Drama

FACULTY OF PERFORMING AND CREATIVE ARTS

What is Drama?

Drama is the portrayal of fictional or non fictional events through the use of dramatic prose. Drama can be devised or scripted, improvised or rehearsed, comic or tragic. Drama is a way to explore our world around us and gain a better understanding of human nature. Drama allows us to express our individuality through the creation of characters on stage. Drama gives us a voice that is uniquely our own.

CURRICULUM VISION

Our vision is to enable students to become drama literate. We want them to acquire this knowledge of drama through the active exploration of themes drawn from life (past and present), whether they have their source in other curriculum areas or in general areas relevant to their lives. We aim to enable the student to begin the process of translating a knowledge of drama into the active exploration of life themes from drama literature, leading to the appreciation of world drama culture.

Why do we study Drama?

Being able to solve practical problems and work closely with others are two highly transferrable skills to all subjects and professions. Drama skills are highly valued by employers and the Creative Arts is a huge and important industry in Britain. Students who study Drama are confident speakers and the subject allows for more variety in the way in which students learn and express themselves. Drama makes a contribution to our well-being, self-esteem and self confidence. The experiences and study of this art form enrich us and support our social and cultural development.

CURRICULUM INTENT

Our students will:

develop abilities in the core areas of devising, performing and critical analysis
gain an appreciation of Theatre, enjoying a range of scripts from different genres and practitioners
be able to watch performance work with an eye to using ideas to generate original work
become increasingly critical as audience members, able to make insightful analysis and evaluation
practise creative exploration, adapting form, style and structure in performance tasks be they scripted or devised
learn how to research topic stimuli, persuade audiences and create an atmosphere effectively
form the criteria with which to evaluate the drama texts, written or performed
achieve versatility as a learner, working interdependently and collaboratively
value diversity, recognising and respecting different faiths, cultures and perspectives

What do we study?

In Drama we will study the three disciplines of rehearsing, performing and evaluating. This will be achieved by both looking at both devised and scripted topics. We will use a variety of stimuli to create performances and build our performance skills year on year. Some examples of units studied in drama are, Physical Theatre, Music to Create and Soap Opera. We link one unit in each year (7-9) to English and study a Shakespeare text in original performance conditions.

To view a full summary of our KS3 and KS4 Drama curriculum please click here

To view information about A-level Drama & Theatre at the Green School Sixth Form please click here

CURRICULUM SEQUENCING

Drama is delivered with the three main disciplines in mind; creation, performance and evaluation. Students begin in year 7 with learning the building blocks of creation and performance through scripted, devised and improvised work. There is a clear focus on the development of plot and character whilst evaluative work focuses on becoming an active member of the audience who is able to make judgements about what they see on stage. Year 8 sees students learning how to move beyond plot and create meaning and impact for the audience thus allowing more thoughtful and considered evaluation work. A wider variety of more challenging scripts and stimuli are used that offer a taste of the material that will be explored in KS4 and beyond. These two foundation years culminate in the pre GCSE course delivered in year 9. Students in year 9 follow the three components of the GCSE course, introducing and familiarizing students with the rigour involved. The creation of Drama centres around key practitioner work, performance work offers the opportunity for students to explore exam style questions and conditions and the evaluation work becomes focussed on a key piece of professional live theatre.

CURRICULUM IMPLEMENTATION

How do we study Drama?

At all Key Stages the learning style is very practical and physical. Students are expected to work collaboratively in small groups and communication skills are highly valued. Key Stage 3 pupils have a subject workbook in which their written reflections and home learning are recorded. At Key Stage 4 the reflective process continues as students begin to evaluate and analyse their practical work and the development of their creative ideas. The lessons take place in the Drama Studio and Flexi Space thereby allowing freedom of movement and the opportunity to use space imaginatively. Some of the technical and design aspects of the subject are also studied allowing students treek Gods and the purpose of theatre used to worship them is explored in KS3 topicso be assessed in their use of make-up, costume, lighting, prop making and set design.

Spiritual Moral Social Cultural education

Spiritual

Greek Gods and the purpose of theatre used to worship them is explored in KS3 topics

Moral

We explore the treatment of different societies throughout history through the medium of Drama. We also aim to answer moral questions through the practical exploration of case studies in KS4. We encourage students to reflect on progress made and continued progress necessary to further improve the society around us.

Social

There is a strong emphasis on social, political and cultural awareness in what is taught in the Drama curriculum. Students work through topics to look at issues such as inclusion, reflecting on their own experiences and applying it to fictional situations.

Cultural

Students learn about different cultures through various schemes of learning based on stories from around the world and plays written by local playwrights.They look at the cultural heritage of storytelling across different countries and throughout history.

Presentation of Work

Each student’s folder contains their assessment sheets and their unit overview sheets. Students should fill in their unit overview sheets legibly and neatly, reflecting on their topic work. Each unit will start with a unit checklist for self- assessment. When students are completing self assessment they should use green pen.

Home Learning

Home learning is delivered to either consolidate knowledge from the lessons or to prepare for future learning. Tasks consist of watching and analysing short performances, completing self reflections or rehearsing for the practical assessment.

Co - curricular Activities

School Play
performance showcases
B.L.A.S.T club (technical team)

CURRICULUM IMPACT

Assessment

formative assessment will take place in lessons through Performances and peer evaluation
summative assessment takes place at the end of a topic, through performance in lesson, where strengths and improvements are identified and students respond to this feed forward on their unit overview sheets.

Outcomes

To view the impact of our curriculum please click here for our latest exam results and here for our student destinations.

Careers Leading on from Drama

numerous sectors of the Performing Arts, Media and Journalism industries
teaching
youth community workers
literary careers as an author, publisher or proof reader
child psychologist

To view more information about our school Careers programme please click here.

SUPPoRTING THE CURRICULUM

How parents/carers can support their children

students can go and see live theatre
encourage students to watch plays online/ BBC Arts or Sky Arts channels
discuss own performance interests: Soap Opera/ movies/ TV/ Theatre etc.
show support by attending showcase evenings

The Green School for Girls