Town Close House

“The content of educational drama is life. It encompasses the entire range of a child’s experience and every facet of his/her personality; and because it constitutes a unique way of learning, it should be an indispensable part of the child’s experience in school.”

Drama at TCH is in a transitional phase. It is envisaged that, in the future, having opened the Read Hall as a Performing Arts centre, there will be greater provision for curricular drama, and more opportunities for exploring drama within the English curriculum – not to mention a fine venue for performances of all sorts.
As things stand, drama is taught for one lesson a week by a specialist teacher as a separate curricular subject in Years 3 and 4. In Years 1 and 2, and in the senior years at school, encouragement is given to teachers to use a range of drama techniques, such as hot-seating, thought-tracking, conscience alley, improvisation, still and speaking pictures, within the teaching of English and PSHE to explore different texts and issues.
We try to make a distinction between the drama which takes place in preparation for performance (such as rehearsals for musicals or plays) and curricular drama. The drive behind the first kind of drama is the final performance, which means that a degree of selection is inevitable. The focus is on the end result rather than the process. Curricular drama, however, should be skills-based, allowing children of all levels of ability to participate equally in the process. Performances arising from this kind of drama (such as drama assemblies) will therefore be much more like work in progress.
All pupils sign a drama contract at the start of the year where they agree on the rules of behaviour and recognize the necessity for good, sensitive listening and encouragement of their peers. Within lessons, pupils are encouraged to reflect sensitively on their own work, and that of others, as a matter of course.
The Year 3 and 4 drama course takes the learning objectives from the Primary Framework for Literacy as a starting point, and extends them. The learning objectives for drama in the later years are built into the English curriculum.
Drama can make a unique contribution to the development of the child. Its purposes, and the particular character of its activity, provide the means by which a child can achieve an enhanced awareness of self and can experience a unique mode of learning.