Outside of TLA Louise is passionate about the potential of effective, creative, training. Following her enthusiasm for helping others develop, she achieved a 1st class honours degree in Education & Training, then her MSc in Multimedia & eLearning.

She was the eLearning Manager, and part of the lesson observation team at Leeds City College for over 4.5 years, working with every subject area to improve learner experience & achievement, and has many hours of live tv experience behind her from demonstrating jewellery making when she worked as a Guest Designer at the JewelleryMaker shopping channel.

Louise's main role each week is running the swim school in York that she took over in September 2019, including teaching 12 hours swimming a week. Following her passion for continuous professional development she has recently added to her core (child/adult Learn-to-Swim) teaching qualifications with qualifications & upskills in Aquaphobia Coaching, Baby & Preschool Swimming Teaching, Anatomy & Physiology, and Teaching Swimming to people with Disabilities.

She works with Art, Design & Craft (and occasionally IT) Teacher Trainees at the University of Huddersfield as they begin their teaching careers - helping them understand how to teach their subject better using both core & specialist theories and strategies; while learning something new from each cohort she works with too - and that’s a lot of learning given that 2023-24 was her 16th year on the Education & Professional Development team (most as Lead Tutor for Art & Design too!).

Louise also finds time to: write & review online & classroom training; deliver her own creative parties, workshops & team building sessions; design in & teach people how to use Canva; complete creative commissions (jewellery & graphic design); and has even trained as a Chakradance Kids (mindfulness & wellbeing) Facilitator for primary aged children, and most recently preschoolers too! (she likes to be busy!)

All of this is despite the educational start Louise had; After being bullied at school & actually being asked (by the school) to leave before even being allowed to take any exams ger life could have taken a very different path! It took every ounce of strength she had, but she went back to evening classes (at 16!) to get her Maths & English GCSE, & then continued - following her creative passion - to achieve her photography GCSE & A Level. Her life took another turn when she became ill over 25 years ago (with what turned out to be the start of M.E.) & had to stop working. She turned to evening classes again "to get out of the house & keep her brain working" which actually led to getting through 'content' quickly then helping others... which is where her passion for [teaching &] learning really started!

Began as "just a parent" when her daughter started attending lessons nearly 10 years ago!

... because they travelled over from York each Saturday Louise would stay while her daughter was in lessons, occasionally helping out on the admin desk & with shows - building relationships with the TLA family, other parents & over time the other children too.

Louise has seen her own daughter change from a very quiet, shy child (who literally had to be peeled off her mum - but was then fine in lessons!) to someone who is now very confident & independent, and works as a Drama teaching assistant in the Intermediates classes! She has even seen the power that taking LAMDA exams has had on improving her daughter's English, & more recently Drama GCSE, work at school - and wants to support TLA to enable many more children to experience the same growth.

Both her & her dad travelled with the team to London for the children's west end performance. Louise also supported the team's busking fundraising days in Wetherby & Leeds (summer 2019) ... including actually being part of the group number at the end of each day!

Louise became an official "Admin Angel" at Easter 2018 & between September 2018 & the covid lockdown was Front of House Manager (including overseeing the onsite pop up cafe, supported by her fabulous dad Geoff!) too & has never looked back!

On a Saturday Louise currently looks after & supports many different front of house logistics & tasks, including:

● Admin duties to support TLA lessons & shows.

● Uniform (measuring for the new dance pieces & taking orders).

● Making sure children (& staff) are in the right place at the right time.

● First Aid (she has L2 Paediatric First Aid, L2 Mental Health First Aider, & L3 First Aid at

Work qualifications). and

● Despite no longer running the TLA cafe... Reminding staff to eat ;-)

She has also been seen delivering drama sessions occasionally, where she often includes learning through art, & mindfulness techniques.

The most commonly heard phrase (from the other staff members) is "see/ask Louise”?!

Between TLA days Louise is involved in some of the marketing activities including being an admin on the facebook page & all the WhatsApp groups, and designing / digitising promotional materials & making show props ... including:

● Making a mask for a showcase performance of Beauty & the Beast.

● Creating Matilda's iconic headband that all 4 Matildas could wear.

● Creating social media graphics & campaigns.

● Creating spreadsheets to log sales of show tickets.

● Designing & producing print ready files for:

○ Promotional banners & signs

○ Leaflets

○ Show Programmes & Tickets

○ Enrolment forms

○ Core admin tasks