Don Valley Academy

Tickets for our production of Peter Pan are now on sale – available from Student Reception.

Tuesday 28th & Wednesday 29th February 2012. 

7:00pm in Lower School Hall.

Adults – £3.50      Concessions - £2.00    Family Ticket - £9.00 (2 Adults & 2 Concessions)

Part of the work of the specialism is to collaborate with other departments. A recent collaboration between the Drama, Hospitality and Catering department is the Murder Mystery Party held on 19^th October.  School staff and visitors from the community attended the sold out event!

Year 12 & 13 Drama and Theatre studies students prepared a mysterious performance based on a true story, whilst Year 11 Hospitality & Catering students prepared a delicious buffet which was served as small performances took place amongst the guests.

Later, it was revealed that a murderer was among us! The guests were asked to give evidence as to whom they thought may be responsible.

‘I was so impressed how the students stayed in character for so long, working without a script, I really enjoyed it.’  Murder Mystery Party guest.

It was so wonderful to see Don Valley students working in such a professional and committed way, a unique experience that was one of the most challenging events they have ever taken part in.

Mrs Gregory, Head of Food Technology said ” The Hospitality and Catering students enjoy the events very much. They like the ‘working environment’ of a realistic setting and enjoy showing their skills off to different audiences. A great cross-curricular event between Drama and Food, both departments compliment each other well. This was a fund raising event for the British Heart Foundation and a total of £70 was raised. A very enjoyable and well attended event.”

Miss Cattaneo
Cross Curricular Learning Co-ordinator

Auditions for the Don Valley Academy School Production will be taking place on:

Wednesday 9th November – 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm

All welcome!

Please see Miss Sheldon for more details

Congratulations to Don Valley Academy Drama and Music students who have achieved their Bronze, Silver and Gold Arts Award.

Year 9 students worked towards the Bronze qualification during their Drama lessons taking part in Drama workshops, performing during an ‘Arts Day’, researching their Arts Hero and attending various theatre trips including Blood Brothers, Romeo and Juliet and A Christmas Carol.

Sixth Form students achieved a Silver Arts Award qualification through an enrichment project, setting challenges in various Music and Drama activities including song writing, directing, script writing, composing and performing. The year 12 students also took part in a celebration event in which they shared their work with parents, friends and family.

As well as the fantastic amount of Bronze and Silver awards achieved, a year 13 student made it a first for Don Valley Academy achieving her Gold Award in Music. She not only challenged herself to compose and perform a piece on Drums and Clarinet but also run a Music Club with Primary School students teaching and sharing her skills and love for Music.

Well done to all students involved!

Miss Sheldon
Head of Drama.

Performed at Sheffield’s Lyceum Theatre on Tuesday 4th October 2011.

Friends, Romans, countrymen lend me your ears. I’ve been lucky enough to perform as part of the Shakespeare Schools Festival for the last two years. The first year was A Midsummer Nights Dream and this year was Macbeth, thankfully the curse of ‘the Scottish Play’ did not show itself, as the applause and cheering showed at the end of our performance.

Taking part in such an amazing event gives you many life skills, such as confidence, voice projection and diction, communication skills and a great sense of team work and leadership. The workshops give you a chance to meet others, get advice, not only from teachers, but also the directors from Shakespeare Schools Festival and the National Youth Theatre. It also gives you a chance to see how others interpret Shakespeare from what they are performing.

I would urge others to consider joining in when the time comes for auditioning for our future productions, if only for the friends you make in the cast and all the fun you have along the way. There is a great friendship amongst all who are involved, from the cast members to the teachers. it gives you a chance to not only know your peers, younger and older, but also to belong to a great group of people and to be part of a wonderful creative family.

Yr10 Student

I have recently seen Othello at the Sheffield Crucible with the year 13 drama students, Miss Cattaneo and Miss Sheldon. The Shakespearean play was great to watch and the actors worked well to bring out the piece of theatre. The best part for me was the on stage fighting, they were choreographed well to create the naturalistic style of the time.

My favourite character was Iago, played by Dominic West. His Yorkshire accent worked perfectly well for this devious villain, adding a little comedy to his malice. I have to say, due to the length of the part and the amount of monologues this would be an extremely difficult part to perform, but Dominic West was faultless.

The play’s themes include racism, jealousy and revenge, and these subjects are clearly seen throughout the play and shown well by the cast. Overall, I had a brilliant time and enjoyed the production a great deal, the actors should be proud of the play they performed.

I give this production 4 stars.

Yr13 Student.

I have recently been given an award for my achievements with extra curricular activities in the Performing Arts, helping 3-4 year olds with drama as an assistant on Saturday mornings with Don Valley Dinkies and for inspiring others.

I was given the chance to go to the Mansion House on the 16th September and was awarded, along with students from other schools around Doncaster, my certificate. We were all congratulated on our achievements and it was a honour to be part of such a special day.

We then had photos with the press followed by a small tour of the Mansion House. During lunch I was given the opportunity to socialise with the other students, teachers and members of the Doncaster Freeman. We were all very proud of each other and it was a honour to represent Doncaster’s young people.

Yr12 Student.

I woke up in the early hours of Saturday morning to get the 7am train with Mrs. Atkins. We were all very excited about the day ahead as we headed off to London. We had quite a new experience going on all the tubes and seeing masses of people, it was quite nerve racking as I wasn’t used to anything like that.

We got outside the theatre where we met the other teachers and students who were also participating in Richard’s Rampage. After everyone arrived we were taken down to a studio where we watched a 30 minute performance of Richard III that was performed by 2 people who also ran the workshop. They covered the main themes of the story and it was very captivating to watch.

The teachers were then taken on a tour of the Old Vic theatre  while the students stayed and worked on team building skills and trying to feel an emotion and then to portray it. We developed techniques on how to create different body language to represent a character.

After a long morning we had lunch, during which it was announced that someone special had come to see us. We excitedly moved to the other room, where Kevin Spacey was sat waiting. I sat near him, speechless from the presence of the Hollywood actor, we sat quiet, taking in the moment.

Later in the afternoon we got the chance to watch Kevin Spacey play Richard III in the theatre. It was a three and a half hour performance, but the time flew by. It was a truely memorable production and an amazing day that I will never forget.

Yr12 Student.

On Saturday 3rd September two students from Don Valley Academy journeyed to London to take part in an amazing experience offered by the Kevin Spacey Foundation. The candidates were chosen out of hundreds of applicants nationwide. As part of the audition process, our students had to film a two minute monologue and write a one thousand word essay each.

We were up early to catch the 7:30am train and travelled to London’s  West End and the Old Vic Theatre, which Kevin Spacey is the Artistic Director.

The students participated in a group workshop privided by the ‘Richards’s Rampage’ company and I was given a tour of the Old Vic Theatre. When I rejoined the students, they had taken part in the making of a short film for the company’s website. They produced some stunning work, alongside very talented students from other schools across the country.

After the workshop we settled down for lunch, which was soon interrupted by the workshop leader announcing, “ladies and gentlemen, if you would like to put down your sandwiches, we have a special guest who would like to meet you all”. Full of excitement and anticipation, we made our way into the studio to be greeted by Oscar winning actor Kevin Spacey, dressed very casual in shorts and baseball cap having just finished a game of tennis. Our students sat to the front of the other students and listened to Kevin talk about the play Richard III and answer questions from the students. I think our girls were a little starstruck at meeting the Hollywood actor as they were very quiet.

This really set us up nicely for the afternoon by building up our excitement even more at the prospect of seeing Kevin on stage, we were not disappointed! The play was fantastic, a real special performance from Mr. Spacey who delivered a unforgettable Richard, with exceptional direction from Sam Mendes. The play was three and a half hours long, but it really didn’t feel like it, the time flew by! We gave the cast a standing ovation, and it was truly deserved.

Overall, a very special and exciting day, something I, along with two very talented and deserving students, will never forget.

Mrs. Atkins

The Drama Department has a firm philosophy founded on preparing the minds of young people to cope with the outside world as well as educating students about theatre and its history.

The Department holds firm the following three principles throughout all lessons:

1) Respect

2) Listen

3) Focus

Students use the above principles to explore given cultural and social issues in Drama.

They also learn about theatre with schemes based around plays, playwrights, directors and theatrical techniques. The department believes strongly that the vast amount of theatrical literature to be found in the world should not be ignored.

In Year Seven, students are taught in their form groups where they learn to express themselves in a safe environment. The main focus of teaching and learning is to encourage the free use of creativity and imagination, through exploration of story and character.

During Year Eight and Nine students will continue to work on issue, texts and skills, developing and refining their experience. They will be introduced to historical, social and cultural aspects of theatre. Year Nine are given the opportunity to gain their Bronze Arts Award by taking part in Drama workshops, performing onstage in front of their peers, attending a theatre visit and writing about their Arts Hero.

The Edexcel GCSE Drama syllabus is explored at Y10 and 11. This was chosen because of its close relation to the aims of the Department. Students continue to explore text, issues and skills. Each half term has a particular theme that the class can relate to and explore. Students are assessed on the ideas that they contribute to discussion and the process of creating drama. They also have to produce written coursework and are assessed by a visiting examiner in a Performance Exam at the end of the course.

Year Twelve and Thirteen progress to Edexcel A Level Drama and Theatre Studies. The students are asked to explore a variety of texts that will challenge their understanding of life in the outside world. Students are expected to approach the course with a high level of maturity and are encouraged to embrace the holistic study of the theatre. Students are assessed on the ideas that they contribute to discussion and the process of creating drama. They also have to produce written coursework and are assessed by a visiting examiner in a Performance Exam in Unit 2. In Y13, students are asked to create a devised performance and sit a written exam. A Level students are expected to attend Live Theatre and are given many an opportunity to do so through subsidised theatre trips.