Teenager Natalie Ingham, pictured, has won a scholarship to a top theatre school - and saved her parents £30,000 in fees!

Natalie, 18, of Sandy Lane, Bradford, has landed a full scholarship to Liverpool Theatre School where she will study singing, dancing and drama for three years.

The scholarship was one of several she was offered - including one in London - and she says she decided on Liverpool, chosen this year as European Capital of Culture 2008, because she felt most at home there.

Natalie, who has performed on stage with some top showbiz names since she was a child, discovered she had won the place after taking her A levels at St Joseph's College in Bradford. She will start her new course on September 15.

"I can't wait to go!" she said. "Liverpool looks fantastic and I'm really looking forward to the course. I'll be doing singing, dancing and acting, and the course also gives us the opportunity to train to be dance teachers."

Natalie - who does ballet, tap and contemporary dance - joined Footsteps theatre school in Eccleshill as a child and has already worked with actors Anthony Newley and Christopher Cazanove.

She appeared in a production of Joseph and His Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat at Bradford's Alhambra and has been in professional pantomimes in Halifax for several years, working with people like Darren Day and Ralf Little (Anthony in The Royle Family).

Now she is set to join the Liverpool stage school which boasts among its former pupils stars Les Dennis and former Brookside actor Sam Kane, who is appearing in Carousel at the Alhambra this autumn.

For her audition Natalie had to recite two drama pieces and perform three song and dance numbers. She paid tribute to her tutors at Footsteps where she has trained for eight years.

"It's great all-round training, I learned a lot," she says.

Natalie is already making plans for when she graduates. "I'd like to work in West End shows and dance in music videos," she says.