The schemes of work devised for Years 7, 8 and 9 have the following objectives:

1. To develop the girls’ natural performance skills by introducing them to a wide range of theatrical techniques and acting styles.
2. To encourage a committed, thoughtful and disciplined attitude to Drama.
3. To offer the girls lesson content of a standard appropriate to an academic school such as Tormead, so that pupils are stretched intellectually as well as in the development of their performance skills.
4. To encourage enjoyment of the subject in a creative, but non-pressured, environment. No homework or written work is set for Drama at Key Stage 3. Girls are free to experiment and make mistakes. Assessment is done during lessons, both by the teacher & students, as part of their evaluation of their work.
5. To develop a passion for drama through watching, reading and participating in plays, theatrical events and performances.
6. All lessons are designed to cover the 5 key skills of confidence-boosting, communication, self-control, co-operation and evaluation and if a girl become an expert in all 5 areas then they are likely to be an extremely talented performer too.

Year 7 The main aim is to teach the pupils to develop co-operation, trust and communication skills; to build confidence and self-control; the beginnings of characterisation and the basics of stagecraft. This is achieved by structured exercises in improvisation and script work. These skills are then extended into more complicated and challenging work as the year progresses.They will also discover more about how drama can be used as a means of exploring issues.

Year 8 The pupils learn more about stagecraft and the importance of the audience; movement and voice; focus; maintaining a role; characterisation and spatial awareness. They study specific techniques such as mask-work and commedia dell’arte. In the course of this study, they are introduced to more challenging improvisations and more sophisticated scripts as well as developing a good grasp of drama vocabulary.

Year 9 The aim is to consolidate basic presentation techniques whilst keeping the focus on the co-operation skills of individuals working in a group. There will continue to be structured exercises in both improvisation and script work designed to test their imagination and this will help prepare students for the GCSE should they opt for it, as well as develop skills for life. They will end this Key Stage with a devising project that will give them the artistic freedom to present drama in a style of their own choosing.

Drama at GCSE is a subject that is both active and creative. Lessons consist of practical work, discussion and reflective writing and students will be able to work in more depth than they have been able to previously. We follow the Eduqas syllabus, which places a strong emphasis on practical devising work – there is definitely less written work than most other subjects as the examination board encourages the ability to write succinctly. Students will learn about all aspects of theatrecraft: acting, design and directing. We explore various practitioners such as Stanislavski, Frantic Assembly, Brecht and Boal as well as specific genres such as Physical Theatre and Theatre-in-Education. Candidates can also gain an understanding of how to use make-up, costume, set design, lighting and sound effectively and have the option to choose one of these design areas for assessment, instead of performance. We have many different types of student opt for Drama and it is rated highly by all universities as it helps make you confident, sensitive and a strong leader. Whether you are a naturally outgoing person or a quiet, thoughtful person you can succeed in this subject as long as you bring enthusiasm, imagination, focus and a willingness to work creatively.

Component 1 (40%) is a devised unit in which you will create an exciting piece of new theatre in small groups, based on a practitioner or style of theatre you have studied. There is a written report about the process (which has a maximum word count of just 900 words) plus an evaluation of the performance which is written in controlled conditions.

Component 2 (20%) involves the performance of a script to an examiner in small groups/pairs. There is no written work for this component.

Component 3 (40%) is a written examination consisting of a series of questions based on an interesting set text we will have studied practically, plus one short question analysing a theatre production you will have seen. The examination lasts 1 hour and 30 minutes.

We operate an inclusive ethos with our staged productions, involving girls from every year group within the Senior School. The style of each production varies to ensure we show a range of genres, including comedies, tragedies, modern and classics. Through different forms of theatre, both plays and musicals, we provide students with the opportunity to be involved in at least two productions a year. In recent years, we have been lucky enough to give the students a taste of the professional theatre world with the opportunity to perform our last two whole school musicals, Legally Blonde and High School Musical at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford, as well as productions of The Tempest and King Lear at the Leatherhead Theatre as part of the Shakespeare Schools Festival. Other past productions include Little Women, The Caucasian Chalk Circle and Alice @ Wonderland.

Girls are encouraged not only to act but also to help in other areas of theatrical production, such as stage management, costume, make-up, lighting and sound. Technical Theatre Club runs once a week to cater for students who have a keen interest in lighting, sound and audio-visual aspects of theatre and is regularly led by the 6th Form Technical Theatre Mentors. There are also weekly Drama Clubs for different year groups and a Glee Musical Theatre Club, and the work undertaken here often leads to public performances in the form of assemblies, small scale productions or as part of the annual Winter and Summer  Tormead Fringe Festivals. A week-long Drama School, run by the Head of Department, takes place at the end of the summer term which is open to Tormead girls and RGS boys. We also hold an annual House Drama competition where entries are written/devised by the students with a cast from Year 7, 8 and 9 under the supervision of the 6th Form House Captains. Pupils in Year 10 and 11 are encouraged to direct and assist where possible.

Theatre visits and workshops
There are theatre trips organised annually as part of the GCSE requires pupils to experience live theatre performances as part of the course. Highlights have included trips to see ‘The Woman in Black’, ‘The Ocean at the End of the lane’, Frantic Assembly’s ‘Metamorphosis’ and Gecko’s ‘Kin’ at the National Theatre The older pupils also take part in at least one bespoke workshop by an outside practitioner each year. Most recently, we have welcomed Splendid Productions, The Paper Birds and Frantic Assembly to Tormead. We also have good links with the wider community such as the Drama Departments at Guildford School of Acting and at the Royal Grammar School in Guildford and we often undertake joint ventures, such as workshops and productions.