Jemma Walton finds out more.

A babysitting service that only costs about £2.35 an hour? Most parents would jump at the chance.

This is the deal offered by the Key Youth Theatre's summer school, when you think about it. For just £120 a week, the group will take a child aged between eight and 18 between the hours of 9.15am and 5pm for a week, train them in the fine arts of singin' and dancin' and then, on the Saturday, the show will be performed and the kids will enjoy an after-show party.

"The summer schools have been running for the past 17 years," said the Key's Paul Collings. "And they give young people the chance to work with professional actors, choreographers and musicians and put together a really professional show.

"It does so much good in so many ways. Lots of the children come by themselves, but they always make friends and shy kids always come out of their shells and blossom.

"We had one girl one year, and she came along wearing a cagoul which was zipped right up to her chin. She had the voice of an angel and we cast her in a good part, and by the Wednesday the cagoul was partly unzipped, and by the party on the Saturday I found it scrunched up in a ball in the corner.

"She just opened up and enjoyed herself, and that's what the summer school is all about."

As well as making the world of difference to their confidence, the summer school also obviously improves their singing, dancing and acting skills.

And it has also set some youngsters well on the way to a career in the performing arts.

Paul said: "We have seven or eight kids in drama school at the moment, and one of the lads who used to come along is 18, and has won a place at the Central School of Speech and Drama, which is one of the top places to study drama in the country."

'I have made some of my best friends there'

Olivia Jones (15) loves the summer schools so much that she has gone along to them for two weeks every year since she was nine.

"I have made some of my best friends there," she said. "It's a great atmosphere, and you really get to concentrate on three things – acting, singing and dancing, instead of just one, which is quite unusual and makes it really good."

Olivia lives in West Street, in Helpston, near Peterborough, and attends Stamford High School, and said that quite a few of her friends go along to the summer school as well now.

"I think it's spread by word of mouth," she said. "It's just a really fun way to spend five days during the summer. And the party at the end is always good – a lot of pizza gets ordered, and we always have the same DJ, who's really funny."

Olivia's experiences at the summer school have spurred her on to want to be a film producer when she's older. "Acting is my passion," she said. "And I'd just love to be involved in the film industry.

"My mum always gets very emotional when she comes to watch the show, and sheds a little tear, as I think do all the mums!"

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Book a place on the Key Youth Theatre's Summer School.