Curriculum
WHERE YOU ARE ABLE TO EXPLORE – CHALLENGE AND REALISE YOUR POTENTIAL
Vision
To ensure that our Drama department makes a contribution towards Thorns as a centre of excellence for the Performing Arts. To provide rich provision of our subject, and impact on the individual, the school and the community through our work in Drama.
Aims
- To refine acting skills by encouraging hard work and commitment.
- To develop the whole person, through emotions, and social skills, using drama as a tool to do so.
- To show academic development in theatre arts, such as skills, practitioners, texts, process and careers.
- To develop an appreciation of the arts.
Drama is delivered through the L4L curriculum in year 7, enhancing and supporting students’ learning through a rich and varied curriculum. In addition, students are given the opportunity to work with our learning officer from the Birmingham Hippodrome on additional projects such as Arts Award and performances back at the Hippodrome.
Students also complete an 8-hour project in drama exploring both text and devised work. The project introduces students to the making, performing and responding structure of the curriculum. In particular, the students explore the play ‘Ernie’s Incredible Illucinations’.
Drama is delivered through the L4L curriculum in year 8, enhancing and supporting students’ learning through a rich and varied curriculum. In addition, students are given the opportunity to work with our learning officer from the Birmingham Hippodrome on additional projects such as Arts Award and performances back at the Hippodrome.
Students also complete an 8-hour project that explores different methods of devising work from a stimulus. This builds on the work explored in year 7 and explores other roles and skills within the theatre industry such as writers and designers.
Drama is delivered through performing arts on a rotational basis to every student in year 9. Through this, they complete 3 acting projects throughout the year.
| Rotation 1 | Acting Skills and Techniques | To develop performance skills related to character and clear delivery of performance work. |
| Rotation 2 | Process of Performance | For students to grasp the variety of ‘Page to Stage’ processes used in a variety of different styles. |
| Rotation 3 | Live Theatre | To watch and analyse professional performance work in terms of the elements of design and acting. |
We offer the BTEC Tech award in Performing Arts (Level 2) at KS4, following the acting pathway. As well as their normal curriculum time, we hold a weekly session after school for KS4 acting students to develop their acting or writing skills should they wish or need to. Students are expected to:
- keep good attendance due to the group element of the work.
- keep an ongoing logbook of research, development and reflection.
- expect to perform!
- take part in one of our extra-curricular opportunities during the duration of the course.
BTEC Tech Award (Level 2)
Component 1: This component will help you to understand the requirements of being an actor across a range of performances and disciplines. You will develop your understanding of the performing arts by examining practitioners’ work and the processes used to create performance.
Component 2: In this component, you will develop performance skills and techniques. You will take part in workshops and classes where you will develop technical, practical and interpretative skills through the rehearsal and performance process.
Component 3: In this component, you will have the opportunity to respond to a brief. Working as part of a group, you will develop your ideas for a workshop performance and apply your skills and techniques to communicate your creative intentions to your audience.
There are 2 drama clubs per week, one each for upper and lower year groups. On occasion, these will be run together to encourage leadership skills and aspiration.
In addition, our musical theatre group, ‘Spotlight’, runs weekly and is led by our Learning Officer from the Birmingham Hippodrome.
Students rehearse in preparation for our annual production. Weekly support workshops are presented for BTEC Tech Actors.
Styles: Absurdism, classical, comedy, commedia’dell’arte, epic, forum theatre, melodrama, naturalism, symbolism, theatre of cruelty, verbatim, devised, musical theatre, physical theatre.
Creative intentions: Theme, issue, stimulus, style/genre, contextual influences, collaboration with other practitioners, influences with other practitioners.
Purpose: Educate, inform, entertain, provoke, challenge, raise awareness, celebrate.
Roles: Actor, singer, director, writer, designer.
Responsibilities: Rehearsing, performing, devising, choreographing, directing, writing, refining work, self-managing and managing others.
Skills
- Physical: Actions/gesture, characterisation, expression, focus, control, mannerism, movement memory, spatial awareness, posture, pace, relaxation
- Vocal: Clarity, articulation, projection, breath control, remembering lines, pitch, characterisation, pause, pace, tone, expression –
- Performance/interpretive: Use of props/set/costume/make up, use of space, facial expression, stage presence, energy, awareness of the space and audience, interaction with other performers, interpreting and developing a character, communicating a style or genre, communicating themes, learning blocking, stage directions, dialogue, managing, directing, communication, creative writing, organisation.
Practitioners: Stansislavski, Brecht, Artaud, Boal, Frantic Assembly, National Theatre, Mark Wheeller, Redcape Theatre Company, Dennis Kelly, Willy Russell, John Godber, Splendid.
