Topics covered at Year 7 include:

Unit 1: Introduction to Drama

• In this unit, students will cover some of the key skills, critical knowledge and terminology for the subject, equipping them with the practical and theoretical tools they will need to access their learning throughout the Key Stage.

Unit 2: History of Theatre – Commedia D’ell Arte and Pantomime

• Through a focus on comedy and physical acting, students will learn the origins and conventions of Commedia D’ell Arte and how this evolved into the more familiar form of Pantomime. Exploring stock characters, key genre conventions and exaggerated physicality, students will write and perform their own mini-pantomime pieces.

Unit 3: Evaluating Live Theatre and Scripted Work – Treasure Island by Bryony Lavery

• Having created their own theatre, students will develop their skills in evaluating the work of others. This unit gives students the opportunity to analyse and evaluate a professional piece of theatre, while learning more about the key design elements which are so fundamental to the communication of meaning in theatre: lighting, sound, set and costume. Students will have the opportunity to use their knowledge to bring extracts from the script to life or prepare a presentation analysing elements of the production in a live review.

Topics covered are:

Unit 1: Devising a piece of Social Theatre – WW2 Evacuees

• The purpose of this unit is to build upon some of the key dramatic skills learnt in Year 7 whilst learning new, more complex techniques. As much of Year 7 focused on Comedy, the aim for this unit is to encourage a more serious, thoughtful approach to the application of key dramatic skills and techniques, whilst also developing their powers of empathy through exploring a key aspect of British history. Students will be encouraged to produce thoughtful, sensitive and emotive outcomes.

Unit 2: Scripted Work – Lord of the Flies Adapted by Nigel Williams

• In this unit, students will have the opportunity to build on the skills of exploring a script developed in Year 7. They will explore Act One of the play in detail, with a focus on developing their understanding of how to create theatre from ‘page to stage’. Students will work on their powers of inference, exploring the subtext of the dialogue and stage directions and then focus on how to elicit this through their own realisation of key extracts: through performance skills, directing, blocking, and design aspects.

Unit 3: History of Theatre – Time Travel Through Theatre

• Having explored a key aspect of the History of Theatre in Year 7 (Commedia dell’arte), this unit will allow students to contextualise this by exploring the origins of theatre and the journey it has taken to get to what we think of theatre today. Each week will focus on a different era and location, through which students will develop a chronological appreciation of how theatre has evolved through the ages.

Topics covered are:

Unit 1: Scripted Work – DNA by Dennis Kelly

• Instead of exploring extracts of scripts, as in Year 7 and 8, Year 9s will cover this play in its entirety, allowing them to appreciate how a play is structured. This year will see an increased focus on approaching the text from a directorial perspective as well as how design elements (lighting, sound, set and costume) can be used to show narrative progression, reflect characterisation and enhance/establish the moods and atmospheres on stage. Students in Year 9 will also begin to consider the impact of genre in more depth and will explore the ‘black comedy’ form as part of their practical explorations of this text.

Unit 2: Devising – Exploring a Range of GCSE Style Stimulus

• This is a wonderful opportunity for students to bring their practical work across the Key Stage and key skills covered together in one piece of polished, professional, creative, and thoughtful work with a sophisticated understanding of stagecraft and purposeful impacts for an audience. They will also have the opportunity to devise from a series of contrasting stimulus (visual, aural and literary) akin to the GCSE experience in Component 1 – giving them a final challenge at the culmination of this stage in their learning or readying them for further study at GCSE.

Unit 3: Theatre in Education – The Power of Drama as a Social Tool

• As our learners become more aware of the social issues around them and more passionate about wanting to change the world for the better, we will introduce them to Theatre in Education and, after equipping them with the tools of this genre, give them the freedom to create a piece of social theatre that really matters to them.

Across the GCSE course, students will prepare for three assessed units:

• Component 1: Devising Drama (30%) – Practical exam with accompanying written coursework (portfolio).
• Component 2: Presenting and Performing Texts (30%) – Practical exam, realising two extracts from a script, with accompanying written coursework (concept proforma).
• Component 3: Performance and Response (40%) – Written exam, covering Set Text study and Live Theatre analysis and evaluation.

In Year 10, students will begin their exploration of their set text for the written exam, Missing Dan Nolan, by Mark Wheeller, and will develop their skills in live theatre evaluation through two visits to the theatre. They will complete a mock of the devising exam, experiencing the full process of creating a piece of theatre from scratch – responding to an exam board stimulus, conducting research, developing their artistic intentions, purposefully using a range of rehearsal techniques, experimenting with different dramatic techniques to communicate meaning, reflecting on their work in progress and evaluating the final performance and their own application of skills as performers or designers. In the summer term of Year 10, students will also complete a mock of the scripted practical exam, using their set text from the written paper to choose extracts from to bring to life as performers and designers. Not only will this give them invaluable experience in stage craft and the challenges of bringing a scripted extract to life, it will also give them first-hand experience of the practical realisation of their examined set text, equipping them with vital knowledge, key skills and examples they can apply in the final written exam.

In Year 11, students will prepare to complete their real devising exam in December and will work on their written coursework accompanying this throughout. There will be a further two theatre trips of contrasting genres and styles to help students continue to develop their skills in analysing and evaluating a wide range of theatre, to allow them to confidently tackle the Live Theatre paper in the written exam. Across the year, students will revise their set text for the written exam, Missing Dan Nolan, and will continue to develop their exam technique ahead of the final written paper in May. Their practical experience of the course will culminate in their real scripted exam, in which they will have a choice of suitable plays to bring extracts to life from as designers or performers. This will be worked on throughout January to April/May and will be assessed externally by a visiting examiner.

In addition to regular trips to the theatre for exam classes, we run as much extra-curricular Drama as we can to provide students with a wealth of different experiences and opportunities within our subject, which is so important in nurturing vital interdisciplinary skills – such as teamwork, communication, problem solving, critical thinking, time management, creativity – and building resilience.

• Every two years we run a whole school production which involves over 160 students from Years 7 to 13. Our most recent have been Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, Annie and The Little Mermaid.
• Moving forward, we aim to put on a smaller scale play for KS4 and KS5 in the interim year.
• We run two weekly Drama Clubs at lunchtimes: KS3 Drama Club for Years 7-9 and the SWGS Theatre Company for Years 10-13 which work towards creating several performances across the year for our school community.
• We maintain strong links with Wiltshire Creative and The Salisbury Playhouse: including taking Year 7 to the Pantomime, KS3 workshops during Activities Week and Year 10 Creative Careers Day.
• A-Level students have the opportunity to take part in professional workshops led by key practitioners and industry specialists.
• We run Dramatic Monologue competitions for KS3 and work with professional theatre companies, such as Vamos, to provide further enrichment opportunities through workshops at KS3.