Key Stage 3 Drama
Drama is taught throughout years 7, 8 and 9 as a subject in its own right. Students have 2 lessons over the fortnight. Lessons mostly take place in the purpose built drama studio, the Ivor Hughes Centre, which gives students supervised access to basic lighting equipment, sound equipment and staging.
Year 7
In year 7 the focus in lessons is on small group work. Students will work together to produce scenes exploring situations from a variety of themes and stimuli. For example:
- Loneliness
- Evacuees
- Presenting a news report on TV - 'The Rats of Hambury'
- Bullying - 'The Demon Headmaster'
- The Legend of Bala Lake
- Spooky Tales
Students will learn a variety of drama techniques and terms which they can use to create and respond to their own dramatic work and that of others, among these are Freeze Frame/Tableaux, Melting, Thought Tracking, Sequencing, Blocking, Addressing an audience, Facial Expression, Body Language, Spatial Relationship, Body Sculpting, Polished improvisation, Dramatic Moment, Role Play, Stage Business, Slow Motion, Sight Lines, Caption Making, Reading the Image, Mime, Spontaneous Improvisation, Soundscape/Sound Collage and Evaluation.
Year 8
In year 8 students should build on the skills learnt in year 7 and begin to include these in their presentation work as a matter of course. Group work skills should be more developed and students should be working successfully on their own for greater periods of time. Stimuli for this year include:
- The Expedition
- Anne Robinson Disappears
- The Kingdom
- Communication
- Theft is complicated
- Spears Sports
- Greek Theatre
- Knox & Ingram - Bullying
Drama techniques added to their skill bank this year are: SPlit Scene, Flashback, THought Tunnels, Cross Cutting, Lighting/Sound effects, Ritual, Ceremony, Story Telling, Machines, Turning out of Drama, Hot Seating, Physical Theatre, Forum Theatre, Naturalistic Drama and Abstract Drama.
Year 9
In year 9 students are prepared for their option choices. We are able to offer drama at GCSE level and on into AS level and A level. Students will explore skills already learnt in further depth and they will consolidate their performance skills in particular during this year. There will be more use of script this year a precursor to GCSE. Students will develop a greater sense of audience and their presentation skills will demonstrate this. They must consider the use of special effects to enhance their work and they will experiment with and use more abstract forms of theatre in order to improve the range of their work. They will be encouraged to evaluate work in progress and improve the standard of their work to performance level with decreasing teacher intervention. Stimuli for this year include:
- The Identification
- Image/Teenage pressures
- Joy Riding
- Victims
- Prejudice
- Homelessness
- Making Choices
- Mask Work
- Romeo & Juliet
- Stone Cold
Drama techniques added to their skill bank this year reflect a focus on abstract drama skills and being more inventive and creative in their dramatic responses. They include: Distilling the essence, Spotlighting, Monologue, Montage, Split Monologue, Choric Speaking, Role on the Wall, The circle of LIfe, Theatre in the round and Traverse theatre.
Assessment
Assessment is carried out formally, as performance of devised or scripted pieces in front of class, and informally, during lessons wile student create and prepare their work. Wherever possible, the department supplement the curriculum with extra curricular activities for students to become involved in. Students may have the opportunity to participate in a school play, a drama trip or assembly/carol service performances.
We strive to please!
