Great Yarmouth Charter Academy sets new standards in KS3 Drama and Theatre Studies with innovative curriculum and impressive performances

Great Yarmouth Charter Academy has broadened its curriculum to include Drama and Theatre Studies in Key Stage 3. The students have shown impressive performance skills and have researched the background of Drama and theatre from Ancient Greece. They study pivotal plays, create and enact scenes which replicate tragedies, comedies, and satire throughout the ages. They learn from poems and plays such as "The myth of Theseus and the Minotaur" and "Argonautica", which tell the myth of the voyage of Jason and the Argonauts to retrieve the Golden Fleece from remote Colchis. They also study "The Iliad", one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer, which is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences.

Joe Edwards Gill, the Curriculum Leader for Performing Arts, said, "I am having tremendous fun teaching our talented performers every week. Their commitment to their work is a joy to watch. Their enthusiasm is contagious and their teamwork is outstanding. Learning about Drama and Theatre enables our pupils' creative thinking, which supports their learning in music and English literature. Our pupils can choose to study Drama and Theatre at GCSE level, hoping to continue to degrees that focus on performing arts and actively immerse them in cutting-edge, interdisciplinary practice, which prepares them to enter this competitive industry."

This term, pupils are learning to demonstrate knowledge of the conventions of an Ancient Greek chorus by staging the moment Theseus defeats the Minotaur. Every pupil has learned to use synchronized movements that relate to the action on stage. The actors have choreographed a short, controlled, slow-motion fight sequence. They manage their timing of their performance so that the key moments fit with the music - something no other school we know of has even attempted in Key Stage 3, let alone succeeded at.

"We are so proud of them and look forward to teaching them each week," says Joe Edwards Gill.

Diemante, a year 7 pupil, said, "Studying Drama has inspired me to read other Greek tragedies and poems. I have now researched and studied Greek Theatre and its evolution in England in the 10th and 11th century before 1350, where it became popular to enact religious stories of how saints lived from The Bible. William Shakespeare, the father of English Drama, wrote 18 comedies and 10 tragedies that we still love watching and listening to today."

The academy is proud of their commitment and teamwork and looks forward to sharing more curriculum news in future stories and parental events.