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Drama

“Drama is an incredibly powerful subject. It allows you to creatively explore and question  what we are all fascinated and driven by: human behaviour.

Drama at Mosslands is about creation. Creation of ideas; of new thinking; of imagination; of performance; and of young men who have a voice and the confidence to express their joys and concerns. “

(Mrs Brett, Subject Lead)

Why Drama?
Drama provides each pupil in Year 7, 8 and 9 with core life and communication skills. These skills underpin all the other curriculum subjects:

  • Confidence building
  • Problem-solving, planning and critical thinking
  • Teamwork skills & effective communication
  • Verbal reasoning and articulation of thought

Drama also develops and supports the emotional well-being of its pupils:

  • Builds self-esteem
  • Develops self-discipline
  • Empathy
  • Cultural awareness

And most significantly, the physical learning approach harnesses:

  • Creativity
  • Imagination
  • Self-expression
  • Active learning

In Year 7, 8 and 9 Drama is delivered on a carousel timetable with Creative Arts. Pupils will be taught Drama once a week for a 12-week block. Each lesson will allow the pupils to develop their core Drama techniques.  They are encouraged to express themselves and to explore themes, issues and concerns in the world that they find themselves in.

A pupil’s progress in Drama will be communicated to parents at the end of each 12-week lesson block, sitting outside the reporting schedule for other subjects.

Pupils can further their studies of Drama and take Btec Tech Award Level 1 / 2 in Performing Arts (Acting) as an option at the end of Year 9. This practical course enables the pupils to further their drama performance skills and experiment with directing, devising and performing for an audience.

Theatre trips are organised throughout the academic year to support the KS4 exam course. We also have close connections to LIPA, who showcase their productions to our exam cohorts throughout the academic year.

Facilities

Drama has a “black box” studio space with a lighting rig, lighting board and staging blocks that the pupils can use to enhance their performance work.

Extra-Curricular Opportunities

The Drama Department offers exciting extracurricular activities throughout the year, providing pupils with the opportunity to experience workshops with external practitioners and in local theatres.

Drama Club is open to all year groups on Friday afternoons 3:30pm – 4:15pm in 607 The Drama Studio.

Drama

Year 7

You will begin your exciting, creative and imaginative Drama education with a range of technique workshop lessons. These will provide you with the opportunity to build confidence, establish group work skills and develop your “Drama Skills Toolkit”.  You will be encouraged to perform, create role plays and verbally evaluate the performance of others. You will explore and develop work from a range of stimulating material: paintings, photographs, historical events, objects and real-life stories!

You will then develop your drama skills toolkit to support your exploration of a range of issues and themes. All the schemes will enable you to further your performance skills, engage your imagination and make you question and explore the world around you.

You will be assessed on specific skill development and your contribution to each workshop lesson.  

Year 8

Drama will continue to challenge you to look at the world around you in a different way and to focus on and explore how humans behave in different situations.

Your “Drama Tool Kit” from Year 7 will be built upon, furthering your use of a range of techniques; still image, conscience alley, thoughts aloud, physical theatre and narration. You will begin to use the techniques independently to aid your exploration of the unit content and to reflect your level of understanding; experiencing different performance styles and exploring relevant social issues and concerns. 

You will continue to evaluate the work of other groups using success criteria and mini-white boards. You will be given regular feedback from both your teacher and your peers to allow you to progress your skills.  

You will be given the opportunity to use the lighting desk in the Drama Studio, and to add music to your work to enhance its meaning. You are encouraged to work collaboratively when using these additional elements. 

Your ability to critically evaluate your own and others’ performance will continue, using more refined success criteria to support your tracking of performance skills. 

Year 9

You will use your developed Drama skills to explore a range of stimulating materials under the title Crime and Punishment. You will actively explore news stories and play text extracts to consider character motive, subtext and relationships.

You will continue to develop your core drama skills with a specific focus on combining a range of skills into your exploratory performance work. Performance maps will allow you the freedom to choose relevant techniques to effectively convey meaning to an audience. In addition, you will be taught ‘page to stage’ skills and consider the roles of directors and devisers within your group work.

Verbal evaluation of your own work and others will continue with the support of success criteria and individual target setting.