The Performing Arts department seeks to provide a lively, practical and enjoyable
curriculum with a wide range of activities and opportunities outside of lessons to extend
and enrich students’ experiences. The Performing Arts department encompasses Dance,
Drama, Music and Physical Education.
The department enjoys fantastic facilities that include a gymnasium, sports hall, all
weather pitch, multi-use games area, music practice rooms, a dance studio, a drama studio
and three drama/music classrooms. The drama studio and school hall have a professional
audio-visual set-up.
At Key Stage 3 students follow an exciting curriculum, learning the basic skills in each
art form. Areas of study include the language of choreography in dance, dramatic devices
such as hot seating and thought tracking in drama, developing compositional
skills and learning about the structure of the orchestra in music and acquiring skills in
the major games in PE.
At Key Stage 4, in year nine, students follow the arts carousel. The carousel
allows students to follow a programme of poetry (verbal arts), art, drama, music and media
(visual arts). The common theme of the carousel is popular culture.
At Key Stage 4, in years ten and eleven, students have the opportunity to study on a
range of GCSE courses in expressive arts, drama, music and PE. There is also the
opportunity to study a BTEC First Certificate in Performing Arts (Dance).
At Key Stage 5 students can opt to follow a BTEC National Award in either Sport or
Performing Arts (Musical Theatre). Both courses have fantastic success rates with 75% of
students reaching a C or above in Sport and 100% of students achieving an A
in July 2009.
Extra-curricular activities are a prominent feature of the department. Among these there
are two Performing Arts festivals, a rock school concert, the college singers, a GCSE
drama performance and regular sports fixtures. There is also an annual whole-college
production.
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