Curriculum Intent

The Drama curriculum aims to provide highly creative, collaborative and fun learning experiences for all students. Our goal is to furnish students with the abilities required to interpret and realise script-based drama and likewise to create original drama from scratch, as young performers, designers and directors. Students move from project to project with application of a spiral curriculum through which skills, knowledge and understanding are established, revisited and added to over their seven years with the school. Our approaches are underpinned structurally by the whole school curriculum design, our CHRIST values, the KS3 national curriculum and the DFE’s ‘Drama Objectives Bank’. We deliver the AQA GCSE & A Level Drama specifications at Key Stages 4 and 5 which both offer plenty of options for students in terms of choice of texts, specialisms and theatre practitioners. Our ambitious project-based approach levers creative experimentation with wide ranging performance and design skills, ever increasing in challenge as students move through the key stages. It likewise levers engagement with multiple styles/genres of scripts, stimuli and issue-based topics offering learning opportunities and insight into a broad range of social, cultural and historical contexts. We are connected to the professional theatre industry and offer students opportunity to engage with professional artists through seeing live performance, attending workshops and collaborating on projects. We aim to offer “something for everyone”, appealing to and broadening the specific interests of students through the diversity of opportunities drama and theatre has to offer.

Curriculum Map

Extra Curricular Offer

Blue Coat has an extensive extra-curricular drama and theatre offer. We stage at least three productions annually and these are usually: a musical for all age groups (recently ‘We Will Rock You’, ‘The Wiz’ and ‘Hairspray’), a play for years 10-13 (e.g. ‘Sleeping Beauty’. ‘Lord of the Flies’ and ‘One Good Soul’) and another for Years 7-9 (e.g. ‘Our Day Out’, ‘Ignite’ and ‘The Comedy of Errors’). There is also a Drama Club for the lower school and the upper school enjoy extra sessions in improvisation and musical theatre. The theatre team also run a technical theatre club for students interested in backstage and production elements. In addition, there are numerous one-off projects, including student directed work, showcases and partnership projects. Speak to a member of the Drama department or theatre staff for more information.