The Drama Curriculum is built on a 5-year spiral between Y7 and Y11 through a one-hour lesson per week structure. The curriculum is designed and sequenced to build on creativity, communication and developing core knowledge and skills despite any prior knowledge or experience prior to KS3. It is designed to build and nurture the fundamental skills needed for life such as communication, leadership and confidence whilst embedding the dramatic skills of devising, exploring a text and performance. Each year moves through a sequence of lessons based on this, as well as exploring theatrical genres, practitioners and design elements. The curriculum sequence enables students to be GCSE ready through the exploration of the assessment objectives being embedded into the curriculum.

Y7

Y7 students begin their journey through the concept of devising, exploring a stimulus through creative thinking, group work as well as interpreting and building a character. Through this component, students are given the opportunity to build on creative devising and rehearsal techniques to performing confidently to an audience and responding to feedback. Students are introduced to scripts and exploring the plot, themes and characters within ‘Our Day Out’ by Willy Russell. They end their journey through beginning to explore and understand the technical elements of theatre (lighting, costume, sound and set). They complete a written play review of live theatre to begin to develop their extended writing and describing a live theatre performance.

Y8

Moving into Y8, students begin to understand and interpret different theatrical genres and practitioners. Their development in theatre design is threaded through exploring puppetry and Commedia Dell ‘Arte. They begin the understand the theatre practitioner influence through using the Stanislavski methods to create a character. Their physical creativity is development through Stage Combat within component 3 and creating movement in component 6 as part of the performing arts ‘Musical’ scheme of work. Y8 students are introduced to Shakespeare by sensitively studying parts of Romeo and Juliet to develop their improvising skills as well as understanding the Shakespearean dialogue. Characterisation and structuring scenes are a fundamental part of Y8 to support the curriculum intent and develop their core skills needed for GCSE. Extended writing is developed through beginning to analyse live theatre.

Y9

By Y9, students are expected to have become independent learners and have the core knowledge of devising, performance and design elements that have been introduced in Y7 and Y8. By Y9, students are expected to be able to communicate and creatively explore different genres and styles such as Theatre in Education and Frantic Assembly. They take more ownership of their projects and texts. The play review extended writing is expected to be both analytical and for them to give opinions on the impact that theatre has on an audience. All these skills enrich students to be GCSE ready by the end of Y9.

GCSE Drama is the Eduqas Specification

Link below

 

 

Links to cross-curricular subjects

All group work and rehearsal development link to the LORIC values of the school throughout every year group. Students also develop their cultural capital through exploring live theatre performances and theatre genres.

Y7

In Y7 students link their learning to the English curriculum by learning scripts and writing a play review as part of extended writing. The Personal Development links are created through exploring themes within Our Day Out such as social class and poverty. The performance that is reviewed for the extended writing in Shrek the Musical explores themes of being prejudice and judgemental. Students are encouraged to make their own judgments and have their own opinions through class discussions.

Y8

Y8 students also link their learning to the English curriculum when they are introduced to Shakespeare and studying Romeo and Juliet. They focus on Personal Development issues through looking at homelessness and young people running away from home. They are encouraged to research facts and figures to do with this issue through homework tasks.

Y9

Y9 students can look at crime and punishment in mediaeval Britain and link to the History curriculum. They develop their English curriculum links through studying the Blood Brothers text. Within this component they also develop Personal Development through discussing the themes and issues within the text such as social class, nature vs nurture and relationships.

The Shakespeare knowledge is developed through studying the original performance conditions from Macbeth which links to GCSE Drama and English. Within the Theatre in Education project, students are encouraged to explore issues linked to target audiences and demonstrate their knowledge on the issues they have chosen through creating a theatre performance to educate. Examples of issues chosen are drugs and alcohol abuse, bullying and online scamming.