A SINGING star has been stumped by a new policy keeping youngsters in education until they are 18.

Jamie Wills-Taylor has been working towards a career in performing arts since the age of seven, but with no grants available to her, will have to pay for her own fees at a theatre school by busking.

Having already secured her A-level in drama at the age of just 16, Jamie is now tasked with raising more than £5,000 to attend the sixth form at Brighton’s K-Bis Theatre School where she will be able to study the full range of performing arts as well as her academic subjects.

Part of the money will be raised by busking, which the youngster admits is adding a string to her bow.

Jamie said: “It’s going really well.

“I’ve been doing it for a month and I’m up to about £200. It’s very frustrating because my cousin in London has funding but I don’t. But it’s definitely not going to stop me – you just have to find a way. Looking at the positives, by doing it this way I can go to any auditions I want and most kids in my position cannot do that if they’re in state schools or private schools. Performing arts schools in London actually make you sign a contract meaning you have to get their permission to attend auditions, but there’s none of that with K-Bis.”

Jamie knows the importance of not pigeon-holing her style at such an early age and continues to take inspiration from a number of genres including the blues and country.

She added: “You always want a wide range of genres, and it’s good to at least need to understand what various styles are even if you’re not massively keen on them.”

The singer-songwriter has been performing in the streets of the city, putting in two to four hours a day.

She said: “It’s odd – sometimes I’m singing to a lot of people and sometimes it’s just you and the wall, so it’s a challenge to go out there and perform no matter what. But the people are great. I took my sister with me last week and someone just came up and started singing with me. I’ve already met some really amazing people doing it – especially some of the homeless people – they are so sweet. I was a bit nervous at first because I thought it would be really competitive. I had this vision of being told off if I was in someone’s spot, but there’s nothing like that, there’s a real community feel about it.” When she was 11, she won the coveted role of Brigitta in the Sound of Music at the Palladium in the West End and has since gone on to star in TV and on the dance circuit. Jamie has recently written and recorded her demo album Stand Up Tall, produced by Steven Wilkinson. She can be seen busking in the Pavilion Gardens, near Pretty Essentric and the Midas Touch in The Lanes, around Cranbourne Street and near the burger van and California Soul Bowl on the edge of Churchill Square daily when it’s not raining.

See her perform at www.youtube.com/user/jwtfairydust.