At Fernwood we believe that the benefits of receiving a drama education from specialist teaching staff are immense.
The identity and purpose of drama is tailored to our students and community. It is both a pedagogic approach (we teach through drama) and subject in its own right (we teach about drama.)
We believe that drama should be practical, immediate and engage the emotions as well as the intellect. It develops social skills and personal confidence, talents which may be transferred to any subject or future profession. An infinite number of ideas can be taught using dramatic approaches and this impacts upon the wider school curriculum.
However, at Key Stage 4, our students will be assessed on drama as a craft for nationally recognised qualifications and many may wish to further pursue the study of performance. Therefore we teach our students how to create, perform and respond to theatrical works.
At Fernwood we believe that striking a balance between these two approaches is key, and our offering is personalised to the students we teach.
At Key Stage 3 students begin Year 7 by learning basic performance and group skills in an Introduction to Drama Unit. The remainder of Key Stage 3 works to build on students’ ability to explore a plot, build and perform a character, share knowledge of theatre styles and history, interpret a text and use both realistic and stylised dramatic conventions.
At Key Stage 4 students follow the OCR Drama GCSE course. This course has been selected for its broad range of study with emphasis on both performing published texts and devising new work.
Having a thriving extra-curricular offer is an extremely important part of Drama at Fernwood. We believe that, while high production standards must be maintained, extra-curricular opportunities should be accessible to those of all ages and abilities and are not limited to performing.
Current extra-curricular offers are:
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