Improving pupils' writing through drama

What did the school want to achieve?

School improvement

The school was keen to improve children's attainment in writing. It had already tried setting up writing groups to improve standards, but these had not made a significant difference. As a result, it decided to see whether focusing on drama -- with its emphasis on play, rehearsal and higher-order creative thought -- could improve children's writing skills.

The school's key goals were to:

• increase children's motivation for writing and drama;
• make their writing livelier and more imaginative;
• encourage children to draw their writing from deeper understanding;
• increase their confidence to take risks with words;
• increase the amount of drama going on in school.

Through the work, it also hoped to create a better quality, more inclusive learning environment.

Pupils' arts education

By the end of the project, the school wanted children to have explored and developed a range of drama skills, in particular:

• improvisation, performance, play and rehearsal;
• interpretation of text and characterisation;
• communicating appropriately, showing an awareness of an audience;
• transferring expressive language into story-telling (oral and recorded);
• using traditional tales, well-known stories and fairytales.