Curriculum Spotlight

Drama Miss Bonsall

The fundamental objectives of the drama department at Highfields School are based on an insightful belief in the importance of drama both as an academic and vocational discipline within the school curriculum, and as an important underpinning for living a confident, creative and successful life beyond the confines of education.

The most important skills we wish to develop are those of listening, communicating and empathising. The ability to think imaginatively is the most fundamental skill to develop, but in order to express ideas, students must also be able to communicate effectively; within their group/company and for their audience.

We believe that the curriculum we have designed at key stage 3 prepares students well for GCSE and A Level drama. The specific aims of our curriculum are based around four key ideas that we have identified as vital to meeting our objectives.

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4. Confidence – As a department, we aim to build the confidence of students in a variety of ways, including: their ability to speak in front of others, share their own ideas and interpretations with people they may never have worked with before, lead a group task or try something new. Many students also develop a confidence in their own ability and take this further by taking part in the wider performing arts within the school. For example, the school production is an opportunity to collaborate with other students from other year groups, with other skills, that they might not otherwise meet. Students may be an all-round performer, specialise in one discipline, help with production or play in the band. Recent years have seen sell out performances of Little Shop of Horrors, Footloose and Legally Blonde. We are now working towards the production of Beauty and the Beast.

Cross-Curricular - We wish to transmit deep knowledge and understanding of social, moral, historical and cultural context, not just locally, but both within the United Kingdom and the wider world. This might be through the study of topics such as WW2 evacuation in term 4 of year 7, the 9/11 disaster explored during year 8 or in our discrimination topic during year 9 where we relate empathetically to the story of Rosa Parks. At GCSE and A Level students are able to refer to the social, cultural and historical context of plays such as Blood Brothers (set in Liverpool during Thatcher’s reign) and A Servant of Two Masters which sees a range of stock characters perform in the style of Commedia De’ll Arte during the Italian Renaissance.

Create - It is our aim to allow students to be creative and inventive, as well as gaining inspiration from theorists and practitioners. We also hope that students continuously develop life skills such as critical thinking, evaluating, analysing, empathising and communicating; there are very few jobs that do not require these skills. Our students become used to creating a performance ‘from scratch’ using a stimulus from the beginning of year 7 (they use a crime scene investigation to create a performance). Recent stimulus used by GCSE and A-Level students, include: organ trafficking, Donald Trump, climate change and child slavery.

Celebrate – We hope students will view drama and performing as a fun and interesting subject. All teachers within the department love and value the study of theatre and its history. It is also important that students develop a love of learning in drama and inspiring a passion that is shared by our whole department, whether it be Miss Bonsall’s love of political comedy, Mrs Rifkin’s enthusiasm for Shakespeare or Miss Hendry’s obsession with physical theatre. We want

students to match this enthusiasm, generating an interest in theatre and gaining cultural experiences that will remain with them for life. Students can experience trips to the theatre, including residential trips to London and NYC, and can partake in extra-curricular activities at lunch-time and after school. We are passionate about, and pride ourselves in the love of giving students a breadth of opportunities. We also want them to celebrate their love of shared learning and group work, working alongside peers and developing rapport with staff and classmates.

The skills and knowledge required are developed predominantly practically at key stage 3, but we also self and peer assess in our workbooks and verbally to help to prepare us for the written exams in new specifications, as well as the reflective coursework expected by exam boards. Whilst building skills, it is also important that students experience engaging, challenging and interesting lessons based on British and world theatre, or using a stimulus from history or society issues/news. These lessons will help to equip them with the knowledge, understanding and skills necessary to succeed not just in written and practical examinations but beyond the classroom; creating well rounded, empathetic, considerate students who are confident in meeting the demands of modern life, as they able to understand the world around them and the people they share it with.

Currently, year 7 are creating their first devised piece (based on WW2 evacuees) using a range of techniques including split scene, thought tracking and poetry whilst year 8 are working on a scripted piece from ‘Our Day Out’ by Willy Russell (author of our GCSE Set Text ‘Blood Brothers’). Year 9 have recently taken part in numerous workshops based on the Hillsborough disaster, discovering multiple ways to use Verbatim Theatre, whilst using a range of techniques they have learnt during their Highfields drama journey. Year 10 are creating the component 2 devised performance which they will perform in May as part of their official controlled assessment whilst also writing their devising Log in exam conditions each week. This document outlines their devising process and how they have developed and refined their performance. Year 11 students had their exam this week (Tuesday 10 March). They presented their scripted performances for an audience with the visiting examiner and year 10 drama students. These extracts have been chosen from a range of plays, including: 1980’s ‘Bouncers’ and ‘Shakers’ by John Godber, ‘Girls Like That’ - a play about the trials and tribulations of growing up as a girl in today’s society) and ‘Tissue’ – a play about breast cancer. A Level students are now working towards their written exam and currently exploring one of their set texts ‘Metamorphosis’. For this module, they not only act but direct and design too, considering lighting, sound, costume and set too.