Curriculum
Drama

Mrs Heather-Snaith
Subject Lead – Drama
Subject Staff
Mr Nota
Miss Cobb
Exam Board
RSL
The Subject Way
Firstly, to teach students the vital skills they need to achieve their full potential and gain the very best grades they can. Secondly, to teach students how each subject relates to the wider world, incorporating the life skills they will learn.
It is our belief that knowing how what you learn links to the wider world brings a subject to life and therefore improves overall understanding and engagement.
Curriculum Intent
At Wickersley Partnership Trust we aim to ensure our Drama curriculum is designed to sequence learning and embed the key skills and knowledge that are required for our students to become confident, creative and insightful. Students are encouraged to be not only independent but also collaborative and cooperative learners. We teach a wide range of acting and technical design skills that fosters an enthusiastic appreciation of the theatrical form and a sense of enjoyment and fascination for stories and characters, their messages and themes. Through Drama, our students explore a range of social issues and cultural influences. The opportunities that we offer beyond the drama studio aim to provide unforgettable experiences and a vital contribution to school life.
How we intend to remove barriers
In Drama and Performing Arts we enable and empower our students to access the curriculum through developing their skills in literacy, numeracy, oracy and through mastering a wide vocabulary.
Literacy
Our Drama curriculum provides a wide range of literacy opportunities. Students read, explore and perform plays from a variety of periods, cultures and playwrights. To assist in the creation of devised drama, they read extracts from novels, poetry, media articles and a range of non-fiction texts. Writing skills are developed through the collaborative writing of original scripts and through the independent critical analysis of performance texts. Literacy in Drama extends beyond the written word; the subject also encourages students to become literate semiotic readers of signs, symbols and any other imagery that is used to create meaning.
Numeracy
Oracy
Vocabulary
How we develop skills for learning
How we foster personal attributes
How we intend to enrich student experiences and broaden the horizons of students
Students are actively encouraged to take as deep an interest as possible in our subject. They are required to engage with challenging and stimulating play texts and to thoroughly and creatively explore numerous social, historical and cultural issues. We aim for students to experience live theatre performances regularly and for students to gain an understanding of relevant vocational and career pathways through visits to workplaces and through dialogue with theatre industry professionals. Theatre tours and actor workshops are other ways in which students have widened their experience and knowledge of theatre. Extra-curricular performance opportunities should allow students to hone their craft in quality productions, with high production values and to a wide audience.
Curriculum
YEAR 7 | ||||
8 Weeks | 8 Weeks | 8 Weeks | 8 Weeks | 8 Weeks |
Introduction to drama: War poetry Students learn the basics of drama, and work through a multi-technique scheme of work. The focus will be based on the theme of power in war poetry. | Thematic Study: The Boy at the Top of the Mountain Students will learn how to respond to the theme of power in a text. Students will learn to use tone, mood silence and stillness to create impact. | Devising Drama: My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece Students develop their ability to respond to stimulus in a creative way. Students will explore the theme of relationships, and how they are presented creatively in drama using alternative stagings. | Devising Drama: My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece Students learn how to devise key scenes from the narrative, and create their own imaginative scripts. Students will improvise, rehearse and perform them. | Responding to Script: Noughts and Crosses Students will explore the play Noughts and Crosses. They will explore the key themes of identity, discrimination and injustice. Students will explore contemporary issues and moral choices through practical drama. |
YEAR 8 | ||||
8 Weeks | 8 Weeks | 8 Weeks | 8 Weeks | 8 Weeks |
Responding to a script: Noughts and Crosses Students will explore key scenes from the play, and explore how the characters develop and progress. Students will improvise, rehearse and perform them. | Devising Drama: Animal Farm Students will devise their own creative pieces of drama. Students will also write their monologues, develop their rhetoric devices and work on their presentation skills to an audience. | Thematic Study: Animal Farm Students will explore the presentation of themes in the script adaptation of the novel. Students will then confidently rehearse and perform them, exploring tone, mood silence and stillness to create impact. | Responding to Script: Romeo and Juliet Students develop their understanding of themes and issues in a drama text. They learn how to stage drama texts in creative ways and gain an awareness of production design elements. | Devising Drama: Romeo and Juliet Students will devise their own key scenes from the play, and explore the theme of power. Students will develop a key understanding of Shakespeare’s methods, characters intentions and their development within the play. |
YEAR 9 Drama (taught in the Performing Arts suite) | |||
Unit 1 | Unit 2 | Unit 3 | Unit 4 |
Responding to Script: Bang Out of Order! Students study and explore the play which tackles anti-social behaviour using a mixture of comedy, movement, music and multi-media. | Performance Skills and Devising: Combat and Conflict Students learn how to effectively create tension and conflict in drama scenes. They learn a range of stage combat moves to equip them with a range of physical techniques for use in their devised practical work. | Responding to Script and Devising Drama: DNA Students develop their understanding of plot, structure and character and one technical design element. They stage scripted extracts and devise their own practical work. | Responding to Script: The Tempest Students study and explore extracts from Shakespeare’s play from practical and technical design angles, deepening their understanding of Shakespeare’s language and a range of theatrical forms. |
Unit 5 | Unit 6 | ||
Practitioner Study: Bertolt Brecht Students will study and practically explore the techniques of the revolutionary drama practitioner and playwright. | Responding to Script: Girls and Dolls Students to study the play and staging process, developing their skills in characterisation, multi-role, narration and stage types. |
YEAR 10: GCSE Drama | |||||
Half Term 1 | Half Term 2 | Half Term 3 | Half Term 4 | Half Term 5 | Half Term 6 |
Component 1: Devising Theatre (40%) Students are introduced to the methods and practices of John Godber, theatre practitioner and playwright. Students research Godber’s plays and capture his style in their own work. | Component 1: Devising Theatre (40%) Students learn how to respond to stimulus in order to create original devised drama scenes. | Component 1: Devising Theatre (40%) Students utilise established methods and practices of devising to create a substantial piece of drama from a choice of stimuli provided by the exam board. They work collaboratively to produce a piece of theatre for practical assessment.. | Component 1: Devising Theatre (40%) Students utilise established methods and practices of devising to create a substantial piece of drama from a choice of stimuli provided by the exam board. They work collaboratively to produce a piece of theatre for formal assessment. | Component 1: Devising Theatre (40%) Students complete a portfolio of evidence and a written evaluation which is formally assessed as the final part of Component 1. | Component 3: Interpreting Theatre (40%) Students are introduced to the exam set text, I Love You Mum, I Promise I Won’t Die by Mark Wheeler, which they read and explore from a practical angle. |
Y11 RSL – Level 2 in Creative and Performing Arts: Acting | ||||
Half Term 1 | Half Term 2 | Half Term 3 | Half Term 4 | Half Term 5 |
Optional Unit – Assessment (50%) Students will complete their internally assessed unit, including performance and evaluation. | Live Performance Exam Unit (50%) Students prepare a live performance in response to a stimulus. This half term students will complete a mock exam in preparation for their externally assigned brief in January. | Live Performance Exam Unit (50%) Students prepare a live performance in response to a stimulus from an externally assessed assignment brief. Here they will use skills developed throughout the year | Live Performance Exam Unit (50%) Students prepare a live performance in response to a stimulus from an externally assessed assignment brief. Here they will use skills developed throughout the year | Optional Unit – Assessment (50%) Students will have time here to improve elements of their coursework before final submission in May 2023. |
Find out more
If you would like more information about our curriculum, please contact the school using the details on our contact page.
Our Subjects at KS4
CORE SUBJECTS
EBACC SUBJECTS
OPTION SUBJECTS
INTERVENTIONS