The Drama Department is a vibrant and popular place, sitting right at the heart of the school.

As a subject Drama is taught from Year 3 to GCSE and offers a place for pupils to explore, experience and examine emotions and feelings, based on work studied and devised within the safe boundaries of the drama classroom. The Drama curriculum is designed to help pupils prepare for life, examining intellectual, physical, social and emotional issues through role-play, text and improvisation. It looks to provide vocational education, both for theatre and for other careers which use transferable skills, aiming ultimately to be a unifying force within the school, motivating pupils of different age groups via public performance. Dance is taught weekly in Pre-prep while there are weekly after-school dance clubs, including ballet, lyrical and musical theatre, available to all years from Nursery to Year 11.

At GCSE Drama is a popular option, with over 25% of the cohort choosing the subject. LAMDA lessons are available as solo or duologue in the Senior School and are taught by a visiting specialist teacher.

Drama is also an in demand extra-curricular activity with annual productions taking place in all sections of the school. Autumn highlights are the Senior School Musical, always a hugely popular activity, and the Pre-prep nativity involving the entire Pre-prep school. The Prep production is the feature of the Spring term, and then the Summer term sees the Pre-prep dance show and the Years 8 and 9 play.

Pupils often run the backstage and technical elements of these productions as well as performing on the stage and we are immensely proud of our participation levels: more than 80% of pupils participate in Performing Arts above and beyond our extensive curricular provision.

Please visit the Performing Arts in Action page to see what our pupils have been up to.

Performing Arts in Action

Mrs S Honey - Teacher of Drama