Course Information
Year 7
Year 7 is an introduction to the way in which students experience drama. In Year 7 you will have to think about certain situations and how you would react or behave in some situations. Your imagination will be tested to the full and you will learn how to develop and sustain a role or character. You will achieve this by following two extended drama projects lasting for 12 weeks. In the first drama you will explore the mysteries surrounding an old manor house and the equally mysterious person who is offering £100 to anyone who will spend one night in the house. In the second drama you will become citizens of a far away civilisation who need to find out the reasons why their ancestors had to flee from their homes hundreds of years ago.
Year 8
In Year 8 you will continue to use and develop the skills and methods of working that you developed in Year 7 but both of the drama projects in Year 8 are based on actual events. You will therefore have to research some facts about these events and try to understand through the drama what it would have felt like to be in certain situations. In other words you will have to empathise with some of the characters in the drama. In Year 8 you will also begin to learn how to represent some events in a physical manner. One of the events that you will explore probably occurred within the living memory of some of your older relatives. One of the events is embedded in the memory of mankind.
Year 9
Drama lessons in Year 9 become even more challenging both in terms of the subject matter and also the level at which you are expected to perform and contribute to a drama situation. It would be fair to say that the schemes of work in Year 9 reflect our current society, its values and the consequences of making the wrong decisions. Perhaps more than in any other year you will need to empathise with some of the characters that you will be exploring. You will also discuss the situations in which those characters find themselves. Is it easy to make the right choices? All of these issues will again be explored in two drama projects. One will focus on Willy Russell’s play ‘Blood Brothers’ and the other drama will look at a continuing social problem that exists in every nation on Earth.
Year 10
There are currently two courses available for students to follow in Year 10. One is the BTEC First Certificate and the other is the BTEC First Diploma course. The Certificate course is roughly equivalent to two GCSE’s. The Diploma course is roughly equivalent to four GCSE grades. The BTEC courses allow you to study aspects of drama in small units of work. The units of work that you will study in Year 10 will include the ‘devising plays’ unit and the ‘acting’ unit. The devising plays unit usually focuses on theatre in education. Since the inception of the BTEC courses we have always taken the work that has been produced in Year 10 and perform the work to a wide audience of junior school children throughout the town. It is essential that any student who opts to follow the BTEC courses is a very confident performer and can work within a small team.
Year 11
Year 11 is, of course, an extension of Year 10. Both of the BTEC courses become even more intense. The emphasis shifts to working in a professional manner to produce the work that is required. The Diploma course students will have to perform a final show but they will also be responsible for all the business planning, marketing and publicity of the final show. They will also have to complete a unit which demonstrates their appreciation of dance as a performing arts discipline. The BTEC First Certificate groups will also produce final performances which are usually based upon the study of a particular play or script. All of the work produced on the BTEC courses is initially marked internally but then goes through an extended verification process stipulated by the exam board.
Year 12
Two very different courses can be pursued as part of drama further education within the department.
The BTEC National Diploma course is specifically structured to those students who are passionate about exploring the possibility of working within the performing arts industry. The vocational course allows sixth form students to study a very wide range of units in Year 12 which will increase their knowledge and skills base within the performing arts.
We also offer an AS/A2 course in Theatre Studies. This course is aimed at those students who still wish to pursue an advanced course in drama but also want the opportunity to follow other A Level subjects. This course will allow you to build on all of the skills and experiences that you will have accumulated since Year 7. In Year 12 you will study, in considerable detail, a play or script. You will analyse the script through performing sections of the play, participating in workshops and also through writing extended essays. You will need to have a true love of the theatre and along with the National BTEC students you will be required to attend the various theatre trips that we offer.
Year 13
The BTEC National Diploma course becomes very busy with a focus on completing all the necessary units of work but with a particular emphasis on the compulsory units of work. Most of these units will be covered through extended performances. Time management and commitment to the course become imperative. Journal and written evidence will also be required for most, if not all, of the units covered in Year 13.
The Theatre Studies course becomes equally busy with an emphasis on preparing students for their final externally assessed performance module and also the final written examinations.
How do we assess you during your Drama education?
As performing arts students you will be continually assessed throughout the schemes of work that you will be following.
In Year 7 the department will carry out a ‘baseline assessment’. This is an assessment of your performing ability within the first couple of weeks of joining the school. It is not a test but simply an indicator for the staff who teach you. We base the assessment on a short performance task which is integral to the first scheme of work. At periods within the project you will be assessed again so that we can measure your progress. You will, of course, be assessed again at the end of each project. The assessment information is recorded within the department and used to help you assess your own performance during the school’s regular target setting sessions. The relevant assessment information is also included in the school’s interim and final report schedule.
Your assessment is continual and all the data we record will follow you through your KS3 drama and dance experiences. However you will also get the opportunity to assess your own progress and say how well you think you are performing in the subject. This method of assessing your progress will be a visual record so that you can see for yourself if you are improving as you move through your KS3 drama and dance education.
In Years 10 and 11, all of your drama work is internally assessed but it is also checked and verified by the Edexcel exam board on a regular basis. Some of the work that you produce in Years 10 and 11 will be recorded for assessment purposes but you will also have to record your own progress in the form of a journal. In some cases you will also need to provide evidence that you have an understanding of business practices in the performing arts.
In Years 12 and 13 your work will initially be assessed internally but a vast majority of your work will have to be submitted for external marking or verification.
