Course Overview
All drama work facilitates the ability to work together using co-operative skills, which are vital for effective communication. Pupils learn about themselves, and their environment, practising social behaviour and organising their thoughts into language.
At Light Hall drama is taught as a separate discrete subject throughout KS3. Due to its popularity and enthusiasm from pupils, Years 7 and 8 will now have one lesson a week, with Year 9 continuing to have one lesson a fortnight.
Drama in KS3 provides a powerful focus for creative energy whereby young people develop confidence, resourcefulness, self-discipline and a strong sense of worth, together with many specialist skills. By KS4 pupils are confident and approach drama with sensitivity, understanding and most importantly enjoyment.
Drama has become a popular option at KS4, resulting in 4 GCSE groups. We consistently obtain excellent examination results, which are well above the national average. The school currently follows Ed Excel specification, as its examination board.
The department has detailed schemes of work in place for both KS3 and KS4, which support other curriculum subjects such as PSD, Citizenship and Literacy. However, we would welcome further additions and value innovative ideas. The department itself is young, enthusiastic and creative, consisting of a Head of Department and two English/Drama teachers.
Drama is delivered in a specialist studio with curtains, lighting, projection and portable staging. It has a vast array of costumes and props and even offers a stage make-up workshop on burns/cuts and bruises.
A range of extra curricular activities are offered and well attended, including drama clubs, a Christmas pantomime, and a whole school production. Past performances include Grease, Bugsy Malone, High School Musical and the Wizard of OZ which all achieved excellent reviews.
Regular theatre visits workshops and public performances of GCSE work occur throughout the year. We are very proud of achieving Artsmark (Gold) and promoting the young people’s arts award.
Overview of the Drama department’s aims
- To develop pupils’ understanding about human behaviour and the human condition through direct experience and discussion.
- To develop a spirit of enquiry through problem-solving activities.
- To develop confidence and critical judgement through oral and written evaluation.
- To develop effective communication and use of language through dramatic engagement.
- To increase social, moral, spiritual and political awareness (citizenship) through the exploration of themes and topics.
- To develop responsible, caring attitudes through social interactions and an examination of the consequences of decisions made.
- To enhance pupils’ literacy, numeracy and ICT skills wherever opportunity is reasonably provided.
- To provide a learning environment that is stimulating, well ordered and safe
- To encourage the acquisition of theatre skills and its vocabulary.
Key Stage 3
Year 7 - Scheme of work
Students follow various units (one lesson each week in year 7). Drama is either taught in the Drama Studio, Upper School Hall or Lower School Hall
Mime and movement – Commedia dell’Arte | Introducing language | Father Christmas has Flu | Toy Shop | Horror Chamber | Macbeth (witches scene) | Red Riding Hood | Space Cartoons | Time Travel | The Great Fire | Play reading
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Learning Objectives
Mime skills | Body language and movement | Developing a role | Spontaneous improvisation | Role play | Freeze frames | Thought tracking – hot seating | Soundscape | Developing a play or scene
Context
Individual | Pair | Small group | Large group | Whole class
Assessment
Students are formally assessed once a half term roughly and in terms of:
- Responding - Ability to work in various contexts
- Performing - Ability to present
- Evaluating - bAbility to be analytical and constructively critical
Year 8 - Scheme of Work
Students follow various units (one lesson each week in year 8). Drama is either taught in the Drama Studio, Upper School Hall or Lower School Hall.
Structures | Dream Train | Opposite Characters | Detectives | Parents & Conflict | Poison | Slavery | Masks | Here is the | News | Stylistic & non-naturalistic drama | Monologue | Soap Opera |
Learning Objectives
Body language and movement | Maintaining a role | Spontaneous improvisation | Voice work | Marking a moment | Non-naturalistic conventions | Set design | Staging a play or scene | Rules of mask |
Context
Individual | Pair | Small group | Large group | Whole class
Assessment
Students are formally assessed once a half term roughly and in terms of:
- Responding - Ability to work in various contexts
- Performing - Ability to present
- Evaluating - Ability to be analytical and constructively critical
Year 9 -
Scheme of Work
Students follow various units (one lesson a fortnight in year 9). Drama is either taught in the Drama Studio, Upper School Hall or Lower School Hall.
Adrian Mole - Bullying | Characterisation - The Identification | Play extract – Bouncers | Is violence necessary? | Performance poetry- The funeral of the Father | Problem page - Sharon’s Dilemma | Short story improvisation -The Party | Haunted House | Whole Play Study – Heroin Lies
Learning Objectives
Forum theatre | Stereotype | Thought tracking | Creation of atmosphere and mood | Flashback | Marking the moment | Narration | Characterisation | Exploring humour | Actioning a scene | Vocal techniques
Context
Individual | Pair | Small group | Large group | Whole class
Assessment
Students are formally assessed once a half term roughly and in terms of:
- Responding – their ability to work in various contexts
- Performing – their ability to present
- Evaluating – their ability to be analytical and constructively critical
GCSE
What career opportunities could the course help to give me?
Drama is a versatile subject which could be studied for its own sake, or to form the basis of a future interest in the Performing Arts. Alternatively you can develop transferable skills, which you can take into any profession. These include such fields as Retail, Media, Travel and Tourism, Sales, Marketing or any career that involves meeting people face to face.
What topics will I study?
Your topics will be selected from the vast range of issues within society using texts, newspaper articles, plays, music, artefacts and poems.
What skills will I develop?
Confidence | Evaluative | Team work | Communication | Improvisation | Decision making / problem solving | Dramatic terminology | Predicting | Expression / Body language | Manipulating the drama form | Key skills developed are lighting/ set / costume / sound effects
What examination will I take?
EDEXCEL - GCSE Drama
What is involved with the examination?
You have the choice of being involved in the performance of a play from an existing script or one you can create yourselves.* * You can choose to perform or offer performance support.
You are involved in a variety of workshops which are assessed by your teacher.
What coursework will I have to complete?
40% examination
60% coursework
Your coursework is divided into two units which are a mixture of practical workshops and written portfolio.
- Unit One: You will use a variety of drama strategies to express your thoughts and ideas about an issue during workshop sessions. You must complete a written portfolio of evidence to support your practical work.
- Unit Two: You explore a play and consider how a playwright expresses their ideas about a theme, while experimenting with ways of making the play work on stage. You also have the opportunity to evaluative a live performance. You must complete a written portfolio of evidence to support your practical work.
Objectives
Each student should;
Identify with characters and actions through role-play, (for example, a dramatized story/and as spectators of a performance);
have the confidence and ability to put across a particular point of view;
learn how to work with others to solve human and practical problems;
create and take part in improvised scenes in order to explore issues;
invent and develop convincing roles in specific situations;
know how to structure dramatic sequences in order to convey meaning;
be aware of the need for dramatic conventions (eg. light, dark, movement, pause, sound, silence);
be aware of and use a variety of dramatic forms and techniques, to express ideas and feelings (eg. mime, movement, costume, make-up, props, set-design);
appreciate drama in performance, both as participants and as spectators;
understand the educational, cultural and social purposes of drama;
develop a vocabulary of theatre/drama;
explore the variety of human emotions through drama;
learn to listen and concentrate;
learn to respect and where appropriate, depend on, others (e.g. trust skills);
develop awareness (sensitivity) and enjoyment of the ways groups work (e.g. decision-making, problem solving, negotiation), willingness to accept responsibility, a democratic approach;
evaluate his or her achievements as an individual and through groups in which he or she works; learn critical awareness;
appreciate the values and attitudes of their own and other communities, recognize social conventions and stereotypes - be prepared to examine them;
explore cross-curricular themes;
The aims of the GCSE Drama course is to enable candidates to develop;
An enjoyment and appreciation of live theatre;
An involvement in the exploration and enactment of human experience through drama and theatre;
Practical abilities in related skills;
The research skills necessary to acquire relevant information;
An appreciation of the technical and historical aspects of drama and theatre;
An understanding of the place and function of Drama and Theatre Arts in modern society;
A capacity for self-evaluation;
The ability to appreciate and evaluate the work of others;
The ability to work together as a group displaying awareness of and sensitivity to others;
Rrelated social skills such as self-confidence, concentration, self-discipline and communication;
The ability to carry out further study of theatre.
The Drama Staff
Miss E Wyatt
Head of Drama / Teacher of English
Ms J Cook
Teacher of Drama / English
Miss F Jay
Teacher of Drama / English
Light Hall School 2010.
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