Year 7 is a skills based year where students are introduced to the basic performance skills required in the subject. These skills will be formally assessed through practical assessments that take place every half-term. Students are also introduced to subject specific theory work which includes script writing and evaluation.

Year 8 Drama gives the students the opportunity to develop further the skills they were introduced to in Year 7 while introducing new units including the theories of Stanislavski, improvising and devising work. As with year 7, students will take a broad range of practical and written assessments every half-term. In preparation for the schools rough sleep project, students will produce a devised piece based on homelessness.

Year 9 aims to prepare students for the Drama GCSE, and as such, most of the work completed will be of a GCSE standard. Students will analyse and perform an extended scene from a scripted piece from a published play that will include the researching of roles as well as looking at the historical context and genre of the play. A detailed evaluation based on a GCSE Drama question will be completed. Students will also devise a piece based on World War One to coincide with their residential trip to the Battlefields.

Exam Board: WJEC (9-1)

At GCSE the Drama course is split into three units. Throughout the course students will learn about different styles of theatre, as well as the history of theatre and how society and politics have affected theatre and performance. Students will beset regular written work to supplement the practical work that is completed in class. Students will also study a set text for their written exam. The structure of the course can be found below:

Unit One – A Combination of both written and practical assessment. The assessment takes the form of a devised piece, created in the style of  theatre practioner or a genre of theatre. A written evaluation of their practical performance is then completed as part of the same examination (internally assessed and externally moderated)

Unit Two – Performance from a text: Students will perform two extracts from a text of their choice. (externally examined and moderated)

Unit Three – A written examination comprising of questions based on the set text we study throughout the year. The final question requires students to write a review of a live theatre performance of their choice.

Exam Board: WJEC

Course Content: This highly practical course centres on plays from World Drama across the centuries and explores how plays can be presented on stage. Students will study and research TWO plays in depth for practical and written examinations (pre 1956 and post 1956) They also explore plays through practical workshops using current professional rehearsal techniques. Students will study the elements of theatre production (including performance and design) in order to learn how plays are brought to the stage. An integral part of the course requires them to attend professional theatre productions, in order to experience different styles and genres of theatre, in order to expand their knowledge of theatre and performance.

Students must be prepared to rehearse outside lessons and attend evening visits to the theatre.

Component 1: Students are asked to create a re-imagination of a piece of text using between 30 and 70 percent of the original lines. The re-imagination can take the form of any style of theatre or practioner and will be performed as  a practical examination. Alongside this, students will also complete a personal portfolio that documents their development of their piece

Component 2: Students will perform another devised piece and text piece for a visiting examiner. These pieces must use a different practioner or style from that they used for Component 1 and will be examined by an external examiner.

Component 3: Component three will be a written exam that comprises sections on their two set texts (pre 1956 and post 1956) and an unseen question based on a text extract chosen by the exam board.