Senior School Curriculum Drama
Drama
In addition to all the extra-curricular opportunities available at Clayesmore, we offer pupils the chance to study Drama as an academic subject at both GCSE and A-Level.
At the end of Year 9, pupils choose between Drama and English Literature as the course to accompany their GCSE English Language course. Drama is a popular option, offering a fascinating blend of academic analysis with practical and imaginative expression.
We follow the Edexcel specification which requires pupils to undertake two major investigations, one into devised drama and one into a piece of scripted drama. These investigations build towards day-long workshops when pupils develop their own response to the stimulus material, writing a detailed portfolio afterwards which analyses the work they created on the day.
The climax of the course is the practical exam. Pupils choose to present either a piece of scripted drama or a piece of their own devised drama in performance conditions. Working in small groups, pupils are responsible for every aspect of their production and can choose to be marked for their acting or for their design or technical contribution.
The AS and A-Level courses (AQA specification) build on the skills learned at GCSE. Again, there is a blend of academic analysis with high-level practical, creative work.
In both the Lower and Upper Sixth, students study two set texts which are selected to introduce a sense of the theatre’s historical and cultural significance. Knowledge of these plays is tested in written examinations.
Students also study the work of two significant theatre practitioners and use this knowledge to feed the practical work which builds towards a performance exam at the end of each year. Lower Sixth pupils will begin with a script and will create a forty-minute production. As at GCSE, they are responsible for every element of the production and can choose to be marked for their acting or for their design contribution. The process is similar for the Upper Sixth, but they must also create their own script!
Both courses require terrific dedication and determination but the satisfaction of having worked as a team to create a piece of theatrical art can be immense – nearly as rewarding as the excellent exam results themselves!