Drama

Team Leader: Mrs H Shapter Wheeler
Team Leader e-mail address: hshapter@cedarsupper.org.uk

Currently, we have three staff teaching Drama, all of whom are subject specialists but two teach other subjects in school. Miss S Howse also teaches Dance and Miss E Whalley’s main subject is English. Drama is taught discretely in Year 9, although it appears within the English curriculum at Key Stage 3. It is taught on a carousel with Art and Music. Students can opt to take Drama at GCSE and Drama and Theatre Studies at post-16 level. There is a Performing Arts option which combines Music and Drama (also available at Key Stage 4). Currently we have 80 students taking GCSE Drama across Years 10 and 11 and 23 in the Sixth Form.

Each year the Creative Arts faculty work together on a school musical, which is one of the many extra-curricular performing opportunities available.

There is also a play which has often involved staff as well as students, to encourage everyone’s creative side. It’s also helpful for our students to see the teachers learning too and sharing their enjoyment of the Arts together.

The Drama department offer theatre trips to students studying at GCSE and AS/A level in order to support their learning. We also book theatre companies to come into school and take workshops on theatre practitioner’s studied or set texts. This year for the first time, we ran a very successful Year 9 creative arts trip to Warwick University to view the sculpture and art around the campus and at the Mead Open Gallery at their on-site Arts Centre. Following this, we took the students to the RSC theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon to see "The Heart of Robin Hood".

For the past five years, we have had a 100% pass rate at Key Stage 5 and consistently good results at GCSE. Students choose to study Drama for a variety of reasons. Some for the enjoyment of the subject, others have an interest they want to take further into tertiary study. Many students take Drama at GCSE in order to improve their self-confidence and presentation skills.