Share This Page

Drama

Back

Key Stage 3

At Nicholas Breakspear, Drama aims to engage, inspire, and empower students to develop a lifelong appreciation of performance and storytelling. Through creative exploration and practical work, students build confidence, communication, and teamwork skills, allowing them to express themselves with clarity and empathy.

As students' progress through Key Stage 3, they begin to develop a critical understanding of performance and the processes behind creating theatre. Lessons encourage students to reflect on character motivations, social contexts, and emotional perspectives—helping them to become more empathetic and socially aware individuals.

Drama at this stage also lays the foundations for GCSE study, introducing key theatrical concepts, performance techniques, and evaluative skills that enable students to analyse and create with purpose and precision.

In line with the National Curriculum, Drama at Nicholas Breakspear aims to ensure that all pupils:

Learn and apply role-play and other drama techniques to explore character, situation, and emotion, building empathy and understanding of others.
Develop communication, leadership, and collaborative skills essential for both performance and wider life.
Use drama and improvisation to generate, organise, and express ideas—strengthening their writing, speaking, and listening skills.
Gain confidence in performing to different audiences, adapting tone, gesture, and language to suit purpose and context.
Engage critically with texts and performance, building the analytical and reflective skills required for GCSE Drama and beyond.
Explore language and meaning through rehearsal and performance, deepening their appreciation of how words and actions convey emotion and intent.

Key Stage 4

GCSE Drama

Awarding Body: OCR

Subject Contact: Miss E Hawkins

Course Content

Apply knowledge and understanding of drama when making, performing and responding to drama.

Explore performance texts, understanding their social, cultural and historical context including the theatrical conventions of the period in which they were created (a performance text is one that has been written specifically for theatrical performances).
Develop a range of theatrical skills and apply them to create performances.
Work collaboratively to generate, develop and communicate ideas.
Develop as creative, effective, independent and reflective students able to make informed choices in process and performance.
Contribute as a individual to a theatrical performance.
Reflect on and evaluate their own work and that of others.
Develop an awareness and understanding of the roles and processes undertaken in contemporary professional theatre practice.
Adopt safe working practices.

Assessment

Comp 1/2 - Devising Drama

(30%, out of 60 marks, Non exam assessment [NEA]):

Learners will be assessed on acting.

Learners will research and explore a stimulus, work collaboratively and create their own devised drama.

Comp 3 - Presenting and Performing Texts

(30%, out of 60 marks, Non exam assessment, visiting examiner)

Learners develop and apply theatrical skills in acting or design by presenting a showcase of two extracts from

a performance text.

Comp 4 - Performance and response

(40%, out of 80 marks, Exam assessment, 1hr 30 mins)

Section A: Learners will explore practically a performance text (Blood Brothers) to demonstrate their

knowledge and understanding of drama.

Section B: Learners will analyse and evaluate a live theatre performance

Career Progression

Many students who study Drama progress onto A Level courses and other two year Post-16 Performing Arts related courses. In the job market experience of Drama can be particularly useful for any career that involves meeting people face to face in fields such as, teaching, law, retail, travel and tourism and sales and marketing. These are all professions which will make good use of the numerous transferable skills developed during this course.

For further information regarding the specification and example exams please follow the link:

http://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/242630-specification-accredited-gcse-drama-j316.pdf

Key Stage 5

A-Level Drama

A Level Drama and Theatre Studies (AQA) is a practical and creative course for students interested in performance, directing or design. You’ll develop skills in acting, devising, analysing theatre and understanding how practitioners shape performance.

Course Content

Interpreting and staging set texts
Techniques of key practitioners (e.g. Stanislavski, Brecht, Artaud, Frantic Assembly, Paper Birds, Katie Michell)
Devising original theatre
Performing play extracts
Analysing live theatre

Learning Methods and Assessment

Learning is primarily through a practical approach supported by written assignments and discussions.

Component 1: Theatre Workshop – Research, development, performances and evaluation all assessed

Component 2: Text in Action – Visiting examiner will come and watch live theatre performance or students
will give a 5-10 minutes’ presentation of designs

Component 3: Text in Performance – Students will have a written exam 2 hours 30 minutes

Expectations of Students

Students are expected to take ownerships of their work; theoretically and practically. Whilst there is an element of teacher lead sections of this course, students are at level 3 education and need to take responsibility for their: research, development, rehearsals and revision.

Careers Prospects

Past students have progressed on to degree courses or careers in Film Production, Journalism, Marketing, Media, Law, Psychology, Professional Theatre and Teacher Training.

Awarding Body: Eduqas