Drama
Subject lead: Miss L Alexander
Curriculum Intent
Drama at Weavers Academy is an inclusive, ambitious and creative subject that empowers students to express themselves confidently while increasing their cultural capital and understanding of the world around them. Through sustained practical exploration, students engage with a wide range of themes, texts, styles and practitioners, enabling them to experience drama as both an art form and a powerful means of communication.
The curriculum is designed to develop Productivity through purposeful rehearsal, refinement and performance, encouraging students to take pride in the quality of their work and to apply feedback to improve outcomes. Respect is central to all drama learning: students learn to value diverse viewpoints, collaborate effectively, and explore stories and characters from different cultures, eras and perspectives with sensitivity and empathy.
Students are encouraged to become Independent creative thinkers who can generate ideas, make artistic choices and evaluate their own work with confidence. Through challenging practical tasks and performance opportunities, students build Determination, learning resilience, perseverance and self-belief as they refine skills, overcome performance anxieties and respond constructively to challenge.
Active participation underpins all learning in drama, fostering high levels of Engagement through practical exploration, discussion, rehearsal and live performance. Across Key Stage 3, students develop strong vocal, physical and interpretative skills while exploring a wide range of play texts, styles and theatrical conventions. Theatre visits, workshops and performance experiences further enrich learning, broadening horizons and inspiring ambition.
Ultimately, the Drama curriculum at Weavers Academy equips students with transferable life skills — including teamwork, communication, creativity and critical evaluation — preparing them to succeed both within the performing arts and beyond the classroom.
Key Stage 3
The Drama Curriculum in Key Stage 3 is a spiral curriculum; year 7 focuses on students learning to apply the core skills and techniques of practical Drama, which are then developed further throughout year 8 and 9.
Students will;
- Develop knowledge and skills in using strategies such as Still Image, Thought Tracking, Narration.
- Devise their own work in groups based on a range of stimuli
- Explore the use of vocal and physical skills and apply this knowledge in order to portray different character roles.
- Explore different scripts including Alice in Wonderland, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Romeo and Juliet, and DNA, exploring the narrative of different texts and the styles in which they can be presented.
- Develop their knowledge of stage directions, blocking scenes, and explore characterisation and styles of theatre.
- Develop analytical and evaluation skills through the observation of their own and their peers practical work, as well as recordings of live theatre, developing their knowledge of performance and design in the world of professional theatre.
Throughout Key Stage 3 students will continually revisit knowledge and skills learned to further embed their learning. Furthermore, students will develop transferable, employability skills as they collaborate with others each lesson, negotiating and working in teams, communicating with their peers, gaining confidence in speaking in front of others.
Curriculum Map:
| Year | Autumn 1 | Autumn 2 | Spring 1 | Spring 2 | Summer 1 | Summer 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | Simon's Story | Storytelling | Darkwood Manor | Alice in Wonderland - Acting |
Alice in Wonderland - Design Live Theatre Review |
Melodrama |
| Core Skills | Style | Devising | Exploration | Production | Style | |
| 8 | Blood Brothers |
Scrooge Live Theatre Review |
Frantic Assembly - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime |
Frankenstein Live Theatre Review |
Shakespeare | Devising |
| Building Skills | Devising | Style | Devising | Exploration | Style | |
| 9 | DNA - Acting |
DNA - Design Live Theatre Review |
Noughts and Crosses | Who Cares | Devising |
Everybody's Talking About Jamie Live Theatre Review |
| Embedding Skills | Exploration | Embedding Styles within Scripts | Devising/Style | Exploration | Production |
Key Stage 4: AQA GCSE Drama
AQA | GCSE | Drama | Specification at a glance
At GCSE, students work on 3 Components:
Component 1: Understanding Drama – 40%
This component enables students to further develop knowledge and understanding of drama and theatre through the study of a set text, Noughts and Crosses, and the analysis and evaluation of live theatre. This is assessed as a 1hr 45m written exam at the end of the course.
Component 2: Devising Drama 40%
This component allows students to explore the process of creating devised drama and is assessed through a final group performance (20 marks), as well as a portfolio of coursework (60 marks) showing an analysis and evaluation of the devising process and final performance.
Component 3: Text in Practice 20%
This component enables students to work on a selected script to prepare two extracts for performance, individually, in pairs, or as a group. Students prepare a final performance which is assessed by a visiting examiner.
Curriculum Map:
| Year | Autumn 1 | Autumn 2 | Spring 1 | Spring 2 | Summer 1 | Summer 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | Workshops | Comp 2 | Comp 2 | Comp 2 | Comp 2 + Comp 1 | Comp 1 |
| Devising | Devising | Devising | Devising exam | Devising Coursework | Blood Brothers exploration and theory | |
| 11 |
Comp 1 Theatre review Blood Brothers |
Comp 3 + Comp 1 Blood Brothers Theatre Review |
Comp 3 Practical Performance Exam |
Comp 1 |
Comp 1 | Comp 1 |
| Exploration and Theory | Performance and Theory | Performance | Written exam prep | Written exam prep | Written exam prep |
Student Leadership and Enrichment:
Students are provided with a variety of opportunities to share their excellent work throughout the year at our Winter and Summer Creative Arts celebration events and GCSE showcase evenings. We also provide opportunities through the school musical, and KS4 & 5 drama productions. All of these events are a fantastic way of showcasing the hard work and talent of our students, and their enthusiasm for theatre. Throughout the year, our Drama students at different key stages are offered a range of enrichment including; KS3 Drama group, one-to-one acting coach sessions, theatre workshops, and trips to view live theatre with ‘post-show chats’ with the cast or creators where possible. Students are also able to access digital theatre productions through our accounts with Drama Online and Digital Theatre Plus.