In the Pre-Preps the emphasis is on the development of self-expression, creativity and confidence. In Year 1 and Year 2 Drama is delivered discretely within the English curriculum.  Each term girls prepare a performance to an audience; nativity plays (Michaelmas Term), the Spring Concert (Lent Term) and Songs and Certificates in the Summer Term.

The aim of Drama at this stage is to develop the girls’ confidence, drama skills and teamwork. Girls in Year 4 and Year 6 produce performances for an audience.

The girls scrutinise genres and dramatic conventions, devising and presenting scripted and improvised dramas.  They gain an understanding of how theatre can communicate meaning and mood: generating empathy. 

In the Michaelmas Term, Year 7 girls perform a themed showcase and Year 8 perform in our Shakespeare Festival presented at Association Day. Girls in Year 9 produce an end of Key Stage production. 

Drama is a popular choice at GCSE and provides opportunities for pupils to understand and create drama as a practical art form in which ideas and meaning are communicated to an audience through informed artistic choices. Pupils can choose to either perform or design (costume, lighting, set, sound). Pupils apply their knowledge and understanding to the process of creating and developing their own performance or design work. The GCSE also provides important freedom for learners to experiment and take risks with their work while developing their own style: actively rewarding an experiential approach of trial, error, reflection and improvement. 

A-Level Drama and Theatre provides a fantastic curriculum to ignite and engage learners’ creativity, passion and interests. It develops students’ understanding of how theoretical and analytical study of drama is integrated with practical work. The A-Level is a creative, challenging and academic subject for those who thrive in active lessons and who want to learn how to turn ideas and insightful research into tangible, meaningful storytelling. Students study and create theatre, drawing on various historical, cultural and contemporary contexts and theatre practices. They develop a working appreciation of the practices used in twenty-first century theatre making, enabling them to make bold and socially conscious plays. 

Preps 

LAMDA examinations are very popular in the Preps, with Solo Introductory exams starting in Year 1.  

Seniors 

The biennial Senior School Production staged at Questors, in Ealing, enables girls from Year 7 to Year 13 to work together both on stage and backstage in a semi-professional theatre environment. Recent shows include The Addams Family School Edition, Sister Act: The Musical, Chicago: High School Edition, Little Shop of Horrors, The Comedy of Errors, Guys and Dolls, and The Ash Girl. 

We offer theatre visits to London’s West End to each year group. 

We host National Youth Theatre auditions, run the National Theatre’s New Views playwrighting scheme, offer LAMDA exams, along with a LAMDA Showcase that is judged by a professional casting agent, and the Drama scholar and staff theatre company, Priory Players, stage annual cabarets. 

Senior school students with an aptitude for performance are invited to participate in workshops and careers talks as part of the Drama Gifted Pathway. 

Drama promotes: 

• Emotional intelligence  

• Creativity 

• Effective communication 

• Empathy  

• Imagination  

• Confidence  

• Sense of self 

• Understanding  

• Taking risks  

• Reflection and improvement  

• Passion 

• Insight 

• Research  

• History 

• Culture  

• Social conscience