Improving pupils' writing through drama

What were the outcomes?

As a result of focusing on drama, children's confidence and self-esteem grew. They felt greater ownership of their learning and became happier to take risks.

The project seemed to have most benefit for lower ability children, who developed new confidence in writing independently. Higher ability children achieved a better understanding of story structure and narrative. All developed a more positive attitude to writing and more empathy with characters.

The children in year 2:

• showed greater use of imagination;
• used more expressive language;
• developed greater self-esteem;
• were more confident when performing;
• learned how to give positive feedback to their peers.

The children involved in the project started to use more describing and connecting words in their writing than other year 2 classes and their stories began to have structure. Learning support assistants commented that the children's imaginations became more vivid and that they were able to think of more challenging, interesting words. The children were a lot more confident and expressive when questioning, especially with the support of a partner.

One unexpected outcome was a significant improvement in the behaviour of a group of more challenging children.

As a result of watching the year 2 drama sessions, fellow staff members took ideas back to their own classes to share throughout the school.

The children in year 1 showed marked improvement in their drama skills. They took ownership of the sessions, organising each other in groups and evaluating characters and motivation together. In particular, children with English as an additional language became more confident in taking risks, which they had found difficult in the past.

All of the children's writing skills improved. One child from a low ability group showed dramatic improvement in her confidence and ability -- this exceptional result was very unexpected. Among higher ability children, the impact of drama on writing was evident in the creative use of language and structure, and the development of a wide vocabulary. Children also became more co-operative and their concentration improved.

The reception children showed a marked improvement in their ability to work more independently. At the start of the project, they relied on their teacher for direction: by the end, they were instigating and producing their own plays. Through drama, the class learned about a sense of audience, the need to try out different ideas and take risks, and how taking risks can lead to greater success.

However, some reception children seemed to shine in the drama session but lost interest when a connection was made to writing. As a result, these children began to shy away from the drama experience and their progression in drama was hindered by its link to writing. These children -- who were previously flourishing in drama -- actually lost their love of the subject.

What people said

• 'I have enjoyed doing this project but wished I had more preparation time to extend my own knowledge. It has been a great learning experience.' (year 2 teacher)
• 'Their imagination is much more vivid now.' (year 2 learning support assistant)
• 'They have really got better.' (learning support assistant on year 1 lower ability children)
• 'I am so glad my son had this chance to do drama, because he really likes stories but doesn't like writing much. And it has helped his confidence.' (parent of a year 1 child)