Finding her stage: how Bea Pritchard found her path through clearing
For Beatrice Pritchard, performing has never just been a hobby. She started ballet at four years old, went on to grade in modern dance, took GCSE Dance, discovered musical theatre at school, and threw herself into Bristol Musical Youth Productions throughout her teens. Performance has always been central to who she is.
So, when A-level results day came and went and the future suddenly looked less certain, it was performing arts she came back to.
“I’d been thinking about different routes – Drama degrees, English, even a gap year,” says Bea, now finishing her first year on BA (Hons) Performing Arts: Contemporary Musical Theatre at Performers College Manchester. “But I kept coming back to the fact that performing is my passion. It’s what makes me happy. I didn’t want to take a year out of training, and I didn’t want to do something I wasn’t completely in love with.”
She started looking at clearing.
A quick search, a phone call, a self-tape
Bea had heard of Performers College – mainly the Essex campus – but when she searched for available places, she found that Manchester had spaces on the course she wanted. She made the call, completed the application form, and submitted a self-tape. An offer came through on 8 September 2025. She started the week after.
“I knew I had to make a quick decision,” she says. “I spoke to my dance teacher and my singing teacher and they both spoke really positively about Performers College. That gave me confidence. Then I watched videos about the Manchester campus on the website, and something just clicked. I decided the same day I got the offer.”
The practical side of things fell into place quickly too. Information about accommodation came through promptly, she secured a room just two minutes from the Dancehouse Theatre, and student finance was sorted within the week. She already had most of the kit she needed. By Sunday 14 September she was moving in; by Monday she was in class.
“It all came together so much faster than I expected,” she says. “It sounds daunting, but honestly, it was really straightforward.”
An equal mix of everything she loves
What Bea has found at Performers College is something she’d been looking for without quite knowing it: a course that gives equal weight to dance, singing, and acting, rather than favouring one over the others.
“I love the balance of it,” she says. “I’ve improved in all three areas, and I feel like I’m getting a genuine insight into how the industry actually works. There are so many contact hours. I get to do what I love every single day.”
She’d never been to Manchester before the day she moved in. Now she loves it.
“The theatre scene here is brilliant,” she says. “I’ve been to see Miss Saigon, Waitress, and The Karate Kid – Performers College students got free tickets to that one. And then there are the shows put on by students here too. It’s a really exciting place to be.”
A leap worth taking
Bea’s ambitions are clear: she wants to perform for Disney, join a touring production, or work on a cruise ship. A year ago, a path to those goals felt uncertain. Now, she’s building towards them every day.
“I’m so glad I took a leap of faith,” she says. “Clearing isn’t a backup plan – it’s just another route. It worked out better than I could have hoped.”
If you’re weighing up your options this results season, Bea’s advice is simple: trust what you love, make the call, and see what happens.
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To discover more about Clearing at Performers College, visit our dedicated page at performerscollege.ac.uk/clearing or call our clearing hotline on 01273 096406.
