Drama

Intent and Aims

Drama is a powerful and unique form of communication that can change the way in which students think, feel and act. It brings together intellect and feeling and enables personal expression and emotional development. Drama has the ability to inspire change; enabling students to become self-aware, motivated, disciplined, confident and empathetic. We want all of our students to leave with a love and appreciation of Drama and to have an understanding of key skills and techniques to enable them to make a positive contribution to society. We understand that the starting point for our students is varied in the absence of a prescribed National Curriculum and have therefore had the exciting opportunity to design our Curriculum to include a wide range of topics which gives our students a broad and ambitious experience irrespective of their starting point. The students have the opportunity to explore a range of texts and stimuli practically to develop devising and performance techniques and build on evaluative and analytical skills. We want all of our students to develop transferable skills that can be utilised at any stage they leave us on their learning journey which can then facilitate their future success. We pride ourselves on scaffolding our students to become independent learners who can thrive in a safe and stimulating environment.

  • Achievement through learning - by continual consolidation of key features/skills at every stage of their learning, achievements will be made.
  • Service to the community - by developing leadership skills and school productions.
  • Pride and determination - overcoming personal and educational challenges and taking pride in the work that they create.
  • Individual responsibility - by working beyond the lesson and joining school and outside clubs.
  • Respect, Courtesy and Consideration - appreciate the value of differing opinions/viewpoints and styles, whilst demonstrating that they can show respect, courtesy and consideration to peers' creations.
  • Excellence and high expectations - striving for greatness, through extension work and additional levels of challenge not prescribed for specific individuals but for all - ‘there is no ceiling grade’.
  • Develop a sense of creativity.
  • Build cooperation and teamwork skills.
  • Develop a critical understanding of different practitioners and styles and how to utilise these in the work that students create.
  • Give students the practical skills they require to devise, rehearse and perform Drama pieces.
  • Provide students with opportunities to view a range of theatrical pieces.
  • Expose students to a variety of cultures/themes/topics - empathy and sensitivity.
  • Develop learners sense of commitment and self-discipline.
  • Provide opportunities to explore a range of Theatre Makers and Companies.
  • Develop a lifelong love of Drama and the Arts.

Key skills

  • Performance skills to engage an audience.
  • Use a range of techniques and apply them correctly for effect.
  • Effectively analyse their work and the work of their peers.
  • Adapt performance work to different staging types /styles/setting and environments.

Key concepts

  • The structure of devising Drama pieces.
  • How to use a range of techniques and methods to devise their own work using knowledge of practitioners' methods.
  • How to write about their devising work, giving precise details about the skills used and comment on their impact on the audience.
  • The process of analysing and evaluating their own work, and that of others, in order to strengthen practical work.
  • Explain why certain techniques are used and what effect they create.
  • Analyse playscripts/live theatre performances exploring the individual artistic opportunities they provide.
  • Knowledge of design elements: costume, set, sound and lighting.
Our programmes of study

In Years 7 to 9, the topics are introduced in year 7 before being expanded and developed further. We understand that some of our students will have little or no experience in this subject - this though, is not a barrier to success and we create individualised goals and challenges to aid progression and support our pupils.

To enable a deep understanding, teachers focus on long-term working memory with the students to support embedding key terminology and to support their practical exploration of varying topics, carefully placed within our Key Stage Three Curriculum. It is our intention to provide all of our students with the opportunity to reach their potential, to develop their performance skills and to have a greater understanding of Drama. Practical tasks are our focus and are at the centre of our Curriculum and we are committed to ensuring the safety and wellbeing of students whilst giving them the freedom to explore collaboratively in our tailored Drama Studio and designated spaces.

This 3 year programme has the students' personal progression at the heart of the topics explored, to support their understanding of the wider world; faiths, backgrounds and overcoming challenges. Embedded within the course are a wide range of techniques and skills with our intention to create confident, independent and sensitive learners who are motivated and forward-thinking. We are passionate about providing our students with a rich and challenging experience in a safe and stimulating environment. A strong literacy focus can be seen throughout with the use of considered stimuli, reading and writing tasks. Each unit is assessed in a formal end of unit test. To support our students, we offer the opportunity to self and peer assess throughout the unit and continually offer verbal feedback to support their progression.

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In years 10 and 11 we aim to build on prior learning and skills, to develop confident and content rich performers who are equipped with the knowledge to explore creative approaches to practical work. Throughout Key Stage 4, students have a strong focus on Literacy; we aim to provide students with the appropriate methods to be able to effectively analyse, review and critique theatrical pieces. A range of texts/stimuli are explored creatively and theory lessons enable our students to have a wide range of Theatre knowledge and have the ability to apply Literacy skills in a variety of ways. During the 2 year course, all students will broaden their understanding of content, style and form and delve deeper into Playwrights and Practitioners' techniques and methodology; embedding theory into practice.

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Our Key Stage 5 Curriculum continues to inspire our pupils and gives them a life-long love of Drama. Our A Level course of study provides our pupils with the opportunity to explore Practitioners and Theatre Companies at a deeper level, in turn giving them a wider knowledge of aspects of Drama. We aim to encourage an appreciation of these differing forms and styles and provide ample opportunities to explore these practically throughout their studies. Theory into practice is at the heart of the A Level Curriculum and we endeavour to support and encourage this practice to enable our students to meet their full potential.

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