Drama Department Aims
To create thoughtful young people who care about each other and the world; who can use drama skills to confidently communicate ideas and feelings and resolve problems; and who will develop an appreciation of the performing arts.
Ms Caroline Beaven (Head of Dept)
Miss Georgia Read
The drama curriculum in KS3 has been created to give students a well-rounded introduction to areas that underpin drama and theatre; by learning techniques to create their own original dramas, exploring scripts, performing in front of an audience and writing to evaluate aspects of techniques and skills they have used in their performance work. Year 7s and year 8s receive two hours of drama per fortnight.
Key aims of the curriculum are:
- To develop co-operation and collaboration skills
- To know and be able to apply key vocal, physical and interpretative skills to their work
- To develop empathy for different people in different situations
- To know about different genres of theatre (Physical Theatre, Theatre in Education, Naturalistic Drama, Greek Drama, Musical Theatre, Documentary Drama)
- To identify features of the different genres studied
- To know and be able to apply key techniques involved in creating drama
- To know and be able to apply key stylistic features
- To develop literacy through written evaluation skills and oracy
- To develop aspects of the KS3 NC for English such as reading skills: knowing purpose, audience, context, plot; writing skills and grammar.
The department holds a weekly drama club for year 9 students and has traditionally provided opportunities for students to perform as part of the Christmas concert, the Drama showcase and the annual school production. These opportunities are currently under review due to Covid-19.
Pupils in Year 7 and 8 have timetabled lessons in which they study topics that are connected to their own experience as young people as well as looking at issues that connect to Music, Citizenship, British history and our school values. Drama is uniquely placed to develop students’ interpersonal and problem-solving skills and improve social interactions as well as their self esteem.
In year 7, students explore the topic of bullying through different stimuli such as poems and scripts; they learn to be creative with basic physical theatre; they piece together the evidence to determine what happened to a missing girl; and they look at the tragedy of a Welsh mining disaster and consider why it happened and who was responsible for the explosion that killed hundreds of miners.
In year 8, students explore the topic of dealing with school and homelife problems in ‘J’s Story’, they explore the performance features of Greek Theatre; they create their own choreography and develop an appreciation for the skills involved in Musical Theatre and they also research a topic in order to create their own piece of Theatre in Education.
In year 9, students have the opportunity to attend a weekly drama session as part of the Enrichment programme after school. Those students who are considering taking Drama as an option subject in year 10 are encouraged to attend to extend their practical drama skills and their experience of performing. Students develop their understanding of documentary drama and and key skills when performing script.
Students study Level 2 BTEC Performing Arts (Acting) Tech Award which gives students the opportunity to extend their knowledge of different styles and genres of professional theatre. They also develop written, practical and critical thinking skills that are useful not only for careers in the Creative Industries, but are applicable in numerous jobs and careers. The BTEC comprises three components and year 10s and 11s receive 5 hours of drama teaching per fortnight.
In Component 1which is internally assessed, students study the roles and responsibilities involved in creating theatre and three different plays in different styles and genres. They then complete research tasks that include practical development of work and written analysis that compares and contrasts the plays.
In Component 2 which is also internally assessed, students will explore a play in detail, take part in skills workshops, play a character in that play, then rehearse it and perform for an audience.
In Component 3, students are given a brief that requires students to research, develop and create their own performance response to it. There are four pieces of work that count towards the External exam including three written responses and a workshop performance.
Official revision guides for BTEC Performing Arts are available from the Pearson website and revision booklets are supplied by staff throughout the course as required.