Performing Arts Faculty: Drama Department
KEY STAGE 3: Pupils in Year 7 and 8, have one hour of drama a week. The focus for all Key Stage 3 pupils is on practical work, performance and evaluation through peer and self-assessment. Pupils create their own pieces as well as working from scripts and plays. Basic skills are introduced in Year 7, such as still images, mime and narration. These are taught and practiced though different projects and themes such as silent movies, fairy-tales and physical theatre (focusing on using movement instead of speech to tell a story). These basic skills are developed in Year 8, and new skills added such as drama practitioners, script writing and improvisation. The skills developed are vital for further study in drama, but also promote transferrable skills such as team work, time management, creative problem solving, multi-tasking and public speaking.
KEY STAGE 4: At Key Stage 4, Years 9, 10 and 11 follow the AQA GCSE Drama course. This dynamic course offers students a variety of practical and written opportunities to immerse themselves in creating and evaluating theatre. Students work on 3 components during the course. Component 1 is a written exam where students have to know different theatre roles; have to study a play during rehearsal time and write about the characters and have to evaluate a piece of live theatre they have been to see during the course. Component 2 is called Devising Drama and this involves the creation of practical piece of course work, made solely by the students around a theme and then performed. Component 3 is called Texts in Practice and requires students to learn scripts from two sections of the same play and then perform these in front of an external examiner.
EXTRA- CURRICULAR: There are many extra-curricular opportunities for students within the drama department. Key Stage 3 Drama club runs on Tuesday lunchtimes and regularly attracts over 40 pupils from Years 7and 8. We also have a KS4 drama club, which runs on a Thursday lunchtime.
Pupils in Years 7– 10 are invited to audition every year for the school musical which takes place in July. There are a variety of roles for pupils to get involved with, from acting and singing to making costumes, props, stage and set as well as running backstage areas, controlling lights, organising sounds, doing hair or make-up and assisting the director .
We also run lots of trips to the theatre throughout the year. These are open to different years for each trip, with upcoming trips to see The Play That Goes Wrong and Hairspray. In addition, we run trips during activities week to dramatic locations such as the Harry Potter Studios and the London Dungeons.