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| DRAMA IS … |
| THEATRE |
Performance skills, Listening, Watching, critical awareness,
Technical expertise. |
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| COMMUNICATIONS |
Speaking effectively, sharing ideas and experiences,
tolerance and working together. |
| PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT |
Confidence building, self-awareness, respect and consideration
for others, opportunities to develop opinions and views. |
| SOCIETY |
Exploring the social world, working for and with the
community, examining issues and morals. |
| AN INTEREST |
Recreation, a never-to-be forgotten experience, Exciting,
stimulating. |
| A PROCESS |
Enhancing other subjects, recognised throughout the
National curriculum, involving negotiation and problem
solving. |
| AN INSTINCT |
Young children teach themselves about the world through
role-play. It took adults a long time to realise this! |
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| In drama three things must be
done at the same time. First, we must recreate other people's
behaviour from evidence, observation, memory or imagination.
Second, we must articulate a personal response based upon real
or imagined experiences, which will give the action conviction
and meaning. Third, we must distance ourselves from both the
recreated behaviour and the personal response in a way that
is often difficult to manage in everyday life, when our own
reactions and feelings may be spontaneous. To understand
this complex process there exists a set of concepts specific
to drama and to control it we use a range of dramatic techniques,
forms and conventions. All of these need to be taught by drama
teachers.
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| "Without the mediation of art, life becomes
alien to us. Alienation is arguably the greatest blight
upon the young in our society today." |
| (Malcolm Ross - Exeter University) |
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| In the Drama Department of Kingsbridge
Community College we aim to offer students opportunities to
work imaginatively and creatively, both individually and in
groups, across the range of arts experiences. Exploring and
manipulating ideas and emotions, encouraging students to confront
difficult issues, and thereby helping them to tolerate and make
sense of life within our culture and the wider world. Students
are given opportunities to observe, analyse and interpret information,
thus empowering them to make reasoned choices and value judgements
in this unforgiving world of advertising, technological developments
and political change. Students are given opportunities to perform
and evaluate their performances and the performances of others,
working towards increased self awareness which comes with knowledge
and understanding. We aim to encourage the development of balanced
members of society who feel comfortable with themselves and
the world which they inhabit. |
| Students are given opportunities to perform and evaluate
their performances and the performances of others. |
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The College offers students
a broad based curriculum which develops the wide variety of
students' aptitudes and abilities. The Arts have a fundamental
and essential role in providing such a curriculum, in particular:
- Developing aesthetic ability and intelligence.
- Developing the capacity for creative thought and action.
- The development of feeling and sensibility.
- The exploration of values.
- Promoting the understanding of cultural change and difference.
- Developing physical and perceptual skills.
(Gulbenkian Report 1982)
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YEAR
7
Basic skills which underpin successful drama are developed progressively
during Year 7. By the end of the course students will understand
and demonstrate social and group skills necessary for meaningful
drama and the use of movement, voice and space. They will work
in mixed groups of varying sizes and compositions developing
the ability to negotiate, devise, improvise and structure a
presentation and begin to develop a drama vocabulary. |
| By the end of the course students will understand and
demonstrate social and group skills. |
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YEAR
8
During Year 8 students consolidate and deepen their understanding
of how space, movement and voice communicate meaning. They will
work alone in groups of various sizes to create situations and
develop character in work on a variety of themes including Status,
Spontaneous Improvisation and Scripted work. There will be increasing
emphasis on evaluation on own work and that of others. |
YEAR 9
The Year 9 scheme of work contains opportunities for work using
students’ experiences and perceptions as a starting point.
Increasing use of text as stimulus in order to enable students
to realise that hundreds or even thousands of years ago, others
were preoccupied with the same issues although the ways of articulating,
explaining and presenting them were different. Existing skills
are reinforced and new ones acquired, including Stage Configurations,
Forum Theatre, Naturalism and Abstract Techniques. Written work
is increasingly complex, anticipating the Coursework requirements
of GCSE Drama. |
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Written work is increasingly complex, anticipating the
Coursework requirements of GCSE Drama. |
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YEAR
10
Work in Year 10 follows the pattern set for Edexcel GCSE in
Drama. Techniques learned at KS3 have been reinforced and new
ones explored such as Forum theatre, Thought-Tracking, Cross-cutting
and Marking the Moment. Work has been supported by written exercises
based on practical exploration of a variety of themes, particularly
“protest” in the spring. There has also been extensive
work on a published script which will culminate in June in the
Year 10 Performance Examination, with Students taking on Acting
roles as well as working in teams on technical skills such as
Costume, Lighting, Stage Management, etc. |
YEAR
11
In the Autumn Term of Year 11 students are involved
in practical and written exercises on a specific theme, this
year – War, followed by the same kind of exploration of
a scripted play. In February the students begin work in small
groups on their final performance exam which is straight after
Easter, requiring some attendance at rehearsals during the holiday.
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YEAR 12
In Year 12 students follow the Edexcel AS Drama and Theatre
studies course comprising three units. Unit one consists of
practical work done on two texts selected by the centre, supported
by a portfolio of written work. Unit two is a practical examination
in which the students are directed in a thirty minute play or
extract. Unit three consists of a written paper containing two
sections. Section A is on the play performed for unit two while
section B is on a play studied by the students. |
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In Year 12 students follow the Edexcel AS Drama and
Theatre studies course comprising three units. |
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YEAR
13
Year 13 students follow the Edexcel A level Drama and Theatre
studies course following on from AS. Unit 4 consists of the
research, preparation, rehearsal and performance of a piece
devised by the students themselves, supported by a portfolio
of written work. Unit 5 is a practical examination, the performance
of a play or extract adapted and directed by the students themselves.
Unit 6 is a written paper, section A is on “The Trojan
Women” from the point of view of director, section B is
on the performance history of “The Taming of the Shrew”. |
In the Drama Dept at Kingsbridge Community
College we offer extensive opportunities for students to experience
live theatre either as participants or members of the audience.
There are Drama Clubs after college three days a week where
we explore a variety of skills and prepare items for St Nicks,
the Christmas entertainment, Concerts, Assemblies and the English,
Music and Drama Evening. Three or four times a term we hold
special drama workshops where KS 4/5 students can explore a
topic in depth during a two hour workshop.
Students on GCSE/AS 7 A2 courses create a number of presentations
throughout the year and attendance is high at their productions
in November, January, April, May and June. The highlight of
the year is the Main College Production in March – this
year’s blockbuster, “Grease” was wildly popular,
playing to capacity audiences in our brand new performance Hall.
The Department organises a number of theatre visits during the
course of the year, and, along with the Media Department, a
residential experience in London in December which includes
a workshop at Shakespeare’s Globe, a backstage tour of
the National, a visit to the Theatre Museum, a tour of BBC Television
Centre and three West End shows. |
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| The highlight of the year is the Main College Production
in March – this year’s blockbuster, “Grease”
was wildly popular, playing to capacity audiences in our
brand new performance Hall. |
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