Drama

The drama curriculum at Queen Elizabeth School has the power to develop fearlessness in our young people to help them navigate within our learning community, the wider world of work and their future lives.

The opportunity for students to study a broad and balanced drama curriculum is given to all students at QES, as we understand that the ability to communicate with others, listen, empathise and understand is an essential part of allowing students to succeed into adulthood.

As Ofsted begin to judge schools on having a well-rounded curriculum, students at QES are already at an advantage to other local children. Within drama all students will be taught to be critically aware of themselves through exploration of key drama techniques including character, key skills and relationships. Students will be encouraged to embrace the school's values of ambition, determination, integrity and kindness. Students will use these all of the core values when mastering the different skills required in lessons, when watching the performances of others. Students will work with determination and integrity, allowing them to make mistakes and be fearless in their discovery of skills that will help them in all possible futures. Students should leave KS3 with the ability to speak confidently, express their own opinions and value the opinions of others.

The principle aim of drama is to allow young people to have a voice and explore different situations, experiences and the lives and emotions of people who are socially, culturally and historically different to themselves. Drama at QES gives students the opportunity to perform, evaluate and appreciate all forms of theatre. Students are actively encouraged to express their own opinions when creating their own work and taught how to critically appreciate the work of others. No child in drama will ever be told they are wrong, as their opinions are valued, especially as during discussions students are asked to share ‘what they think’.

Within drama all students are encouraged to be ambitious, determined, kind and work with integrity while exemplifying the 7 key features of a QES student. All staff have high expectations of the students and this can be seen in the high-quality teaching and learning that takes place in lessons. The high expectations of all students is also reflected in our extra-curricular activities; Shakespeare Schools Festival, KS3 Pantomime and an annual school production as well as the opportunities for GCSE students to perform exam work to their parents.

Our Key Stage 3 curriculum builds the foundation for GCSE study. Students are taught a variety of skills, both integral to performance and communication, each of which is not only needed at GCSE, but with regard to communication, is essential in all other aspects of study. Students are taught to think critically about their own and others' work and encouraged to fail spectacularly, in order to create interesting, innovative and imaginative pieces of drama.

The drama curriculum allows all students to thrive and achieve, as while we are creating and developing performance skills, we are also developing personal responses to the theatre that is developed and created. Students are encouraged to develop personal opinions as well as learn from others in order to create interesting pieces of theatre.

key stage 3

At Key Stage 3 we are able to follow our own curriculum which builds a foundation for future GCSE studies. All students during Key Stage 3 will devise a variety of performances from a stimulus and all will perform extracts from at least one piece of text.

Year 7

Year 7 are introduced to key drama skills and terminology that will be used throughout the rest of Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4. Skills explored during Year 7 include: The Four Actors Tools, Still Images, Thought Tracks, Character, Sound Collage, Physical Theatre, Mime, Placards and many more.

Topics:

Darkwood Manor – Devised Performance
Silent Movies – Devised Performance
Matilda – Scripted Performance

Year 8

Year 8 continue to build on the key drama skills they developed in Year 7 and extend their knowledge and understanding of these to create more complex pieces of theatre. On top of the skills explored during Year 7, students also look at: Stage Combat, Flashbacks/Flashforwards and several more.

Topics:

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child – Devised Performance
Warden X – Devised Performance
Romeo and Juliet – Scripted Performance

Year 9

Year 9 further develop their understanding of key drama skills developed throughout Years 7 and 8 and begin to apply these ideas, without teacher prompting, to create their own individual, interesting and collaborative pieces of theatre. As well as the skills developed in Year 7 and 8, Year 9 also includes: Marking the Moment, Angel and Devil, and Cross Cutting.

Topics:

Blackout – Scripted Performance
I Don’t Like Mondays – Devised Performance
Blood Brothers - Scripted Performance

Assessment

Students are assessed at the end of each carousel on their:

Making
Performing
Responding.

Key Stage 4:

At GCSE we study the AQA GCSE Drama Specification (8261). There are three components to this programme of study.

Component 1 – Understanding Drama – 40%
Component 2 – Devising Drama – 40%
Component 3 – Texts in Practice – 20%

Year 10

In Year 10 students are introduced to the practicalities of the course. Over the course of Year 10, all three components are covered to ensure students have a solid foundation of knowledge for Year 11. Students use knowledge developed during Key Stage 3 to help them to devise pieces of theatre and perform pieces of theatre. Units covered in Year 10 are:

Mock Devising – Environment (Component 2)
Mock Texts in Practice (Component 3)
Mock Written Exam (Component 1)
Devising – Social Media (Component 2)

Year 11

In Year 11 students build on the knowledge from Year 10 and Key Stage 3 to create their exam pieces for performance.

Devising – Internally assessed and Externally moderated (Component 2)
Mock Written Exam
Texts in Practice – Externally assessed (Component 3)
Written Exam – Externally assessed (Component 1)

Assessment

Students are assessed throughout Year 10 using the GCSE mark schemes and past GCSE papers. In Year 11 the marks for coursework are sent to the exam board for moderation. All other assessment in Year 11 is external, except for the mock exam.

Enrichment:

Students have the opportunity to take part in the following activities within the drama department.

Shakespeare Schools Festival
KS3 pantomime
Annual whole school production
Practical workshops
Theatre trips
GCSE Performances

Key Skills You will learn:

Drama is about more than just performing, it is about developing students' personal and transferable skills.

These skills include:

Effective communication
Open-mindedness
Teamwork
Creativity
Problem solving
Critical thinking
Adaptability
Organisational
Empathy.

These skills are developed during our practical lessons, through rehearsal, team work, and discussion. Students in drama need to think critically about their own work, solve problems in rehearsal, be open-minded about other ideas, communicate effectively with members of their group when creating performances, work as part of a team to create work and to support the whole class in performance,. Students needs to be able to adapt quickly to different performance styles and organise their time effectively when rehearsing, empathising with the different themes/people that that we discuss.

Students also develop speaking and listening skills, essential for all future career paths.

Next steps:

Courses:

A Level - theatre studies, law, psychology, English literature
BTEC – acting, performing arts, musical theatre
Degrees – With a drama qualification you can apply for many different courses, you are not just linked to arts courses.

careers:

The list of possible careers linked to drama is endless, here are just a few:

Actor
Arts administrator
Barrister
Broadcast journalist
Cinematographer
Copywriter
Costume designer
Director
Doctor
Events co-ordinator
Fine Artist
Law
Lighting Designer
Newspaper journalist
Nurse
Primary school teacher
Proof reader
Production manager
Secondary school teacher
Set designer
Stage manager
Television presenter
TV/Film producer
Theatrical producer
Wedding planner
Writer
Youth and community worker

The arts industries in 2019 were worth £115.9billion and pre-pandemic were steadily growing.

The arts industry is one that is not going to be affected in the future by automation, as many of the skills needed require the human touch. A machine cannot apply a performers make up, build a set, operate a camera or perform for others in the same way as humans can. A career in the arts industries is one that will give you a strong future.

Recommended Websites:

Contact:

Lead Teacher: Mrs J McDonald - jmcdonald@qesluton.co.uk