Former Pewsey Vale School pupil Jessica Johnson is leaping towards a bright future as a dancer after bagging herself a place at a top London dance school.

The 19-year-old has been dancing for three years and in September she will be moving to London to study for a BA in contemporary dance at the London School of Contemporary Dance.

Miss Johnson, of Rawlins Road, Pewsey, said: “I was over the moon when I found out I’d got a place – it just shows that all the hard work and determination paid off.

“I hadn’t even told my mum that I’d auditioned so when I got the acceptance letter she thought it was my audition date.”

Miss Johnson took ballet classes at Bouverie Hall for three years until she was seven and got back into dancing when she was 16.

Before focusing in a career in dance, she went to Pewsey Vale School and spent two years at New College in Swindon.

She is now training with the Centre for Advanced Training Youth Dance Academy at Swindon Dance and to fund her move to the capital, Miss Johnson is working part-time at the Royal Oak in Pewsey.

She said: “I was a member of the Pewsey Amateur Dramatics Society when I was 10 and we did pantos, so dancing was always there.”

During her training she will focus on ballet and is also looking to take extra classes in jazz, tap, commercial and tumbling.

Her mum April said: “It’s bittersweet because I’m so proud of her but I will miss her. I’ve already bought a family rail cards so I can go and visit her. All her family is over the moon for her because she really deserves it.”