Foundation Stage:

Play is the essence of drama and when children play, drama happens. Children learn naturally by acting out roles as parents and as other people from their community. They come to school having explored a range of role-play situations and these experiences need to be extended during dramatic play to allow them to express their own thoughts, ideas, feelings and concerns. The situations can be enhanced and stimulated by providing children with clothes and props such as hats, cloaks, glasses, a walking stick or a telephone. Puppets can also help children to act out scenarios and stories.

As pupils progress through the Foundation Stage they should be enabled to:

• co-operate during role-play, negotiate roles, agree rules and act out scenarios;
• express thoughts, ideas, feelings and imagination with confidence in a range of dramatic contexts using verbal and non-verbal language;
• adopt and sustain a role.

Drama in Foundation Stage will involve:

• Role play in the home corner / the vets / the dentist etc;
• Puppet play;
• Retelling / acting out a familiar story and changing tone for voice for each character e.g. Little Red Riding Hood;
• Entering into an imaginary world for example, travelling in a spaceship, visiting a beach in winter, going through an imaginary door into the Queen of Hearts garden, playing in the Selfish Giant’s garden, going on a bear hunt;
• Enjoying and co-operating in games, for example, ‘Who am I ?’, mirror images, charades, grandmother’s footsteps, musical statues, fruit salad bowl, number shapes, group alphabet, sculptor and the sculpture;
• developing facial expressions through feelings cards 

Links to support the teaching of Drama in Foundation Stage:

• N.Ireland Curriculum ~ Drama in Foundation Stage
• Early Learning HQ - EYFS & KS 1
• Teaching Drama - Drama Resource
• Drama Games for 5 year Olds

Key Stage 1:

During Key Stages 1 and 2, children will begin to refine their skills of understanding and analyse, compare and discuss their feelings with others. Their observation skills will become more structured in script work and polished improvisation. Vocal and movement skills will become more sophisticated in terms of audience and evaluation skills will become more focussed on negotiation, co-operation and sharing.

As pupils progress through the KS1 they should be enabled to:

• Develop their understanding of the world by engaging in a range of creative and imaginative role-play situations on their own and with others, and responding in role to the dramatic play of others and to teachers in role;
• Develop a range of drama strategies including freeze frame, tableau and hot seating;
• Develop dramatic skills appropriate to audience, context, purpose and task by using simple props to suggest character, and by using symbols and images to develop action and make meaning.

Drama in KS1 will involve:

• Creating situations in an imaginative way on their own and with others, e.g. building snowmen at the North Pole or looking for butterflies in a secret garden
• Responding in role to the dramatic play of others and to the teacher in role e.g. pupil in role as car driver who has had an accident responds politely to the questions of the teacher as a policeman 
• Using a simple prop to suggest character or action, for example, using a crown to suggest a king and a chair to suggest a throne or a pencil to suggest a flute and a ruler to suggest a baton to conduct music
• Participating in dramatic activity and sharing ideas with others, for example, taking part in a group activity where someone has lost their purse or wallet and needs help to find it
• Taking on a role and working with others in an imaginary context e.g. taking on the role of space travellers encountering aliens
• Using symbols and images to make meaning, for example, using a fist to suggest anger, a torch to suggest it is dark

Links to support the teaching of Drama in Key Stage 1:

• N.Ireland Curriculum ~ The Arts » Key Stage 1 Drama
• Drama Resources for KS1
• Drama Games for Kids
• Drama - KS1 Speaking Primary Resources - Twinkl
• Drama Warms Ups & Circle Games
• Creative Drama Lessons (childdrama.com)
• Drama Toolkit~ A-Z Drama Games
• Arts on the Move ~ Drama in KS1

Key Stage 2:

During Key Stages 1 and 2, children will begin to refine their skills of understanding and analyse, compare and discuss their feelings with others. Their observation skills will become more structured in script work and polished improvisation. Vocal and movement skills will become more sophisticated in terms of audience and evaluation skills will become more focussed on negotiation, co-operation and sharing.

As pupils progress through the KS2 they should be enabled to:

• develop their understanding of the world by engaging in a range of creative and imaginative  role-play situations
• Begin to explore their own and others’ feelings about issues, and by negotiating situations both in and out of role
• Develop a range of drama strategies including freeze frame, tableau, hot seating, thought tracking and conscience
• Develop dramatic skills appropriate to audience, context, purpose and task by exploring voice, movement, gesture and facial expression through basic exploration of a specific role, and by structuring dramatic activity to make meaning clear for a chosen audience.

Drama in KS1 will involve:

• Exploring issues creatively through use of drama, for example, exploring the theme of family relationships using a story from a book or a cartoon
• Explore voice, movement, gesture and facial expression through basic exploration of a specific role e.g., taking on the role of Willie Wonka from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory;
• Structuring dramatic activity to make meaning clear to a chosen audience e.g. using a series of freeze frames to present a short chat show interview for the class;
• Using drama to begin to explore their own and others’ feeling about issues e.g. the bully in a bullying incident;
• Negotiating situations, in and out of role e.g. exploring the implications of debating the siting of a refuse disposal plant with children in role as lawyers, councillors, town planners and members of the public.

Links to support the teaching of Drama in Key Stage 2:

Warm ups:

• Use feeling cards —act out feelings and class guess
• Use prompt cards— characters / jobs / what am I doing etc - act out and class guess
• Charades
• In groups use bodies to create shapes ( timed activity)

• N.Ireland Curriculum~ The Arts - Drama in KS2
• Drama Games for Kids
• Playscripts
• KS2 Drama Lesson Ideas
• Drama Games for Kids
• Drama Toolkit KS2
• Arts on the move - Primary Drama Lessons
• The use of Drama in KS1& 2
• Drama Resource
• Kensuke's Kingdom Drama Activities Pack - KS2 Drama Resources