A YOUNG dancer has won a place at a prestigious ballet school.

Ella Boyd, 11, has secured a place at the Elmhurst School of Dance, in Birmingham.

The Durham High School for Girls pupil, who wants to be a classical ballerina, will be one of just a handful of new pupils taken on by the UK’s oldest vocational dance school, which trains dancers for the Birmingham Royal Ballet and other national and international dance companies.

Ella’s mother Lisa said the whole family was thrilled at her achievement.

“Ella started dancing when she was two and at the time we just thought it would be something nice for a little girl to do,” she said.

“We had no idea at the time that she had a real talent for it.

“We couldn’t be more proud of her. We don’t know where she gets it from though, as we’ve all got two left feet.”

Ella, who moved to the North-East in 2011 when her father Tim became manager of Durham’s Ramside Hall Hotel, trains for around ten hours a week.

She will start as a boarding pupil at Elmhurst in the autumn.