Youth Lyric Belfast Metropolitan College E3 Building, Springvale Campus 398 Springfield Road Belfast BT12 7DU www.youthlyric.co.uk Instagram: youthlyric Facebook: Youth Lyric Charity Reference XR73390 Youth Lyric – JustGiving

Youth Lyric Merchandise Order Form (1)

What’s next!?

22nd January 2021

Dear Parents,

We hope you all had a Happy and Healthy Christmas!

2020 has been a challenging year for everyone to say the least but we at Youth Lyric want to look forward to 2021 with hope and anticipation.

So, we’re very excited to announce something new for our senior students this New Year.

This month we will be launching online speech and drama classes for our senior students only. We realise this is not ideal but until current restrictions are lifted we believe this is the best way forward. Our tutors are planning lessons that will teach Trinity College syllabus to help students move towards Solo Grades but will also involve developing their performing arts skills that will encourage all students in their personal and mental health development, which we feel is vital at this particular time. We are committed to providing a unique and valuable experience for young people so we do hope you will encourage your child to join in.

The focus of the classes will be preparing individual monologues which can then be entered for the Trinity examination at the appropriate grade level. Pupils do not, however, need to embark on the examination and can join this class purely to develop skills. The examination is optional not compulsory. For those wanting to complete the examination, they will have to be willing to work on their monologue independently and also complete a recording of the monologue, plus accompanying tasks which will be outlined during the lessons. Please be advised the tutors cannot record the examination material, it must be done by the pupil at home and uploaded to the Trinity portal. Guidance will be sent to pupils closer to the examination deadline.

The online classes will run as follows:

Class times will be as per the previous completed registration process
There will be a maximum of 10 students per class.
Each parent will be contacted via Zoom/Teams by the administrators and the class will last approximately 30 minutes.
After a time of introduction, teaching and discussion, the lessons will take the weekly format of students being set work to complete at home and then they will show their work at the class the following week.
Tutors will be there to provide guidance and evaluation as well as all resources students require and will ensure that classes are inclusive and fun at the same time as conducive to learning for all ability students.

NB, We will look at providing classes for our Junior students once the Senior classes are up and running. Unfortunately, at the moment we cannot start Junior classes week commencing Monday 11th January as hoped due to current Covid-19 restrictions – but please watch this space for information coming shortly regarding some online performing arts classes for our P5 and P6 students.

If you have any questions or queries in the meantime please do not hesitate to contact us at:

info@youthlyric.co.uk for Belfast

antrim@youthlyric.co.uk for Antrim enquiries.

Thanks for supporting us throughout these difficult times!

Natalie Gilbert

Head of Curriculum

COVID-19 Update: Stanmillis

23rd November 2020

Dear Parents and Guardian,

We have been informed that unfortunately, Stanmillis University College will now not be taking any bookings for our use of either the Dance Hall to Sports hall until at least w/c Monday 11th January 2021.

Stanmillis can not guarantee that this timeframe won’t be extended, therefore I will keep in touch about the start of our classes for the next term. We have also been advised that class sizes might have to be kept to a minimum number when we do re-start but we will inform all parents of any changes nearer the time.

In the meantime, if you have completed registration for your child to attend this term the process will automatically be transferred to next term so you need do nothing more at this time. If you have ordered a Youth Lyric top then please contact Rachel Robinson at info@youthlyric.co.uk to arrange delivery/ collection before Christmas. we are still selling out Lyric merchandise so please checkout our website www.youthlyric.co.uk where you will also find the results of our latest excellent online competition kindly judged by DJ Carolyn Stewart.

The news form Sranmillis is a great disappointment for staff and pupils but I do hope to have more positive news soon.

With sincere thanks for your ongoing support in these tines.