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At Nidderdale High School, Drama is taught through Key Stage 3, and as a GCSE option.  Drama encourages all students to develop their creative, problem solving, analytical, team building and communication skills preparing them for the world after education. Students will also develop their knowledge of the theatre and its important place in society, both historically and today.

Students in Key Stage Three all receive timetabled Drama and will develop their understanding of performance and creativity. The use of texts studied in English allow for a deep understanding of storytelling and script work. Performance and enjoyment of that performance are paramount to the learning involved. The Key Stage Three curriculum introduces skills in Drama and allows for students to develop these and to develop new ones. Throughout the curriculum students are given the opportunity to opt to study Drama and develop their understanding further.

Script work is an important aspect of the course and the development of script writing can be seen alongside voice work and choral performance. The development of characters and the creativity and imagination within this allows students to excel at their understanding within Playmaking (the creation, writing and performing their own plays).

At Key Stage 4 students follow the Edexcel GCSE Drama specification which engages students through encouraging creativity, focusing on practical work which reflecting twenty-first century theatre practice and developing skills that will support progression to further study of drama and a wide range of other subjects. The Edexcel qualification has a straightforward structure with three components, one that focuses on devising, one that focuses on performing in or designing for a performance from a text and one that focuses on practical understanding of a performance text. This qualification also focuses on the practical exploration of performance texts. The performance text that will be studied for the examination will require students to articulate how they would perform in certain roles, and direct and design practical work.

GCSE Drama is an ideal option for many students who find that studying a practical and highly creative course complements and enhances their studies in their other subjects.