ArtsEd Principal Resigns Following Bullying Accusations

Julie Spencer, Principal of ArtsEd, an educational institution backed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, has resigned following an independent, barrister-led inquiry on bullying accustations, according to Deadline.

Spencer was on medical leave with the investigation was launched, and cites "health reasons" as the cause of her resignation.

Deadline reports that the inquiry found that Spencer's tenure resulted in an “unhealthy environment” and her relationship with the school's staff was "damaged beyond repair."

Read the full article here.

In December, Brian Brodie resigned as ArtsEd chair, citing personal reasons. Brodie joined the board in July 2022, and resigned after he launched the investigation.

Deadline published a special investigation on the alleged bullying, misconduct, and toxicity at the top UK drama school in November. Following the expose, 100 parents wrote a letter to the board, calling the school's response to the allegations “inadequate and unsatisfactory.” 

Andrew Lloyd Webber currently serves as ArtsEd’s president.

About ArtsEd

ArtsEd is a Conservatoire Drama School offering exceptional performing arts training; rigorous, triple-threat tuition in Musical Theatre (BA & Foundation Degrees) and detailed, contemporary Acting training for stage, film, television and audio (BA, Foundation & MA Degrees). ArtsEd’s Independent Day School and Sixth Form is consistently the UK’s most academically successful performing arts school, providing an exciting and dynamic environment in which to study GCSE, A-Level, and BTEC subjects. ArtsEd EXTRA provides hugely popular Weekend and Holiday courses, masterclasses, and workshops.

Alumni include leading choreographers, directors and producers alongside performers ranging from Dame Angela Lansbury and Nigel Havers, to Miriam-Teak Lee (Hamilton, &Juliet), Danny Mac (Hollyoaks, Strictly Come Dancing), Samantha Barks (Les Miserable, Frozen), and Lashana Lynch, who stars as Agent Nomi in the James Bond movie No Time to Die. 

Known as the most academically successful performing arts school in the UK, ArtsEd’s Day School is ranked in the top 10% of all schools nationally for ‘value added’.

In 2019 ArtsEd was awarded TEF Gold in the government’s Teaching Excellence Framework and Student Outcomes. Its most recent Ofsted report lists the school as ‘Outstanding’. The 2019 report by the Independent Schools Inspectorate rated ArtsEd as ‘Excellent in all categories.’ In their 2020 report, Good Schools Guide described ArtsEd as “A happy, inclusive and supportive environment that parents, pupils – and the performing arts industry itself – can’t seem to get enough of.” 

ArtsEd is a member of the Federation of Drama Schools (FDS) and is renowned for being one of the UK’s leading institutions for performing arts training. The school consistently ranks highly in league tables, such as the BE OPEN Foundation, which listed ArtsEd as one of the top five schools and colleges in the UK and one of the top 40 in Europe, The Stage’s ‘School of the Year’ award, and Trinity College London’s validation: ‘Exemplary’. 

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