Our pupils have regular chances to perform in class assemblies and Christmas nativities and drama is frequently used in our teaching with "hot-seating" and role play used cross-curricular. For several years we have hosted our Year 5 Shakespeare Festival at Thameside Theatre where each class performs a different Shakespeare play. This gives our children the opportunity to perform on a professional stage and gain experience with lighting and stage direction. Year 6 have the opportunity to perform a play at the end of the school year, Year 4 take part in a Gamalan performance where the pupils play traditional instruments and use puppetry and Year 3 learn and perform a play telling the story of the life of Samuel Pepys. We are a Royal Opera House Trailblazer School and this gives our pupils an abundance of opportunities to engage in professional performances. We also bring in other professional groups so that children can see drama performed, this ranges from our Christmas pantomimes to special book weeks and other performances.
Intent
At Woodside Academy, the creative curriculum is a key priority and it is embedded across a variety of subjects taught at Woodside. We are a Trailblazer school, who work closely with the Royal Opera House, and this is a leading component in our creative curriculum. Drama is one element of our creative curriculum and it is taught cross-curricular across the school, mostly during English lessons. Consequently, many spoken language targets are met through drama lessons. It is our intention to ensure that children are exposed to and take part in high quality arts and cultural activities including drama. Additionally, drama, as well as other creative arts, is used to improve the standard of creative writing across the school and is used to inspire children to think more creatively. We therefore aim to ensure that every pupil experiences a variety of cultural experiences before they leave school in year 6. We aim for pupils have a sense of confidence with their spoken language and learn to express themselves and their ideas in a variety of ways.