To launch our ‘Arts Award in schools’ theme on the blog throughout September, Liberty Griffin, Head of Drama at Prestfelde School in Shrewsbury shares how she has integrated Bronze Arts Award into the Drama curriculum for Year 7 pupils as part of their annual school production, and explains how it inspires and excites the Year 6 pupils to do Arts Award.
I have been passionate about Bronze Arts Award since achieving the Award myself when I was 15 years old. It introduced me to my first experience of live theatre (‘Grease the Musical’ at Birmingham Hippodrome) and ignited an interest in teaching others, which has spanned nearly 20 years. It was after completing Bronze Arts Award in Year 10 that I started my first ‘teaching’ role: a lunchtime Dance club for Year 8.
My relationship with Arts Award spans years: I’ve delivered Bronze Arts Award in nearly every school I’ve taught at since qualifying as a teacher almost 10 years ago. In fact, I attended the adviser training course whilst doing my PGCE (Post Graduate Certificate in Education), so I could start delivering the course straight away. As a teacher, I’ve found that Arts Award is a great stepping stone into the world of GCSEs and provides a structure for subjects that have the freedom – and often the perils – of being able to shape their own curriculum (drama and dance for example).
Whole year group delivery
In our setting Bronze Arts Award is delivered to the whole of Year 7 as part of the drama curriculum. All pupils do the work and essentially complete the course. Pupils are given the option to be entered for the Award (usually 90% of our Year 7 cohort each year). This flexibility allows pupils to take ownership of their work; they know that if they are entered for the Award, the presentation of their work must be to a high standard. It also gives families the flexibility to ‘opt out’, as there is a small cost attached to entering the full Award.
Another special element to our delivery of Arts Award is how it is integrated into the rehearsals for our spring musical. All pupils take on the role of ‘performer’ and rehearse a key section of the musical. Most recently, we staged ‘Matilda the Musical’, and my Year 7 Arts Award pupils learnt and rehearsed the scene leading up to and including ‘Revolting Children’. Cleverly, I had cast mostly Year 7 pupils in the lead roles: this allowed me to rehearse this number in curriculum time, with my lead actors. This allows me to deliver the Award, whilst rehearsing and refining material for our annual production. Talk about killing two birds with one stone! By keeping Arts Award open only to our Year 7 pupils, it also ensures that I am not accidentally teaching repeated material, and it minimises planning.
Arts Award hasn’t always been delivered in this way: initially it was delivered as a stand-alone project as part of our extra-curricular offer. This worked well but meant that access was limited to those pupils who were able to attend sessions outside of the school day. I wanted more pupils to have access to this learning, which led to the idea of integrating Arts Award into one scheme of work and linking it with our annual school production. The epitome of work smarter, not harder!
Live theatre review
I tend to start the Arts Award process with Part B (Explore the arts as an audience member). For me, it allows pupils to sit and watch excerpts of the musical they are about to start developing, without having to sit and read the script cover to cover. Naturally, this is a great support for our SEND pupils who may otherwise struggle with word-intensive work.
To structure this work, I split pupils into groups of three. They are encouraged to write notes on the performance as we are watching. As we study Musical Theatre, I suggest the following categories for notetaking:
Afterwards, each group focusses on a particular scene or section that caught their eye. I like this approach, as it very much mimics what older GCSE pupils are asked to do for their Live Theatre Reviews, and it adds an academic rigour to the process. Pupils then use my Live Theatre Review Guide to turn their notes into a real review. We end the process with pupils reading their review to a peer.
More inclusive
With our most recent cohort, we used the song ‘Revolting Children’ from Matilda the Musical in preparation for our upcoming show. Pupils took part in Musical Theatre workshops led by me, during their timetabled lessons. We focussed on refining their performance skills and learning the material. What worked well for this is that it not only fulfilled the requirements for Bronze Part A (Explore the arts a participant), but it also increased participation and engagement with our musical; allowing pupils who normally couldn’t attend after school rehearsals to be a part of the show.
To evidence this component, I created a portfolio booklet with diary entries and prompts for reflection. This was structured within the scheme of work at the end of every 2-3 lessons. I also took regular photos of rehearsals, which pupils annotated towards the end of the process.
Who inspires you?
90% of the Arts Award preparation happens in curriculum time, apart from Part C (Arts inspiration). This is the only piece of work that is set as homework, over February half term. There is method to this: I want pupils to be as creative as possible, and that is just not possible in a Drama Studio. I ‘vet’ pupils’ choices before half term to ensure we are getting presentations on serious members of the arts community. It is a personal choice that I do not allow pupils to research influencers or YouTubers: it must be someone who has had longevity and training in their career. My most memorable pieces of research have been presented with such creativity that it would be hard to achieve within a lesson. I have had a pupil who filmed themselves ‘interviewing’ Daniel Radcliffe as they play both Daniel and the interviewer. Other pupils have created huge A3 posters with glitter, sequins, and calligraphy. Some pupils opt for a Viva Voce-style presentation. There are no constraints on their work except that it must be presented on a certain date. Since delivering Part C in this way, I have found that it is integral in developing pupils’ understanding of performing arts careers, which also ticks a PSHE ‘box’ at the same time.
Role swap
For Bronze Part D (Arts skills share), pupils were required to be ‘me’ for the lesson. They were each allocated a Musical Theatre skill that needed developing within our piece ‘Revolting Children’. For example, facial expressions or volume. They had one week to research and plan a small workshop with the aim of passing on the skill to their peers. The workshop involved a task or drama game focusing on their skill, which they were required to teach to their peers. They were also expected to prepare answers to questions their peers may ask, such as ‘what is volume?’ or ‘how do we use volume?’. This was one of the most successful elements of the process, as it allowed pupils to become experts in their given skill. I also saw increased progress in our performance after these workshops.
To evidence this component, I included a planning sheet and peer assessment sheet for pupils within their Portfolio booklet. The peer feedback was particularly successful, as it required pupils to think analytically about their peers’ workshop and give feedback appropriately. I also took photos ready for annotation later on.
Legendary
Arts Award is one of my favourite things to teach, and when combined with preparation for our spring musical, it becomes such an exciting project. It’s become legendary in our school; with the upcoming Year 6’s asking when they get to become Mrs Griffin for the day, or when they get to work as a live theatre reviewer. An unexpected result is that my pupils arrive in Year 8 more confident, capable and critical than previous years have been, so I have had to make the Year 8 curriculum more challenging as a result. They are confident, capable performers who relish a challenge, and their learning had to change to reflect that.
With almost 10 years’ experience delivering Arts Award I am the lead Arts Award adviser at Prestfelde School and have supported the delivery of Arts Award in other schools. We have supported schools in North Wales, Cheshire, and even a prestigious Performing Arts School near London! If you are on the fence about integrating Bronze Arts Award into your curriculum, just do it!
You can read more about the creative and performing arts offer at Prestfelde on our website.
Header image by Prestfelde School