KS3 Drama – Wrenn Academy

Year 7

Theatre Skills
In this scheme, you will be learning the basics of staging a play. You will learn about the parts and areas of a stage; how to begin and end plays; what a scene is and when to change scenes; key basic performance skills such as facing forwards. For assessment, you will be putting on a performance of a modernised Fairy Tale.

Bullying
In this topic, we will be exploring the theme of bullying, from understanding what it feels like to be bullied, to exploring why someone becomes a bully. During this scheme, you will learn key Drama techniques such as: Still Images, Hot Seating, Conscience Ally and Thought-Tracking. For assessment, you will be given 3 scenes to produce, including the key techniques that you have been taught.

Tutankhamen
This topic is based around the story of Tutankhamen’s death and the discovery of the lost tomb 3000 years later. In this scheme you will learn about atmosphere, mime and tension building. For assessment, you will produce a performance in which to demonstrate what your group thinks happened to Tutankhamen to cause his death, using the new techniques.

Shakespeare

2017 – Macbeth:

This year, we will be studying Shakespeare through the play-text, Macbeth. In this scheme, we will look at the story of Macbeth and will explore the development of key characters; Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, The Witches and Banquo, through the use of characterisation techniques, including Centring; we will also be looking at the impact of Semiotics, such as Proxemics and levels. The assessment will be to create a short extract of a scene from the play, using the original language and developing the characters, communicating their relationships.

Year 8

Japanese Theatre

We will be studying Kabuki and Noh theatre within these lessons. You will learn about: Masks/costumes; traditional story-lines; movement; gestures; characters and staging of this ancient style of theatre. For assessment, you will produce two performances of the same story, one in the style of traditional Kabuki and one in the style of a Noh performance, using the appropriate style choices, storylines and character types, demonstrating the difference between them.

Commedia Dell’Arte
During this scheme, you will learn about the style of acting, stock characters, typical storylines, Gromalot and Lazzi. For assessment, you will create a performance of a traditional storyline, using the appropriate acting style, including moments of Gromalot and examples of Lazzi.

Blood Brothers
For this scheme, you will be studying key moments of this play text, the characters and their relationships. For assessment, you will produce an extract of the play applying your gained understanding of ploy, style and characters.

Documentary Drama

This scheme of work is based around the story of Derek Bentley. Within this scheme, you will learn about the development of real-life characters, Cross-cutting and developing tension and suspense within an audience. For assessment, students will develop their own cross-cut performance of the story.

Year 9

This year has been set up to mirror aspects of the current GCSE specification, to ensure that students interested in taking on Drama in Year 10 have the tools and skills for them to achieve.

Physical Theatre/Frantic Assembly
This is an exciting and modern scheme of work in which you will learn about how to communicate meaning through abstract movement and explore how to communicate relationships between characters. You will learn about the dynamics of movement; How to work as an ‘Ensemble’; How to lift and what lifts communicate; How to develop Physical Theatre pieces; Pace and Tempo and how these influence meaning in performance. For assessment, you will be given a piece of music to develop a performance from. This is a basic introduction to elements of the GCSE specification.

Stanislavski/DNA
Starting with the techniques of Constantin Stanislavski, you will learning all about ‘Realism’, including characterisation and key realism techniques; you will understand his influence on modern theatre. We will then apply this new understanding on an exploration of the modern realism play DNA by Dennis Kelly. For assessment you will apply your understanding of Realism to a small group performance from the play-text and either a Duologue or a Monologue. This will be assessed using the mark-scheme of Component 2 of the Edexcel GCSE specification and in a performance in front of a small audience.

Devising
This scheme has specifically been designed to give the skills required for the devising section of the GCSE. In this topic you will learn about the devising process, the different approaches to devised performance and get the chance to create your own extended piece of performance in groups. For assessment, you will be given a theme from which to develop you own piece. You will be given support and guidance over 4 consecutive lessons to develop your unique piece of theatre. You will be assessed throughout the devising process and upon your final piece.

At KS3, students are assessed in three areas: Making, Performing and a written examination in the style of the GCSE examination.

Making - How well are you using what you have learnt to create and develop a piece of drama. Are you using the skills and techniques you have been taught during the topic? Are you working effectively as a group member?

Performing - How well are you using the techniques and skills in performance? How well do you create and sustain characters and style? How well do you work with the other members of your group in performance?

Examination – This will be a written examination, in which students will justify decisions made in the development of performance and to evaluate the impact of the choices made,

So, even if you are not a confident performer, you have plenty of opportunity to achieve well in Drama lessons

There is a clear system of differentiation. Green groups (SEN or less able in Drama) are given extra support. Answers and performance structure is scaffolded to help to keep you on track. Written evaluation is offered in different ways to help you to use the new vocabulary in sentence and paragraphs. Pink groups (more able) are given extra challenges for most tasks. These range from adding in more techniques to comparing different styles of theatre. Pink students are often given more challenging roles when working in groups to give them the chance to explore the new learning from a directorial perspective. Homework tasks are differentiated for level of challenge with the more able being tasked to achieve GCSE standard written responses.