KS3

Drama at Park View emphasises building invaluable life skills that will stay with our learners for life. Drama enables students to develop teamwork and leadership skills, as well as building confidence and developing strong acting, presenting and speaking skills. Students study one Shakespeare play in each KS3 year, as well as a variety of modern texts. KS3 Drama is a highly practical course where we explore a range of issues that are relevant to our students. The students will also study a wide variety of Dramatic genres and practitioners, including; Ancient Greek Theatre, Commedia dell’arte, Melodrama, Physical Theatre, Naturalism, Devised Theatre, Epic Theatre and Scriptwriting. All students study Drama for two hours per fortnight at KS3. We explore modern texts such as King Hedley II and Blood Brothers, both GCSE-approved texts, to give our learners a head start.

Our KS3 students are offered a wide range of extra-curricular activities. We run Drama Club weekly across years 7-9 and use this time to prepare for both public performances and Primary School workshops. Our KS3 students are given the opportunity to perform in the Winter Showcase and a Drama-Club Production each year, as well as learning leadership skills by facilitating rehearsals with local Primary School students in the community.

GCSE Drama

At KS4 we offer GCSE Drama, which students study for 350 minutes per fortnight. This course is broken into three components- Devising, Performance from Text and Theatre Makers in Practice. Students will devise theatre in groups, develop a written portfolio of their work, perform script extracts and complete a written exam. We study a range of theatre practitioners, including Brecht, Grotowski, Meyerhold, Frantic Assembly and Stanislavski. Students learn physical theatre skills and explore a range of modern play texts. The GCSE students study DNA by Dennis Kelly as an actor, director and designer, in preparation for the written exam paper. Our GCSE students can expect to see live theatre productions at least once a year during their GCSE course. Recent theatre visits have included The Flowers of Srebrenica, Guys and Dolls and The Meat Kings (Inc.) of Brooklyn Heights. Professional theatre practitioners will come and work with our GCSE Drama students at different points across the two-year course. We have a strong extra-curricular programme at Park View. In recent years, we have staged productions including Grease, Peter Pan and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. We offer intervention sessions for our GCSE students to allow them for every opportunity to do well in both their performance and written exams. There are additional extra-curricular activities available for our students, and all KS4 students are encouraged to attend Drama club.

Assessment 

Component 1: Devising (portfolio and performance) 40%

Component 2: Performance from Text (externally assessed by visiting examiner) 20%

Component 3: Theatre Makers in Practice (1 hour, 45 minutes Written Examination exploring ‘Bringing Texts to Life’ and a ‘Live Theatre Evaluation) 40%

Progression

After studying GCSE Drama there are many courses to follow at college, including Drama and Theatre Studies A Level, and BTEC Nationals in Performing Arts. At university students can specialise in areas such as performing, directing, producing, stage management or the technological sides of theatre. There are many career opportunities for Drama lovers, including work as a performer, script writer, director, theatre technician or production manager. Drama helps students with their social skills, confidence and ability to talk in front of others; other career paths might include working in Public Relations, Law, Business, Teaching, Management or Sales. Many of our alumni go on to study Drama at Sixth Form level, and later University.

Drama Curriculum Overview