Secondary School
Sixth Form > Our Pathways
Drama is an exciting and creative subject which allows you the opportunity to explore yourself, helping you understand your own personality and your attitudes towards life and the world. It is a practical A-Level offering you opportunities to be assessed through your performance work.
Examination Board OCR
Specification Number H459
Sixth Form > Our Pathways
Drama is an exciting and creative subject which allows you the opportunity to explore yourself, helping you understand your own personality and your attitudes towards life and the world. It is a practical A-Level offering you opportunities to be assessed through your performance work.
Examination Board OCR
Specification Number H459
Drama is an exciting and creative subject which allows you the opportunity to explore your ideas and opinions, helping you understand your own personality and your attitudes towards life and the world. It is a practical A-Level offering you opportunities to be assessed through your performance work as well as through coursework and written exams. Drama at A-Level gives you the chance to express yourself and build your confidence through devising and performance work; as well as developing your powers of analysis, increasing your understanding about theatre.
Drama is also a subject which develops skills which are highly sought after by universities and employers. A study of Drama shows that you can work in a team and collaborate to achieve a goal, it shows you can be resilient and take, as well as give, constructive criticism. You must be able to problem solve and think creatively to be able to be successful at Drama A-Level as well as developing time management skills. In addition to all this, you also develop your ability to cope in pressured situations where you are nervous, your confidence in speaking in front of people and your ability to control the way you present yourself; all of which is something a lot of people find very challenging and sets you apart from others. Any career where your communication skills are important will benefit from studying Drama A-Level. For a future study of Primary teaching Drama is especially desirable as schools are often in need of someone who can take on the school production. If you want an A-Level that is dynamic, fun, creative, challenging and practical, then choose Drama! Remember, it is still a rigorous A-Level worth the same UCAS points as any other. You just get to be much more active and practical in your study.
Mrs Smith
A minimum of 5 9-5 GCSE grades, which must include a grade 5 or above in either English Language or English Literature.
You also, you need to enjoy the subject, like acting and be interested in Theatre. It is not essential to have taken GCSE Drama, another Performing Arts qualification or been in a school production but if not, ideally you would be able to show other participation in drama outside school time or a genuine interest in taking the subject.
The A-Level course is one which contains a lot of variety and will have something for everyone. Preparation for the two written exams is undertaken practically as well as exploration of practitioners and development of the examined performance; Drama can offer a release of stress and a different approach which can be very valuable to students and help their overall success. The performance text changes each year and is tailored to suit the group. We also aim for different styles of work in the practitioners we study which are Bertolt Brecht and either Constantine Stanislavski or Steven Berkoff. We will take you to the theatre as well as enabling you to put on your own productions.
Recent Theatre visits have included – 2:22 a ghost story, the curious incident of the dog in the nighttime and blood brothers.
This years visit will be: War House.
Those with an interest in textiles or design could do Drama A-Level but follow the designer route making costumes or sets for performances rather than acting in them.
Practitioners in Practice Students will need to devise their own performance based on the study of one or two key Drama practitioners. They will need to perform their devised piece and write a coursework portfolio explaining their process. They can be a performer in or designer for the piece. This unit is worth 40% of the full A-Level.
Exploring and Performing Texts Students will need to take part in a performance of a published text which will be assessed by a visiting examiner. The text that is studied must be a different style to the work of the practitioners in the devising unit. Students can choose to work as a performer or designer and this unit is worth 20% of the full A-Level.
Written Exams The written exams involve the study of three set texts which are chosen by the exam board. These will be explored practically in lesson and student will need to write either about how their themes are represented and connected or about how they would realise them for performance in some way. The written exams will also involve the study of a live performance and a written evaluation of the success for that performance for an audience. The written exams are each worth 20% of the full A-Level.
| Assessment | Topic Area | Value |
| Exam 1 | Exploration of three set texts | 20% |
| Exam 2 | Study of live performance with written evaluation | 20% |
| Assessment | Exploring and Performing Texts | 20% |
| Assessment | Practitioners in Practice devised theatre piece. | 40% |
Just because you take A-Level Drama does not mean you have to become an actor! You can, some students do, go on to study Drama and enter the profession. Drama A-Level means that you can work as part of a team, you are creative, energetic and dynamic; qualities sought by many employers and universities. Drama can lead to any future career! Previous students have gone into study for Law, English, Psychology, Primary Teaching, Maths, Chemistry, Music, History, Sport and many more as well as gaining places on Drama courses or at a top Drama school. The world is your oyster after Drama!
Just because you take A-Level Drama does not mean you have to become an actor! You can, some students do, go on to study Drama and enter the profession. Drama A-Level means that you can work as part of a team, you are creative, energetic and dynamic; qualities sought by many employers and universities. Drama can lead to anything! Previous students have gone into study for Law, English, Psychology, Teaching, Music, History etc as well as Drama. The world is your oyster after Drama!
Mrs Smith
Wood Green Academy is an 11-19 over-subscribed National Support School specialising in Sport, Maths and Computing.
