West Craven High School
ASPIRE
Drama
The KS3 Drama curriculum at West Craven is carefully structured from Year 7 to Year 9 to provide students with a broad, engaging, and practical introduction to performance, theatre styles, and dramatic techniques. The curriculum follows a spiral approach, allowing students to regularly revisit and refine core performance skills throughout KS3. Through a wide range of practical and theoretical schemes of learning, students continually develop their understanding of physical and vocal skills, characterisation, improvisation, devising, rehearsal techniques, and performance analysis.
Throughout KS3, students are introduced to a variety of theatre practitioners, genres, and performance styles including Greek Theatre, Physical Theatre, Musical Theatre, Shakespeare, Verbatim and Political Theatre, Theatre in Education, and contemporary performance. These experiences are designed to develop creativity, resilience, confidence, teamwork, and communication skills while encouraging students to become reflective performers and audience members. Challenge is embedded throughout all lessons, with opportunities for students to develop independence, leadership, and cultural understanding through performance and collaborative work.
Students explore both historical and contemporary theatre, significant social and political themes, and influential practitioners to deepen their understanding of how drama reflects and responds to society. Through practical exploration and performance, students learn how theatre can be used to educate, entertain, and communicate important messages and ideas.
Drama plays an important role in developing essential life skills. Through performance and collaboration, students learn how to communicate effectively, express ideas creatively, solve problems, and work successfully as part of a team. Oracy, confidence, empathy, and self-expression are embedded throughout the curriculum and support students across all subjects and future pathways. The study of drama encourages students to become confident, creative, and thoughtful individuals both inside and outside the classroom.
Year 7
Students begin their time in Drama at West Craven developing the confidence, collaboration, and communication skills needed for successful performance. During the first term, students are introduced to the foundations of Drama through team-building activities, improvisation, rehearsal games, and performance techniques. Students begin to develop their understanding of physical and vocal skills while learning how to work effectively as part of an ensemble. Through the study of Greek Theatre, students are introduced to the origins of theatre and explore how storytelling and performance techniques have evolved over time.
As students move through the year, they continue to build upon their practical performance skills through a variety of theatre styles, genres, and performance techniques whilst exploring the historical timeline of early theatrical works. Students study the origins of pantomime through Commedia dell’arte, learning how exaggerated movement, stock characters, and melodrama are used to entertain an audience. This develops into the study of Shakespeare and Elizabethan Theatre, where students explore how language, character relationships, and storytelling can be brought to life through performance.
Students are also introduced to script work through the work The Terrible Fate of Humpty Dumpty as well as the drama techniques of role on the wall, hot seating and conscience alley to develop characterisation and motivations and decisions whilst exploring real-world issues. Students begin their play study with the stage adaptation of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, exploring the work of Frantic Assembly and learning how Physical Theatre techniques can communicate emotion, relationships, and narrative in creative and engaging ways.
In the final part of the year, we move to the introduction to Musical Theatre, exploring how acting, singing, and movement combine to tell a story. Through rehearsal and performance, students continue to build resilience, focus, teamwork, and confidence while developing their ability to remain in character and perform as part of an ensemble.
Throughout Year 7 Drama, students develop key life skills including communication, creativity, empathy, resilience, and teamwork. Lessons encourage students to become confident performers, thoughtful audience members, and collaborative learners who can express ideas clearly and creatively through performance.
Year 8
Throughout Year 8 Drama, students continue to develop and refine the performance skills introduced in Year 7 through the exploration of a wide range of theatre styles, texts, and performance techniques. Students build confidence in their physical and vocal performance skills while developing a deeper understanding of characterisation, storytelling, rehearsal processes, and ensemble performance. Through practical exploration and performance-based learning, students strengthen their creativity, communication, and analytical skills.
In the Autumn Term, students begin by exploring improvisation games and activities to encourage quick thinking, creativity, and problem-solving. Working collaboratively in groups, students will create original performances without the use of a script while developing believable characters through physical and vocal techniques. Students then move on to the history of film and cinema, investigating how performance styles evolved from stage to screen. Through the study of silent film, early cinema, and visual storytelling, students develop an understanding of how acting techniques differ for live theatre and screen performance.
As the year progresses, students revisit the work of Shakespeare through the study of Macbeth, exploring how language, themes, and dramatic techniques can be communicated through performance. Students continue to develop their understanding of character relationships, storytelling, and staging while building confidence in performing scripted extracts.
Students are also introduced to theatre that communicates powerful social and political messages. Through the study of political, verbatim, and protest theatre inspired by the Hillsborough disaster, students explore how real-life events and testimonies can be used as a stimulus for original performance work. This encourages students to think critically, work collaboratively, and use drama as a tool for communication and expression.
In the Summer Term, students study Blood Brothers, exploring the social and historical context of 1960s Britain and how themes such as class, inequality, and superstition influence characters and performance. Students then revisit Greek Theatre from Year 7 and build on their understanding through the contemporary musical Hadestown, exploring how ancient myths can be adapted for modern audiences through script, movement, music, and ensemble storytelling.
Throughout Year 8 Drama, students continue to develop important life skills including resilience, teamwork, empathy, confidence, leadership, and communication. Lessons encourage students to become imaginative performers, reflective learners, and supportive collaborators while deepening their understanding of how drama can entertain, educate, and inspire audiences.
Year 9
Within Year 9 Drama, students continue to refine and apply the performance skills developed throughout KS3 while exploring a range of contemporary and influential theatre styles, texts, and performance techniques. Students further develop their confidence in physical and vocal performance, characterisation, devising, rehearsal processes, and ensemble work through practical exploration and performance-based learning. The curriculum encourages students to think creatively, communicate effectively, and apply drama skills to a range of social, historical, and contemporary themes.
In September, students begin by exploring theatre with a message through the real-life case of Patty Hearst and Theatre in Education; students investigate themes of justice, morality, and coercion and control while developing their ability to communicate meaning and emotion through performance. As the end of the year approaches, students explore extracts from Bouncers, Shakers, and Teechers by John Godber, developing their understanding of multi-role performance, comedic theatre, and exaggerated characterisation. Students learn how actors switch between roles and use physical and vocal techniques to communicate stereotypes, humour, and social commentary.
In the new year, students begin looking at Shakespeare’s Hamlet and develop an understanding of Shakespearean language, themes of revenge, family, madness, and betrayal, and dramatic techniques, using physical and vocal skills to bring key plots, scenes, and characters to life.
As the year progresses, students develop their understanding of acting for stage and screen through the study of duologues from film and television. Students build confidence in paired performance work while developing their understanding of relationships, tension, and character interaction. This develops into a unit on devising drama, where students use a range of different stimuli including pictures, music, poetry, and real-life events to create original performance work through improvisation and collaborative rehearsal.
KS3 Drama concludes with the study of modernising classic literature, specifically of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet through productions such as West Side Story and the Belgrade Theatre’s 2025 adaptation. Students explore how historical stories can be adapted for contemporary audiences while applying the performance skills they have developed throughout their Drama journey.
Throughout Year 9 Drama, students continue to strengthen key life skills including confidence, resilience, teamwork, leadership, empathy, creativity, and communication. Drama lessons encourage students to become independent performers, reflective learners, and collaborative individuals who can communicate ideas clearly and creatively through performance.