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To apply for a place at our Sixth Form for September 2025, please click here.
Whilst studying drama, students will develop a knowledge of theatrical skills and techniques, which in turn will enhance their confidence, teamwork, and communication skills, that will prove invaluable throughout their lives. The engaging and inclusive curriculum provides an opportunity for students to enhance a huge range of skills to support them throughout their schooling, including: emotional intelligence, focus, resilience, leadership, problem solving, creativity, and cooperation. Drama enables students to explore the world we live in and understand cultural diversity. Social themes and issues are explored during devising lessons, and students are encouraged to express themselves in a safe learning environment. We aim to nurture an appreciation and enjoyment of theatre, where students focus on creativity and imagination. During KS3 students receive one drama lesson per week, studying a range of theatrical styles that will develop key drama skills and techniques. We also encourage students to expand their knowledge outside of the classroom, by providing educational visits and extra-curricular activities.
Drama is a practical subject, where students are assessed each term through teacher, peer and self-assessment. KS3 focuses on practical drama skills and techniques and students are assessed on their rehearsal techniques, performances, and written critical analysis.
| Term 1 | Term 2 | Term 3 | Term 4 | Term 5 | Term 6 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bringing Stories to Life Through Drama | Theatre in Education | Devising – Our World | Physical Theatre | Commedia Dell’arte | Performance from Text | |
| Term 1 | Term 2 | Term 3 | Term 4 | Term 5 | Term 6 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time | Ghost Stories | Devising – Our World | Refugee Boy | Live Theatre Review | Theatre Practitioners | |
| Term 1 | Term 2 | Term 3 | Term 4 | Term 5 | Term 6 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Stage Combat | Blood Brothers | Devising from Stimuli | Theatre of the Absurd | DNA – Bringing texts to life | DNA - Performance | |
Edexcel Drama GCSE gives students the opportunity to create their own work, perform scripted plays and study live performances. Throughout the course students continue to develop their acting skills, including the use of; voice, physicality, characterisation and improvisation. Lessons are very practical and involve a great deal of collaborative work. The course is very flexible and offers options for not only actors, but also those wishing to explore design elements, including lighting, sound, and costume. Alongside these practical skills we also undertake the study and analysis of play texts to experience how a production team of actors, designers, technicians and directors might transfer a play from the page to stage. Students will attend live theatrical performances to support them in both the performance and written aspects of the course.
Component 1: Devising – 40% - 60 marks. Students create their own devised performance based on one of a range of stimuli. In addition to the performance, students will be marked on an accompanying portfolio with evidence of the process and decisions made whilst creating and developing their performance.
Component 2: Performance from Text – 20% - 48 marks. Students take part in a live scripted performance which includes two extracts from the same play. Students will also be required to produce a short accompanying document which outlines their intentions for and approach to the performance.
Component 3: Theatre Makers in Practice – 40% - 60 marks. This requires students to study one performance text in detail from a set list given by the exam board. In Section B, students will be required to analyse and evaluate a live theatre performance they have seen using accurate subject-specific terminology.
| Term 1 | Term 2 | Term 3 | Term 4 | Term 5 | Term 6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Component 1: Responding to a stimulus & Portfolio | Component 1: continued & Component 3: Live Theatre Review | Component 1: Devised Performance & Portfolio | Component 3: DNA Exam Technique | Component 3: Exploring technical theatre | Component 2: Performance from Text |
| Term 1 | Term 2 | Term 3 | Term 4 | Term 5 | Term 6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Component 2: Performance from Text | Component 2: continued & Component 3: Exam technique & Live Theatre Review | Component 2: Performance from Text Exam | Component 3: Exam technique & revision | Component 3: Exam technique & revision | GCSEs |
| Component 1: Devising | Component 2: Performance from Text | Component 3: Writte Exam - 1hr 45mins | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall Percentage and Marks | 40% 60 Marks | 20% 48 Marks | 40% 60 Marks |
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Please see attached the Learning Journey for Drama.
Useful online resources:
Theatre31 | Theatre for young people, by young people | Medway & Sheppey
GCSE Drama - Eduqas - BBC Bitesize
V&A · Theatre & Performance (vam.ac.uk)
Drama and dance schools at The Brook Theatre | Medway Council
Careers in Drama
Many students go on to study a degree in drama and theatre at university. Drama provides students with an extensive amount of tranferable skills that can be used across all industries. Some of those skills include:
Some of the careers where studying drama is useful are:
British Values
The drama curriculum at Holcombe Grammar school ensures that British Values are embedded in to our schemes of work. Students in KS3 are introduced to theatre that explores social and political injustice, with a focus on democracy. Students are provided with an opportunity to develop their own theatre based on their beliefs and injustices in their own lives. When working together in drama, students need to respect each other’s ideas and opinions and devise theatre for target audiences. Students will be taking on roles of various characters and will be required to undertake some research based on differing beliefs and cultures and apply their findings to their character and performance. Our schemes of work aim to contribute to the students understanding and contribution to the world that we live in.