Dance is embedded within the curriculum at KS3 and students experience dance and drama on a half-term rotation, ensuring that they gain learning opportunities that develop, extend and further their skills and knowledge. Dance is taught in mixed gender, mixed ability groups as this offers the best range of skills and experience from which to learn. As a physical activity, dance promotes a healthy lifestyle and sense of well-being which fits perfectly with the school's Healthy Schools status and Sports College title. Dance also supports learning across a range of subjects and cross-curricular topics with art, history, drama and music are common place. As performers, students develop confidence and self-esteem as well as sensitivity to others and team working skills.
Dance education focuses on three main areas of assessment – appreciation, performance and composition. Developing these skills at KS3 allows for progression to GCSE dance at KS4. For further information please refer the dance pages of Fronter.
Much of the success of dance at Castle is the commitment to offering ‘out of lesson’ opportunities which extend learning outside of the curriculum time. There are a range of dance clubs on offer at The Castle including year 7, 8 and 9 clubs after school which focus on building a repertoire of work to increase and develop dance knowledge outside the curriculum. Projects within these clubs are performed at our annual ‘Brewhouse Show’ in June. Other performance opportunities include ‘Youth Dance Platform’ at the Tacchi Morris Arts Centre. GCSE choreography practice allows students to extend their skills within a tutorial style environment. Our annual House Dance competition is hugely popular with both students and families.
Annual theatre trips to both local and national theatres provide students with knowledge of live and professional dance which will feed into their understanding of dance as whole.
The study of dance as an art form contributes to students’ aesthetic and social development and plays an important role within students’ education at The Castle School.
- Michelle Prowle, Head of Dance