Head of Department: Miss C Elliott
The Team: Miss C Gray, Miss E Manners, Miss E Sandham
Ethos: To enable all young people to explore the medium of Drama and Theatre in a stimulating and fulfilling environment. To promote a setting of mutual respect and trust where confidence and interpersonal skills can be developed and an understanding of the medium of Drama can be gained.
Our Drama Department is dynamic, productive and committed to offering the best to pupils of all abilities and interests. A thriving Department that offers a number of extra curricular activities and an excellent record of exam qualifications.
Key Development
- To ensure that two new NQT’s to the dept have support and guidance in order to achieve QTS.
- To organise a Dept baseline test in order to create effective MAG grades that actually suit and are effective in setting realistic goals both MAG and TAG for students in our subject area.
- To add another community based extra curricular project to our extra curricular timetable – Maybe transitional with primary schools.
- To develop ways of more effective homework tasks at KS3 that link to GCSE guidelines earlier.
Curriculum Summary
In KS3 students will follow six Drama modules covering the following elements:
In Year 9 the students will study modules based on the following areas:
- Law and order
- Bullying and the Stephen Lawrence enquiry
- Characterisation
- Presentation Styles
- Devising
- Devising part 2
GCSE Drama Edexcel Syllabus
(see GCSE options Booklets for Information)
For the GCSE Drama syllabus students follow a course of study based on developing their skills and acting/ performance ability in preparation of the performance exams. They will be marked 60% on ideas and the development of ideas, communication, use of dramatic conventions and imaginative response to a given stimulus. 40% will be marked purely on acting and performance. They will study work on the following areas over the two year course.
- Devising from a given stimulus
- Mask Project
- Ruth Ellis Documentary Drama
- ‘Teechers’ by John Godber – Script work
- Monolgues
- Mock Exam
- ‘Too Much Punch For Judy’ Exam script Paper 1 Unit 2 exam
- ‘Stimulus room’ Paper 1 Unit 1 exam.
- Performance project paper 2 exam
GCSE Applied Performing Arts
The students study work on theatre including areas if study on:
- Director
- Venue
- Health and safety
- Lighting
- Staging
- Stage management
- Set/ Props /Costume
- Acting.
Each fortnight/ month students will be set a project brief that they must consider. The students will plan the performance covering each of the elements listed above. They will decide on suitability for audience types, venue, budget restraints etc. They will produce the complete performance package. Producing work on topic areas such as:
- A performance for primary students about the dangers of fireworks
- A performance for teenagers about the dangers of smoking when pregnant
- A performance project for non English speaking visitors welcoming them to our town
- A performance piece to promote health and fitness to young people
- A performance piece to teach primary students about myths and legends
Students produce a portfolio if evidence to show the knowledge, skills and understanding that they have required about theatre and the theatrical industry. This portfolio is worth 70% of the marks.
Students then produce a performance piece with the brief set by the exam board and perform the work to a visiting examiner in an external performance.
GCSE –Dance AQA Syllabus
The course is divided into three areas of examination
Written Paper = 2 hours
Short and extended answer questions
Section A comprises short-answer questions which focus on dance injury, anatomy, technical nature of dance.
Section B comprises questions based on the study of a set work and comparison and contrast with at least four other professional dance works, in at least two different styles
Section C comprises one essay exam question
Performance of Duo/Group Dance 20%
Choreography 30%
Expanded Programme Note 10%
Candidates are required to perform in one group dance. The dance should last 2½-3 minutes.
Candidates must choreograph one dance. This may be a solo lasting 1½-2 minutes or a group dance of between 2-3 minutes.
Practical Examination - Set Study 20% of the total marks
Performance of a dance of approximately 1 minute Performance and Choreography 60% of the total marks
6th Form - Drama and Theatre Studies
The course is dicived over six modules of study. Three of these make up the AS level and the final three the A2 level.
Unit One
Exploration of Drama and theatre = COURSEWORK
15% internally assessed externally moderated
Exploration of two plays
Students demonstrate their interpretation and understanding of two texts through practical exploration and completing a portfolio of notes.
Students will demonstrate a vocabulary of drama.
Unit Two
Text in Performance = PERFORMANCE
20% externally assessed practical
A practical examination of acting skills within a play. Students will be assessed on vocal and physical aspects and interpretation of their character.
Unit Three = WRITTEN EXAM
15% 2 hour written paper
Text in Context Two examination questions
- Based on the context of the play in Unit two
- Based on a live production seen
Unit Four = PERFORMANCE AND PORTFOLIO
20% internally assessed externally moderated
Devising Devised performance.
Students demonstrate their understanding of practitioners, texts, genres and styles studied on the AS course and devise a practical performance project. They will complete a portfolio of notes demonstrating a vocabulary of drama.
Unit Five= PERFORMANCE
15% externally assessed practical
Text in Performance 2 Student directed play
Pupils will select an appropriate scene or montage of scenes to demonstrate their interpretation. Students will be assessed on vocal and physical aspects and interpretation of their character.
Unit Six= WRITTEN EXAM
15% 2 hour written paper
Text in Context
Three examination questions based on study of two plays
1.) Based on Beggars opera or Trojan women. Students will base their ideas on the whole play to an extract and to articulate knowledge and understanding of the social and historical aspects of the play.
2.) Based on a comparison of a Shakespeare play in two different productions and evaluate the effectiveness.
News - Positive Developments
- The drama department is fully staffed with fully qualified Specialist drama teachers. They are young, enthusiastic and highly motivated. The field was very strong in the interview process and the two teachers chosen are a positive addition to the dept.
- The extra – curricular at the school from the dept continues to develop. Last academic year there were several major performance events including the Talent Show, Pantomime, Fame- The musical and numerous smaller workshop events. The new season of performance events begins with this years Talent show which is due for the 11th Oct.
- The addition of new vocational courses in both the 6th form and at GCSE level have aided the rise in qualifications that the students can take in more occupational areas of the arts. The students get a practical inside knowledge of the theatre and can take any route through the course of lighting, stage management, acting set design etc. This is a fantastic way of broadening our student’s professional knowledge in the arts and caters for students of a lower academic level.
- The GCSE results from this summers exams again has risen. Over the last 3 years the drama results at A*- C have risen from 16% in 2004, 43% in 2005 to 49% this year a fantastic rise in results.
SHOWS AND CURRICULUM PRODUCTIONS:
Extra Curricular activities in Drama and Theatre Studies have taken a huge development in the last three years. With calendar dates each year for the following events:
The talent show
The main school Musical
The staff and 6th form Pantomine
The showcase of GCSE exam work
The showcase of AS andA-level exam work
The end of year charity play.
For two years running we have taken the winners of the talent show to work with producer John Bowerman at ‘The Stable Theatre’ in Milton Keynes to record tracks for release to record companies. This year is no exception when in the summer term we will be taking this years winners to record a track of ‘beat boxing’ that took 1st place in the show.
The school Musical for the forthcoming term is ‘Grease’ Auditions and rehearsals are currently taking place.
For the first time at WFS a year 7 and 8 only production is to be held in the Spring term – Students are working on an adaptation of ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ called ‘Charlie and his Golden Ticket’.
The summer term will see the Showcasing of the GCSE and AS and A-Level Devised and Scripted productions. This year AS and A-Level scripted work are student devised adaptations of the following plays:
Find Me – Olwen Wymark
Blue Remembered Hills- Dennis Potter
Two- Jim Cartwright
My Mother Said I Never Should – Charlotte Keatley.
Some very exciting work is also being devised by the yr 13 group based on the idea of ‘Invasion’.
Visits and theatre trips are clearly an integral part of the Drama and Theatre studies courses at WFS.
The following trips are being organised currently:
‘Shiver’ Castle Theatre –
Yr 10 GCSE and A-level students
‘Soap’ Derngate Theatre –
Yr 11 GCSE and Applied Students
‘Dead Fish’ Castle Theatre-
6th form students
‘Chicago’ Milton Keynes Theatre –
Dance students.
The Applied Performing Arts group are also scheduled to visit the Derngate Theatre- This trip is a re visit as at the end of last term students donned their hard hats and visited the site before the rebuild commenced. The trip will give students the opportunity to see the technology they saw on the building plans come to life as we take a tour through the back stage and technical areas.
Community Links
The students who took part in the Talent Show each year perform to the local elderly residents in the Christmas OAP party – entertaining the locals from the Weston Favell Area with music and entertainment.
The department have developed close links with the Derngate Theatre of Northampton and we have offered to run a number of local community performance projects in the school. The projects expected to run include – Djing workshops, Street Dance and Theatre Groups. The projects will be free to any student at WFS or in the local community area including any other Northampton County schools.
Links: