Year 7

Commedia dell'arte (exploring physical and mask work); storytelling (establishing key skills); linking up with year 7 English work to experiment with different approaches to staging The Tempest.

Year 8

Political issues in theatre (drawing on Bertolt Brecht and Augusto Boal); the development of theatre in the 19th and 20th century; staging The Crucible by Arthur Miller; starting to direct and work collaboratively on more extended projects.

Year 9

We don’t have drama classes this year, but there’s an annual directors’ forum which gives year 9 students the chance to direct and perform in short pieces of drama.

Year 10

If you take drama GCSE, this year concentrates on exploring different stimulus materials and texts; enhancing performance skills; producing an extended performance; learning about various theatre practitioners, with assessed workshops as well as written coursework.

Otherwise, one of your PE options can be drama - in the autumn term you explore texts related to childhood and develop performance skills; in the spring term you explore The Woman in Black; in the summer term you study Stanislavski and his theatre theories.

Year 11

The drama GCSE curriculum continues last year's work, concluding with a final practical exam. There are termly drama units among the PE and general studies options.

Year 12

Students can engage with drama as both participants and audience members during the newly introduced (September 2010) A-level course in theatre studies. The assessment includes a written response to live theatre seen during the course, a study of a set text (Ibsen's The Doll's House) and a group performance of an extract from a published play. Students choose the extract themselves and apply one of the directorial approaches they have studied.

Additionally, the entire year group organises one of our largest annual productions as an extra-curricular activity. It's all up to you, from picking a script to acting, directing, making sets and costumes, running the lighting, sound, stage management and front of house.

Year 13

For the A level students, the formal study continues. For others, just because you're in your final year, it doesn't mean there are no opportunities for drama. There's still the possibility of directing a studio production or getting involved backstage (or in front of it).