KS3

Year 7 students begin their Drama journey in Semester 1 and 2 being introduced to the basic performance skills an actor requires; Physical and Vocal skills. Both sets of skills are explored through diverse and global topics that will allow students' imaginations to flourish culminating in a performance of a scripted extract of Dickens' classical text; ‘A Christmas Carol’ whilst learning and applying terminology and exploring how these skills can convey various meanings. Within Semester 3, students learn about the early stages of theatre by gaining knowledge on Greek Theatre through exploration of this culture and the masked work it is known for. Applying their knowledge students will create masks that represent their role within a taught Greek text, thus experiencing a backstage role and their importance to a company production. In contrast students then learn the importance of working together as an ensemble through the exploration of Greek Theatre in Semester 4, where storytelling through the use of physicality and group work comes to the forefront. Applying all the skills learnt previously students begin to work on characterisation and the skills required for masked work inspired by Greek Theatre, deepening their physical skills from Semester 1 by performing a short masked Greek Theatre Scripted extract. In addition to character work, students will develop an understanding of techniques that can be applied to performances, such as; monologues, breaking the fourth wall, freeze frames, etc. In Semester 5, students will apply and synergise knowledge and skills of vocal and physical skills when working on contrasting characters through Rowling’s ‘Harry Potter.’ The selected texts develop our students’ cultural and emotional understanding from identity and attitudes to friendship dynamics and imagination in a modern day text; Semester 5 will lay the foundation of how to dissect, examine and read a script to allow context to drive the actor's performance. In order to cement all the learnt key skills and knowledge students in Semester 6 will examine a scripted extract from ‘The Cursed Child’, in order to bring their character from the page to the stage, demonstrating their ability to be independent, foster teamwork, problem solve and convey creative interpretation and apply learnt knowledge. Through the selected texts students will develop personal and cultural expression by examining and analysing the life of a character and the intentions of a playwright.

Dramaturgical understanding is continued into Year 8 Semester 1 as students explore staging and how this conveys meaning within a production all explored through the topic of war drama; dissecting images and a poem that they will also study within their English lessons allowing a connection to be made. This leads students into Semester 2 where they will develop their knowledge on Drama styles as they examine Theatre in Education and the role it plays in the Theatre World. Students will apply their staging knowledge by choosing an appropriate stage for their Theatre in Education piece which will aim to educate their target audience on Asylum Seekers; dissecting how evacuees are not too dissimilar from those seeking Asylum; seeing the world from others' shoes. Continuing the theme of the styles of theatre that have built the foundations for characters and theatre students in Semester 3 begin to explore a contemporary style; VerbatimTheatre using the text ‘London Road’. It is vital students appreciate how Drama has progressed over the years and how this impacts styles of theatre, thus students will examine and practically explore the physical and vocal skills they learnt in Year 7 - deepening this further by exploring another theatrical style and how the use of performance skills have to be developed and performed differently; offering further challenge. To then bring students to the modern world of theatre they are introduced to the current popular style of Physical Theatre in Semester 4. Stylistic conventions and techniques are learnt and applied to a variety of scenarios and topics, using professional works to example and model accurate application of skill and style. Whilst students are learning practically from the professional examples, it allows students to develop their analytical and critical thinking skills by extracting meaning from the extracts. Students will begin to apply this style to an extract from ‘London Road’ to demonstrate developed knowledge and skill on both styles. To culminate the year and for students to demonstrate what they have learnt, students will be presented with stimuli in Semester 5 and 6 where they will creatively respond and learn the artistic process of devising original drama. Students will be able to write their own storyline utlising creative writing skills from English, design their own set and costume embedding skills learnt from Design Technology and all their skills and knowledge on mask work and characterisation whilst artistically voicing their own creative ideas and perceptions on any global issues presented by the stimuli.

In Year 9 Drama students will develop their knowledge of theatre practitioners in Semester 1 and 2, in order to prepare them for understanding different styles of theatre that they can apply later on in the year, as well as, building on the style already learnt from Year 8. Practitioners who have greatly influenced theatre; Stanislavski, Brecht, and PunchDrunk; allowing students to see how the world has impacted theatrical styles and driven these practitioners to create new notions of theatre. Semester 3 and 4 will provide students with a variety of challenges as they will need to apply and develop their analytical and systematic approaches in order to portray the playwright's intentions and style. Scripted work will develop our students ability to analyse and understand the training process of an actor/designer when performing a text. Students will read the extract, research the content and understand the social, cultural and political aspects of the text; some of which will be impacting them in their current lives. Therefore, understanding how to convey these aspects through their application of skill as an actor, designer in the rehearsal process and performance; demonstrating and deepening the styles, characterisation and artistic process knowledge and skills presented in Year 7, 8 and beginning of Year 9. To conclude their Drama studies in Semester 5&6 of Year 9 students will independently devise, market and produce their own production which will allow students to apply all of their knowledge they have gained over the first three years of Key stage 3. Semester 5 and 6 will offer students opportunities to demonstrate the knowledge and understanding of the practitioners explored in Semester 1, students will respond to a variety of stimuli to create their performance idea, as a result they will choose a practitioner that shares their same aim. From this they will devise their own piece of theatre applying their chosen practitioners stylistic conventions, which will then be performed for feedback - this unit will cover Semester 5 and 6 allowing students to experiment and fully understand the devising process and how the skills learnt during this process will aid them in their futures.