Drama

Drama is taught in tutor groups in KS3, providing students with a fantastic opportunity to get to know their peers by predominately working in pairs or small groups.

We also offer GCSE and A Level Drama for those seeking a further challenge and pursuit of a role within the arts industry. Our curriculum enables students to discover their full potential, building charisma and confidence that will transfer to a number of other subjects. We encourage a positive working environment, where our students feel safe to express themselves in a creative forum and receive feedback that is both supportive and constructive in order to excel.

Key Stage 3

Year 7

Year 7 is a fantastic opportunity for students to get to know each other, learn how to work as a team by developing collaborative skills and engage with exciting topics. We explore a variety of stimuli to enthuse students and support a love of creating and performing Drama. Topics include Storytelling, Silent Movies, The Haunted House and Superheroes! By the end of Year 7, students will be equipped with the essential Drama Toolkit in order to develop and refine their skills in Year 8.

Year 8

In Year 8, more skills, styles and genres are added to the Drama Toolkit. Students explore different mediums of creating Drama and cover a range of new topics, including TV and Radio, Commedia Dell’arte, Physical Theatre, Comedy, War and Conflict and The Holiday. These schemes of learning offer a broad insight into theatrical history and the styles of theatre that underpin the types of Drama we see today. Students are expected to work at a higher level and use their initiative by adding conventions that will help to both support and embellish their ideas. By this point, we hope that Year 8 students will have developed confidence in their performance and collaborative skills by working well with other members in their form group. They must be able to share their appreciation for performance by being an effective analyst and evaluator of performance work.

Year 9

By the end of Year 8, students should feel fully equipped to start devising their own pieces of theatre which will demonstrate their understanding of a range of style and genres. The Year 9 topics once again offer a well-rounded exploration into different strands of Drama. They begin by considering the purpose and creation of theatre, investigating how the relationship between actor and audience can be manipulated to evoke different reactions. Students then begin their journey back in time to look at the origins of theatre including Greek, Medieval Morality Plays and Shakespeare. Once students have established a thorough understanding of the basis of theatre, they start to explore the works and methodologies of influential theatre practitioners associated with different styles of theatre. Students should start to see how theatre has been shaped and draw links between the history of theatre and the emergence of new styles and theatrical experiences. These practitioners range from Stanislavski, Brecht and Artaud to more modern Theatre Companies including Punchdrunk, Frantic Assembly and Kneehigh.

The final aspect of Year 9 is to experience what it’s like to study GCSE Drama, looking at the two main practical elements of the course. First, students are given a range of stimuli and will devise their own piece of theatre over a number of weeks. They will have the opportunity to rehearse and perform it in front of an audience and receive feedback on their finished piece via the use of peer feedback. Finally Year 9 students will study The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and will stage specific extracts of the play for the final production.

There is an opportunity to further develop Year 9’s appreciation and enthusiasm for Drama by opting to select a Drama module. The purpose of each module is to continue to encourage students to take risks and enjoy making theatre. Many of the topics compliment and further extend the learning of the main Drama curriculum. Students use Site-specific Theatre, experiment with Invisible Theatre, extend their knowledge of Physical Theatre and learn about the role of theatre makers and designers. There’s even an opportunity to work as a puppeteer and produce your own play that requires the use of your very own puppet within a devised piece of theatre.

There’s a lot on offer and we hope that students develop a real passion for creating Theatre, develop collaborative skills to become good team-players and finally, enjoy themselves.

Key Stage 4

GCSE Drama – OCR Specification

This course offers an exciting approach to creating, exploring and evaluating theatre. There are opportunities for students to work in a range of different ways including, acting, directing, designing and analysing Drama. Students will work both independently and in groups to complete the following aspects of the course:

Component 1: Devising

The focus of this component is to understand the importance of creating an original piece of Drama and develop an appreciation for the skills needed to work as a theatre company. Students are given a range of stimuli sent by the examination board. They are tasked with selecting the most appropriate stimulus and forming ideas on how they can use this as a basis to create their own piece of theatre. The stimuli range from prose and poetry to photographs and music. Alongside the devised performance, students must create a portfolio to support the process and document the journey from stimulus to polished performance.

Component 2: Presenting and Performing Texts

Students will take part in a showcase, demonstrating their chosen skills in a live performance with a visiting examiner. We offer a broad range of texts to suit each students preferred style and challenge them to try something new. Students are tasked with completing a short document that helps the examiner to understand their thought processes in interpreting a text.

Component 3: Performance and Response

The written component of the course is split into two sections. For Section A, students write about a set text that they have explored in practical workshops. They will develop a thorough and rigorous understanding of the play over the course of the two years in order to be fully prepared for the demands of the exam. Section A has a total of eight questions which require a mixture of short and medium length answers. For Section B, students will be asked to analyse and evaluate a live theatre production using subject specific terminology.

Key Stage 5

A Level Drama and Theatre – AQA Specification

The A Level course is an exciting blend of practical exploration, text study, devising and performance. The course aims to furnish students not only with a wide range of practical skills, but also with the academic understanding to support them. Students will have the chance to develop acting skills, as well as options to explore design and technical skills. They will also deepen their knowledge of Theatre Practitioners, a wide variety of classical and contemporary plays and performance styles. This course offers a spectrum of skills which are highly transferable to many career paths.

Over the course of the two years, students will complete three components, including:

Component 1: Drama and Theatre (40%) – Year 13

Practical exploration of two set texts (A Servant to Two Masters and Our Country’s Good).
Written paper, split into three sections.
Questions are based on the perspective of either a Performer, Designer or Director.
Section A explores Drama through the ages.
Section B explores 20 and 21 century Drama.
Section C analyses and evaluates the success of a Live Theatre Production.

Component 2: Creating Original Drama (30%) – Year 12

Create and develop an original devised piece from a stimulus of your choice (it can be anything you are interested in making theatre about).
The piece of theatre must be influenced by a Theatre Practitioner of your choice.
Performance of a devised piece of theatre or design concept and realisation.
Produce a Working Notebook to support your ideas and evaluate the success of the final performance.
Students have the choice of working as a Performer, Lighting Designer, Sound Designer, Set Designer, Costume Designer, Puppet Designer or Director.

Component 3: Making Theatre (30%) – Year 13

Practically explore and workshop three texts ranging in style and period. Two texts explored will be chosen by the centre. The third text can be chosen by students.
Students can perform a monologue, duologue or group performance.
An extract of the student’s chosen text will be performed to an examiner in a Live Theatre context for an audience and must be influenced by the works of a Theatre Practitioner (different to Component 2).
Produce a Reflective Report, discussing your interpretations of all three texts; analysing and evaluating the success of the performance.
Students have the choice of working as a Performer, Lighting Designer, Sound Designer, Set Designer, Costume Designer, Puppet Designer or Director.

Super Curriculum

To access the Super Curriculum for this subject please visit the Super Curriculum page HERE

How parents/carers can support learning

Parents/carers can support the learning of our Drama students by offering help at home with the demands of learning lines and rehearsing for upcoming lessons/shows. We love to share all of the fantastic work that students are producing and post regular updates of what we’re doing on our social media platforms. We also offer showcase evenings where parents/carers are invited to see the final performances of extra-curricular, GCSE and A Level work.

Extra curricular activity

The most exciting event of the year is the Whole School Show where we see our talented students take to the stage and perform a professional production in The Sandpit Theatre. We run a variety of exciting extra-curricular clubs including Young Actor’s Company, Musical Theatre Club and Impro Club. Students are encouraged to see as much theatre as possible in order to fully embrace all that Drama has to offer; we therefore offer a number of theatre trips to see a wide range of productions. GCSE and A Level Drama and Theatre students are required to see a piece of live theatre as part of the course.

Useful Links

AQA Specification for A Level Drama
https://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/drama/a-level/drama-and-theatre-7262

OCR Specification for GCSE Drama
https://www.ocr.org.uk/qualifications/gcse/drama-j316-from-2016/

National Theatre
https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/

National Youth Theatre
https://www.nyt.org.uk/

Sandringham School