Intent
The Dance department’s vision is ‘to inspire young people to be creative, expressive and confident through dance’. Students are encouraged to identify and demonstrate knowledge of how dance will develop aesthetic appreciation in addition to promoting a healthy lifestyle.
At Key Stage 3, students are taught and assessed in a range of technical skills and styles including Street, Lindy Hop, Bhangra and Disco. They also complete activities to develop the understanding of dance structure and choreographic skills:
At Key Stage 4, students study AQA GCSE Dance. This incorporates performance, choreography and dance appreciation. Each aspect is crucial as a medium for developing a rounded and broad scaffold for dance and will promote the importance of students being healthy and active. It is also a great medium for helping to relieve stress and develop a love of dance for life beyond school.
Objectives
Our curriculum is organised in such a way that provides our students with the opportunity to learn expected behaviours and be successful in their learning so that we can achieve our #LiveLoveLearn mission. Our strategic intent is therefore very simple:
We strive to create a curriculum which:
- Provides a diversity of powerful knowledge, which over time, cumulatively builds to provide the love of dance that enables students to continue appreciate and continue dance after school.
- Enables all students to enjoy learning and experience success.
- Takes into account individual needs.
- Creates a culture of high expectation and aspiration to raise standards of attainment and progress.
- Develops confident and responsible individuals who can make a positive contribution to society and live safely and independently.
Implementation: Design
Year 7 and 8 students will be taught a variety of different dance styles to develop some key ideas, skills and expression. Along with this, students will begin to gain an insight into some of the key dance terms. Year 9 will be a key year, with students completing a high percentage of the practical aspects of non-examined coursework. They will complete choreographies developed by teaching staff, covering styles demonstrated in the professional dance world. Years 10 and 11 will see the stimulus based choreography task completed, along with a focus on the theoretical aspect of the course.
Dance students must show initiative when creating their own dances; respect is also required throughout the course in the sense that this will contribute to a positive learning environment and therefore the students will be comfortable to join with group discussions, Q&A sessions along with following the correct procedures for completing fitness tests, practice exam papers and completing coursework.
Further Information
To find out more about the content of the curriculum for each year group, please see our five year Dance curriculum map.
If you require more detailed information, please email the Subject Leader. Miss Brunyee’s email address is fbrunyee@roydsschool.org.