Drama
| Like theatre, drama in schools can unlock the use of imagination, intellect, empathy and courage. Through it, ideas, responses, and feelings can be expressed and communicated. It carries the potential to challenge, to question and to bring about change. |
| Jude Kelly, theatre director and founder of Metal |
The subject of Drama at secondary school level can be broken into three strands:
- The social skills Drama enhances. For example, team work, communication, breaking down social barriers.
- The History of Theatre, play scripts and playwrights, genres and practitioner.
- Acting and performance skills for Theatre, film and TV.
At Teddington School Drama lessons are always practical and the three strands listed above are weaved together throughout the KS3 Drama curriculum. There are three areas to every task set: rehearsal, performance and evaluation.
Students are assessed using the levels provided by the Arts Council. These can be found on the Arts Council website:
Key Stage 3
In years 7, 8 and 9 students have one Drama lesson a week. A basic outline of areas of study at Key Stage Three is below:
Year Seven
- Group dynamics, Drama conventions
- Pantomime
- Commedia Dell'Arte
- Masks
- Script work, "Charlie and The Chocolate Factory" by Roald Dahl
- Script work, "The Terrible Fate of Humpty Dumpty" by David Calcutt
Year Eight
- Melodrama
- Physical Theatre
- Comedy
- Devised work based on the script of 'Lord of the Flies'
- Script work, "Our Day Out" by Willy Russell
Year Nine
- Script work, "Mugged" by Andrew Payne
- Mock GCSE Devised Unit One
- Monologues and Duologues
- Exploring Human Trafficking through Drama, (using facts, movement and script extracts from "The Container"
- Theatre In Education Project to raise awareness of Human Trafficking. Performance and non performance option
Key Stage 4
Students studying GCSE Drama have three Drama lessons a week and follow the Ed Excel GCSE Drama syllabus. From September 2012 students will follow the AQA syllabus.
Year Ten
- GCSE Drama starter Unit: Performance Skills
- Unnaturalistic Drama including work on extracts of "Teechers" by John Godber and influenced by the work of Brecht
- Script work, "The Gate Escape" or a large cast play
- Monologues
- Unit 1 GCSE, practical and written work.
Year Eleven
- Script "100" and Abstract Theatre
- Unit 2 GCSE, practical and written work
- Begin rehearsals for Unit 3
- GCSE performance exam
The GCSE course outline:
- Unit One – Devised work based on the exploration of a theme or topic. (2009 – Celebrity culture, 2010 – War, 2011 – War.)
- Unit Two - Scripted work based on a play. (2009 – Who’s Life is it anyway? 2010 – Blood Brothers, 2011 – The Woman in Black.)
- Unit Three – Scripted or devised performance to an examiner
Students studying Drama for GCSE have the chance to go on several theatre trips throughout the year. In addition to local Theatre trips to The Rose Theatre, Kingston or Richmond Theatre students usually watch 'Warhorse', 'The Woman in Black' and 'Blood Brothers'.
In addition to Curriculum Drama we also run a number of extra-curricular clubs and activities such as KS3 Drama Club on Monday lunchtimes, House Drama competitions, Shakespeare Schools Festival, Performing Arts Evening, Dramatic Edge Secondary Schools Festival, and an annual production involving large numbers of students from all year groups. Private LAMDA tuition is also available.