Drama is one of 5 subject areas within the broader learning area of The Arts, which also comprises Music, Media Arts, Dance and Visual Arts. At Nundah State School, we teach and assess Drama as a stand-alone subject area using Version 8.4 of the Australian Curriculum to lend clarity to the learning required. It may be taught by a specialist teacher or it may be integrated into a Purposeful Connected Curriculum unit, in order to leverage the context provided by another learning area such as English, HASS or Science.
Drama is a subject designed to develop dramatic skills. Drama develops group effort, vocal quality, physical ease, creativity, theatre appreciation, and self-confidence. Children collaborate with other students and develop skills in a supported environment. Students learn through collaborating in groups to manage tasks, working as artists in the making of creative work.
As an avenue of creativity and self-expression, drama offers students the opportunity to acquire new skills including academic competencies and interpersonal skills. Through actively participating in an experimental mode of learning, students who study drama develop a unique means of enquiry, expanding their knowledge and understanding of the world.
Students learn to appreciate how the elements of drama and production contribute to meaning as they observe and respond to dramatic performances from a range of cultures, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.
Drama curriculum
Prep
Students begin their learning of Drama by using picture books as a stimulus as they bring them to life with voice, movement and improvisations for performance.
Year 1 and 2
Students expand on their initial learnings in Prep by further exploring ways that texts and stories can be enacted using voice, movement, costumes and props. They develop an understanding of role and dramatic action by acting out familiar stories learned in English in small groups.
Years 3 and 4
Students bring their dramatic skills to the next level as they work in groups to improvise performances in Year 3. They show their understanding of dramatic elements through their responses to drama performances. Students then write their own scripted group performances in Year 4 as they embrace the historical contexts explored in English and History.
Years 5 and 6
Students explore how to develop their dramatic skills and use of voice to further develop characters and mood as they rehearse and perform melodramatic pieces to an audience of their peers. They develop their understanding of dramatic action, space and empathy as they script and perform their own freeze frame/ realistic drama linked to their Science learning of natural disasters.