Drama
Curriculum Content Overview
Our Drama department’s intent is to deliver a fun and varied curriculum that exposes students to a wide range of dramatic styles, genres and techniques and gives them an opportunity to develop confidence in their own voices. We aim to develop learners who have the tools to construct their own pieces of meaningful drama (Devising Drama) and are able to interpret scripts in an imaginative way (Exploring and Performing Scripts). Our KS3 curriculum is designed to support the English curriculum by bringing classics from the literary canon such as Dickens and Shakespeare to life by exploring them from the inside. We build upon this in KS4 by exploring Blood Brothers and Macbeth. The third strand of Drama is preparation for the written elements of the course, which involves writing about a script and evaluating Live Theatre. We follow the exam board advice that the best way to learn to write well is to ‘experience’ it first and we ensure that we approach all the exam work ‘on our feet’, then discuss it before writing down answers. We use modelling and scaffolds to begin with and gradually reducing this to be ‘exam ready’.
We are conscious that many of our students have not had much exposure to theatre and would benefit from ‘learning from the Greats!’ We believe in the power of Live Theatre to broaden students understanding of Drama, theatre and the world and will build in trips to see quality theatre at every opportunity, particularly in the preparation and examination phases.
The transferable skills of empathy, confidence and articulation and the opportunity to important to us as building the technical drama skills. In all the phases there will be opportunities to discuss, imagine and reconsider attitudes, opinions and experiences that our students may experience in their journeys through life. Where possible we will teach elements of the PSHE curriculum – particularly the Core themes 1 and 2 of Health and Well-being and Relationships. These will be covered in the devising units when students choose themes but can also be touched upon in the study of texts and the watching of Live Theatre. The skills of team working, leadership, flexibility and resilience will be covered in all the units. Underpinning all the lessons is a celebration of how Drama and Theatre connect us though a ‘shared human experience’ - we realise through our experiences that what it means to be human runs through time and cultures.
We believe that it is essential for young people to have opportunities to learn in an active and empirical way and will make a point of only writing when it is essential for exam preparation or to enhance the learning experience. We aim to deliver lessons that are irresistible to every student in the Academy and to make Drama the subject that they go home wanting to talk about and remember in years to come.
Curriculum Learning Journey
