It was a pleasure to welcome Dame Arlene Phillips to Westminster Academy today to share her story with our students, as part of the BBC 100 Share Your Story project.

Dame Arlene’s story should certainly inspire young people who might believe their dreams are out of reach and it shows how she personifies the WA HERO Values. She explained that she "fell in love with dance…it’s all I wanted to do…I did everything I could to afford a second lesson…It was really tough but I just had this goal”. She was only 15 when her mother died but she took Responsibility for her future by first of all taking a job at a bakery to pay for dance lessons and then she demonstrated Enterprise by going in-person to the local authority offices to find out about scholarships for studying dance. Having successfully secured such a scholarship, she took full advantage of her Opportunity and went on to have a remarkable career in dance, music, TV, theatre and film.  

Dame Arlene was very generous with her time, speaking to not one but three different assemblies! We really appreciate her coming to WA to share her story!

Any WA students who are interested in sharing their stories can visit the BBC Young Reporter website for more information.