Drama and Theatre Studies is an exciting subject which challenges students across the board. Not only does it enable students to work creatively as performers, directors and designers, it encourages them to manage projects, work as a team, to make and follow through creative choices and explore their perception of human behaviour and the society around us.

The Drama Department at the Maynard strives to spark interest and enthusiasm in theatre and performing arts across the student range offering many opportunities for involvement and creative input. We offer a variety of opportunities to take part in performance work ranging from drama clubs at U3 and Lower 4, to involvement in the whole school play and seasonal projects, to GCSE and A Level.

Drama at all levels in the school is intellectually and conceptually challenging and provides excellent potential for creative learning, further personal development and team work.

At Key Stage 3 Drama follows a series of interactive projects using play texts, improvisation and storytelling techniques to develop interpersonal skills, social dynamics and communication. Drama groups for both Year 7 and Year 8 mean that all girls interested in pursuing further drama get the chance to work on at least one production per year often offering technical support for at least one other show.

The GCSE and A Level courses offer lots of opportunities for exciting performance work with practical exploration of different genres of theatre and theatre practitioners both old and new. Vital to personal progression within both courses is experiencing professional work and our many theatre trips make students aware of the work happening in British theatres today. We try, where possible, to forge links with professional companies and independent practitioners and this year hosted a workshop for all exam students with award-winning physical theatre company Frantic Assembly, providing much stimulus and debate for further work. Other companies we have studied and worked with in the past year include Theatre Alibi, Pilot Theatre Company, Cygnet Drama School and the Shakespeare for Schools Festival.

This year’s school play, Roald Dahl’s The Witches, gained enormous support within the school community and proved an excellent example of teamwork with students from Years 9-13 working together as a team. The result was a great success and huge learning experience for all concerned.

Mrs J Bellamy-Cooper, Head of Drama