JIGSAW PERFORMING ARTS SCHOOLS

I started Jigsaw Performing Arts in 1995 with my friend, Colette. We trained at Mountview Theatre School together and when we graduated, we ran Jigsaw in between our acting jobs. It was very organic, we started with one school on a Sunday morning (we had just 15 students on the first day!). I taught dance, Colette taught drama and another friend taught singing. I remember what it was like to start from scratch but with lots of hard work and determination, we were running five busy and successful schools in North London and Hertfordshire within a few years.

Colette moved away in 2000 and I continued to grow the business and by 2013 we had 22 venues, over a hundred teachers and a team of admin staff at head office. This is when I decided it was time to franchise and I haven’t looked back.

We had years of experience and systems, so it was the natural step. To do franchising well, we had to be selective and find like-minded individuals that wanted to deliver performing arts classes in the same way as we do. My mission was to grow but not to grow too quickly and forgo the high standards we had achieved over the last 18 years.

I had been running the business for a long time, so it was also really exciting to be learning something new!

We now run 39 franchise schools in England and Wales.

We are proud to be accredited members of the BFA (British Franchise Association), demonstrating our commitment to high franchising standards. We are also delighted to have received the five-star Franchisee satisfaction award every year as we know we are delivering first class support to all our franchisees.

They should be great at communicating with customers, especially the children. If they are hard-working, enthusiastic, and determined with an open mind to learning all the skills needed, this is a winning combination.

Our ideal franchisee doesn’t necessarily need to be from a performing arts background, but you definitely need a passion for theatre, performance, and an outgoing personality.

Jigsaw really is a place to belong. Not only for our students but also for our franchisees. Our core values of kindness, respect and authenticity run through the whole business. We love what we provide for our students and the impact that attending Jigsaw has on the rest of their life.

You should know that we are about quality over quantity. Finding the right franchisees and having a high level of support exceeds our need to grow and expand too quickly. We have had years of experience of running performing arts schools, so you are in really safe hands at Jigsaw.

Our initial licence fee is £8995 + VAT. This gives you a large territory and covers the initial training and launch. The set-up costs are £3750 + VAT which gives you your full kit, launch marketing, insurance, music licence, DBS, First Aid and Safeguarding training and more.

Our ongoing Management Support Fee is 10% + VAT and there is a Marketing Levy fee of 2.5% + VAT which is spent on improving marketing collateral, strategies, and campaigns for the whole network.

Our franchisees running full schools provide in excess of £30K profit per year running one school. You can increase your income by running additional schools, holiday workshops and parties.

Each performing arts school runs on a Saturday or Sunday morning or afternoon. Each term is 11 weeks so there are 33 half days of delivering the sessions. The administration that needs completing can easily be done during the week at whatever time fits around your family or personal situation. Our online booking and management system really makes this as easy as possible. Some of our franchisees are parents, some are teachers, some have other jobs in the week. Having a plan of how this might fit with your current life is really important to make it a successful business.

The initial training is a week at head office and is delivered by myself and the head office team. We cover all aspects of running your business including customer service, marketing, running the school, recruiting teachers, and ongoing administration and management. It’s a very full week and ends with a school visit so you can put your new skills into action.

Beyond the initial training, we will be by your side for your launch and have weekly meetings during your first term to make sure all aspects of training have been understood.

Following your first term, the franchise support is delivered by our franchise support managers and our ratio of support manager to franchisees is high, so you are always connecting with the team at head office. You will not feel alone. We have received the five-star franchise support award for the last three years scoring between 97% and 99%.

I am still very hands on with in the business and provide group coaching sessions over and above the day-to-day franchise support. The Jigsaw community is very important to me, and a lot of effort is made to make sure our franchisees feel completely supported.