Welcome to coombe Boys' Drama department

"Creating an environment in which anything is possible!"

GCSE Drama BTEC Performing Arts Extra Curricular

International Youth Arts Festival (IYAF)

Drama Department Productions 2008 Photo Gallery

Key Stage Three Drama Club - Information & Photo Gallery

Drama Department - Prospective Parents Evening - Photo Gallery

Inter-House Performing Arts Competition-Information & Photo Galleries

Drama Department Productions 2004-2007 Photo Gallery

Drama at coombe boys' school

“Nothing excellent was ever achieved without enthusiasm.”

Welcome to the Coombe Boys’ Drama Department WebPages. Here you will find all you need to know about what goes on in the Drama department here at Coombe Boys’, including information about Drama lessons from Year 7 to Year 12, GCSE & Whole School Productions, extra-curricular clubs, Inter-house competitions, GCSE Drama and BTEC Performing Arts course guidelines and resources and much, much more.

The website will be updated regularly with the latest Production and Rehearsal Calendars, useful links for GCSE, photos from the latest round of Performances and the extra-curricular timetable.

Miss S O'Reilly - Head of Drama

Drama Ties:

Drama ties, these ties are awarded to students who have not only demonstrated a talent in the dramatic field but to those who successfully commit to the necessary rehearsal periods and disciplines staging public performances take. 

Results 2008

This last year an outstanding set of results was achieved by Coombe Boys pupils and in the Drama Department, we are particularly proud of our own set of results at all levels.

Key Stage 3:

70% of boys achieved Level 5 or above and

29% of pupils reaching a Level 6 or above.             

GCSE Drama:

77% of pupils taking the course achieved their A*-C grades.

• Ashley Blenman (Member of the National Youth Theatre) - Studying A Level Drama at Coombe Sixth Form
• Michael Berry - Studying A Level Drama at Coombe Sixth Form
• Daniel Hales - Studying A Level Drama at Coombe Sixth Form
• Ji Hoon Oh - Studying A Level Drama at Coombe Sixth Form

Drama at Key Stage 3

Drama at Coombe Boys’ School is intended to offer all pupils an opportunity to unlock the use of imagination, intellect, empathy and courage. Through it, ideas, responses and feelings can be expressed and communicated.

The curriculum allows pupils, through engagement in drama, to apply their imaginations and draw upon their own personal experiences. Their increasing knowledge and understanding of how the elements of drama work, enables them to effectively shape, express and share their ideas, feelings and responses, making use of language, space, symbol, allegory and metaphor.

In addition, principles of communication, concentration and co-operation are encouraged and opportunities for participation in whole school performing arts events and future Arts opportunities are encouraged.

In common with all subjects, drama requires specific skills, knowledge and understanding, which are progressively taught and assessed through and across the key stages. Three interrelated activities characterise the subject of drama at all levels; making, performing and responding.

To ensure progression in each key stage, pupils should be able to:

• Explore and research ideas, issues, plays and other texts such as diary entries, poems, photographs, films and paintings, using a variety of drama skills and techniques
• Devise, improvise, shape and structure dramas of different kinds
• Use drama skills and knowledge to interpret a range of texts, for example play scripts, pictures or stories
• Prepare and perform both scripted and devised dramas for various audiences, using a selection of media
• Use and develop their knowledge of drama from different times and cultures, as well as classic and contemporary practice
• Reflect on, evaluate and analyse the structure, meaning and impact of their own work and the work of others as both participant and audience.

Key Concepts

Making Drama

• Work confidently in groups using a range of drama techniques to explore situations and devise dramas for different purposes
• Plan and structure plays that make use of a range of techniques and forms to express their ideas, eg narration in story theatre, mask work, and mime in physical theatre
• Actively interpret the work of playwrights
• Write and perform their own simple scripts, demonstrating an understanding of some correct theatre conventions
• Establish a character, with control over movement and voice

Performing Drama

• Select and operate a range of simple theatre technologies to create the right space for their drama and to enhance their work
• Learn lines, collaborate with others and organise simple presentations
• Experiment with their voices and movement, to create or present different characters in performance

Respond to Drama:

• Demonstrate an awareness of some theatre traditions from different times and places, eg Kathakali dance drama, Greek or Tudor theatre
• Discuss the themes or issues in the drama and the way they were presented

• Reflect on and evaluate their own and other pupils’ work, suggest improvements and use correct basic theatre terminology
• Comment on how intended effects have been achieved, eg the use of silence

Key Processes

• make different kinds of relevant contributions in groups, responding appropriately to others, proposing ideas and asking questions
• take different roles in organising, planning and sustaining talk in groups
• use different dramatic approaches to explore ideas, texts and issues
• engage an audience, using a range of techniques to explore, enrich and explain their ideas
• use different dramatic techniques to convey action, character, atmosphere and tension
• explore the ways that words, actions, sound and staging combine to create dramatic moments.
• work collaboratively to devise and present scripted and unscripted pieces which maintain the attention of an audience

• reflect on and evaluate their own presentations and those of others

Programmes of Study:

The Drama department fully believes that direct engagement in drama is essential as part of an arts-rich curriculum that every pupil has a right to experience. Through Drama pupils become familiar with the culture and conventions of theatre and learn to exercise critical judgement when making, performing and responding to drama of all kinds. 

It is also important to recognise that Drama continues to play a role in the Key stage 3 English curriculum and progress in Drama supports progress in English. Effective Drama teaching improves pupils’ speaking and listening, reading and writing through developing thinking, communication skills and critical analysis.