Foundation

Foundation have been working on learning social skills through drama and have been doing an amazing job. They have been practising taking turns, sharing and learning how to be a good friend. The kindness and peer support we have seen has been magical to watch.

Primary

Oak Class have been using drama to support their ability to hold conversations. They have been learning to identify listening and talking roles, gaining someone's attention before speaking and how to stay on topic once a conversation gets started. They have also had a go at presenting to the class in order to generate discussion afterwards.

    

Willow Class have been using their imagination this term in drama to create a piece of theatre from scratch. Their theme has been outer space; they have designed their very own characters and planets. From transformers that morph from spaceships into robots and aliens that start a full-blown intergalactic battle, we have seen it all this term!

Pine Class have been devising a piece based on The Circus. They have been exploring the theme through movement and play and learning how to use their bodies and face to show character.  As a class, they have structured a story with a clear beginning, middle and end and will be performing it in class in the last week of term.

Elm Class have been learning about the technical side of theatre; learning about costume, sound, lighting and set. They have been exploring how theatre design helps tell a story, how costumes help develop characters and have even had a go at building some miniature sets which they got to light with different coloured gels and torches.

    

Beech Class have been learning how to use drama to help with real world issues. They have been developing their communication skills and social literacy whilst building confidence to explore complex subject matters in a safe and structured way. They have been exploring different emotions, how different people react differently in certain situations and how empathy can be used to better understand their peers.

Secondary

Earth Class are tackling more than they have ever done before for this year's school musical Bugsy Malone. Their focus has been team work and ensuring they are listening at all times to their peers in order to get their timings in each scene spot on. They are in multiple scenes throughout the show and are in very fine voice for some of the musical numbers. They are even taking on choreography this time and doing a sterling job! 

Mars Class. Off the back of a standout performance in the Christmas production, Mars Class, are tackling their first secondary musical with incredible flair! They have a very tricky song with lots of words, so with this in mind, they are working on tongue twisters, articulation and vocal projection to ensure we catch every word. They have also skilfully learnt how to make a boxing ring from skipping ropes.

Mercury Class are studying a scripted piece this term in the form of the classic play Blue Remembered Hills by Dennis Potter. The play covers several themes, most importantly friendships and the challenges that those can sometimes present. Another key theme included in this timeless text is status. As a result, they have been experimenting with levels, stage positioning and proxemics in order to convey status to an audience.

Saturn and Neptune classes are in full swing for the musical, appearing as the rival gangs Fat Sam's and Dandy Dan's. They have had to put the skills they have already learnt in drama to the test, ensuring they use different levels, facial expressions and body language.  They have also experimented with the pace and tone of their voice to help tell the story. They have been rehearsing fantastically well and even those not taking part on the stage have been standing in for other characters and helping collate props and costumes. It really is a team effort! They are, of course, looking forward to the final splurge battle at the end of the show!

  

Drama Block 3 have been tackling unit 2 of their NCFE qualification, which is all about rehearsing for a show. They started proceedings off with a very professional table read, where they practised annotating their scripts to help character development. With the majority of them taking on lead roles in the show, they have their work cut out for them with line learning, but have also been creating their very own rehearsal schedule so that they not only show off their performance skills in rehearsals, but demonstrate their understanding of the amount of work it takes to put on a show. They are documenting in their log books how taking ownership for learning things in a timely fashion helps build up essential skills such as independence and organisation.