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Curriculum
The Helen O’Grady Drama System consists of a 15-year cycle of lesson plans and drama curriculum to cover a child’s development between the ages of 3 and 18 years.
How it all began
Academy teachers are trained in the Helen O'Grady Drama System, ensuring that the contribution of each child is encourage and valued in a warm, positive learning environment. All our students, from the shy to the outgoing, can develop at their own pace, with plenty of positive reinforcement. In addition to this, many lasting friendships are built during the weekly sessions!
Throughout our programme, there is a strong emphasis on language development. From the very beginning, students are encouraged to express themselves in whole sentences. Multiple sentence flow is encouraged in all language activities! Every facet of our curriculum is designed to stimulate language development and verbal communication so that students become more confident in the use of expressive, spoken language.
The structure of our courses allows new students to join the programme at the start of any term. Our curriculum and teaching methods ensure that newer students are quickly integrated into the programme and that the more experienced students are challenged and extended. It would be possible for a student to attend the Helen O’Grady Drama Classes for 15 years, without ever repeating a lesson!
KINDY DRAMA
Preprimary: 3-5 year olds
Kindy Drama caters for children in preprimary school. The Kindy programme empowers young children by developing language, pronunciation, self-expression, gross motor coordination and other formative skills. Dramatic play, creative movement, props and puppets, books and stories, songs, music and poems make up the 30-40 minute lessons.
LOWER PRIMARY
5-9 year olds
Our developmental drama programme provides young children with unique opportunities to develop clear speech, fluent delivery and pleasing social skills. Teachers motivate and inspire the students in their care to become articulate communicators. This is done through enthusiastic participation in a wide range of creative activities including speech, mime to music, creative movement, improvisation, snippets and scene starters. Occasional dress up days, along with the use of props, add to the excitement of the lessons! At the end of each year, the children present a short, scripted production for parents and friends.
UPPER PRIMARY
9-13 year olds
This is a more advanced level than our Lower Primary classes. Students in this age group are given many opportunities to act out a great variety of situations. These include speech, creative movement, mime, spontaneous improvisation, structured improvisation, snippets, dialogue developments, mini scripts and production. At the end of each year, they all take part in a short, scripted production which is performed for parents and friends. However, the terms leading up to this special event are vital, as the main thrust of our programme is developmental drama.
YOUTH THEATRE
13-18 year olds
As with our classes for the younger children, the developmental side of the Youth Theatre programme is still important, empowering our students to become confident, articulate communicators. Having said that, Youth Theatre is more theatre-arts orientated than the primary classes. The theatre arts side of the programme covers spontaneous improvisation, voice production, small group improvisation with specific directives, mini-scripts, character analysis, open ended duologues, theatre games, radio plays, quick fire dialogues, monologues and structured scenes. In the final term of each year, our students begin work on a scripted production which is performed for a public audience. This is always a highlight of the year and reflects the talents and skills of our students and their teachers.
ADULT CLASSES
19+ Offered in select locations only
Adult classes focus on the three Ps: Presentation, Public Speaking and Performance. With a theatrical base to these classes, students will learn voice production, spontaneous thinking, improvisation, characterisation, presentation skills, and acting technique for film, radio and the theatre.
