I came across a programme called ‘Glee’ by a conversation I had with a friend back in September of last year who said ‘It’s about these group of misfits who sing and dance in this club and it’s set in a school’ From that moment one I made it my goal to find out what the hell he was talking about and watch it!

I found it and was hooked to the smash hit Fox programme GLEE.

Set in a High School in America it looks at a group of teenagers in a show choir, they all fit into a stereotype. I bought thebox set when I was in New York and have paved the way at Knox for them to become ‘Gleeks’ (fans of Glee)

At Knox we have such a strong musical tradition but lacked performance groups and therefore I set up a ‘Glee’ club, we were actually in talks about setting up a performance group back in August.

BBC 5 Live and BBC Scotland recorded us LIVE from Knox Academy and we were so excited, we have only been rehearsing since Janurary but they are fantastic.

Clearly the ”Glee affect’ is taking hold, with songs from the programme storming the charts and The Knox Academy Glee Club performing Live on the BBC.

You can listen to us here

drama-glee5live

I was saddened to hear at the end of last week that after the retirement of a Drama Teacher at the end of this session the Head Teacher has decided not to replace him (to save money) and therefore axe the Drama Department from the school and the curriculum.

If you have read my previous post on how Drama is a Curricular for Excellence then you know how Drama is a key subject in delivering the new curriculum, not only as a subject but also a tool to enhance the work of other subjects, so why has this Head decided to axe it?

Who do we blame for removing Drama from the curriculum? The Government? The previous Administration? The Council? If you read the papers you will be filly aware of the state of Education in Edinburgh, even my sisters school which is a specialist school for special needs is under threat from staffing cuts. This is trully disgusting.

More and more NQT’s are being placed in schools across the country to set up Drama Departments, I was one of them, some are lucky are can find a job, like me, others are then replaced by another NQT, and then another - what impact is this having on our pupils education? On your child’s education? There is no progression if the subject is there one moment and cut the next. Pupils keep getting new teachers year in and year out - each new teacher with a new way of working, a new specialist area, a new vision (although this is excellent - is it good for a single person department which most Drama Departments are?)

I am so lucky to have a Head Teacher and a School who are supportive of Drama.

DRAMA IS A CURRICULAR FOR EXCELLENCE! Don’t axe our departments, keep them open! Let’s use the skills of Drama Teachers to meet the needs of the new curriculum, to help other subjects create a creative and fun learning environment! Is this 1960 when drama began being introduced into schools? No it’s 2010… have we moved on? I had hoped!

I have had the privilege of working with a variety of Secondary and Primary Schools across East Lothian Council in the past 6 months on the first ever East Lothian Council Holocaust Memorial Day Event.

After coming back from Amsterdam (see earlier post) I really felt that we needed to show everyone what amazing work we do here in East Lothian Council on Holocaust Education.  After being supported by my Head Teacher I approached the Head of Education to run the event, a few discussions later we had secured help from Lesley Smith at the Brunton Theatre and Rebecca Spillane’s help at the East Lothian Diversity Network, had I bitten off more than I could chew?

Approaching the schools was easy and I was amazed at how many schools wanted to be involved, this was a Curriculum for Excellence and I very much wanted it to be about the pupils of the region leaving a Legacy of Hope.

The HMD 2010 event took place on the 27^th Jan and was an amazing evening of testimony, media, dance, drama, reflection, poetry and hope.

We were lucky to have the Minister for Skills and Lifelong Learning open the event with a speech about Scotland and the Holocaust and we were truly honoured to have Rwandan Survivor Jean-Pierre Mugenga speak about his story and his legacy of hope. I have to admit it was Jean-Pierre’s story that made me ask.. have we actually achieved anything if the world can sit back and watch as Genocide happens across the world? He closed his speech by saying ‘We said never again and it happened, maybe now with these students so engaged in what they are doing, they can be our legacy of hope so it doesn’t happen again’

The event was a testimony to the hard work by our staff and pupil of East Lothian Council in Holocaust Education – to show to the world that we can make a difference. The pupils on stage that evening were incredible and I would like to take this time to thank everyone who came but also to the staff and pupils of

Law Primary School

St Mary’s Primary School

Prestonpans Infant School

King’s Meadow Primary School

Musselburgh Grammar School

Ross High School

Knox Academy

Dunbar Grammar

And the Arts Service at The Brunton Theatre.

It has been wonderful to work with you.

I have been at Knox Academy now for two years and I have to say, i’m loving every minute of it. In the past two years I have been encouraged to experience new things and given space, by my line Manager Lynn Black and Head Teacher Janis Craig, to build and develop the department.

In my first year I was given time to create courses, develop resources and build up the department. I taught S1, S2 and Core S6.

This Year I continued to teach S1, S2 but welcomed two S3 Standard Grade classes into the department, as well as 22 pupils sitting crash Higher Drama. I was delighted when E Garwood said she’d help in the department by taking some Junior classes and we also had our first teaching student in the department.

We are now moving to the new timetable and our numbers are up again; as well as seeing my two great S3 SG classes moving into S4, we will welcome 3 new S3 SG classes (which is brilliant), 22 pupils taking crash Higher Drama and now we see the challange of offering two new courses at Knox; Intermediate Two Drama and Advanced Higher Drama. I amalso extremely excited to be told we are getting an NQT in the department for next session.

I am so happy the pupils at Knox are enjoying being in the Drama department and enjoy are courses, it means a lot to see the work I enjoy being rewarded in new courses being offered, more pupils opting in and the school allowing the dept to grow.

I couldn’t have done this without saying thank you to Ellie Garwood this year, who’s been an amazing support in the department by teaching S1 and S2. Also to my line Manager Lynn Black who supports our work within the school and also to Janis Craig, our Head Teacher, who alwyas encourages our work. Thank you.

Well my pupils have sat their Higher Drama Exam and I would have to say I thought the paper was quite fair. Section A questions seem to the usual variety of asking pupils to think of themselves as either an actor or director and some good questions in relation to key scenes or characters. Section B slightly surprised me by using a random episode right at the end of the play and Section C (Scottish) had a good variety of questions in Gender and Politics, if I were them I would have chosen to write the essay discussing the relationship between women in Scottish Theatre.

Although I didn’t have pupils sitting the SG exam this year I have heard that a lot of teachers weren’t happy with the paper so will be interesting to see what they are talking about when the paper comes out.

So we’ll have to wait and see till August how well the pupils have done…. but i’m sure they’ve ‘done me proud so they have’.

Well this week I had the pleasure of presenting 18 pupils to the SQA for their Higher Drama Acting Exam. This is an external exam which is now worth 50% of their overall grade.

We have had a tough time at Knox as all the pupils sitting the Higher are doing what we call a ‘crash higher’ in the subject; which means they are sitting the subject with no previous school experience, that is not to say that they have not risen to the challenge.

The year has been building up to this moment where all 18 pupils got the chance to showcase their talent in front of an audience of keen Standard Graders and the SQA marker. (I don’t know who was more nervous, me or them?!) We had performed to parents on the Monday Evening as an Open Dress rehearsal and I think they were surprised at just how professional these young people actually were!

The Exam asks the pupils to perform two roles; one from a Classic Text and a contrasting role from a Scottish Contemporary Theatre text. Our pupils performed Classic scenes from

• Antigone
• The Importance of Being Ernest
• Lovers
• A Taste of Honey
• The Crucible
• The House of Bernarda Alba

Although our set text is Antigone I wanted the examier to see a variety of scenes but also I didn’t want pupils to feel they were beking compared if they repeated scenes from the same play.

The second roles were from the following Scottish Texts

• Men Should Weep
• The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
• The Architect
• Sleeping Around
• Borders of Paradise
• Perfect Days

It was a long day, both mentally and physically exhausting however I am so proud of all of them, they really shone and hopefully will do well oncethe results come out in August.

The Higher Drama is a hard course, I bet we all say that, but honestly the course asks pupils to be Writers, Directors, Actors, Dramaturgs, Researchers and Academics. I suppose the SQA did not want to see the course being seen as some see it as a ‘Mickey Mouse’ subject, I for one know that we are not and indeed, having just studied the play, i’m sure Miss Brodie would have had a word or two to say about it!

Well we are now only one week away from taking over 40 senior pupils to the Big Apple for a Drama Week! We are ssssoooo excited! (i’m talking about the staff not the pupils)

The Trip has been organised by EF Tours and the Drama Department here at Knox. Pupils will be involved in a variety of events including a visit to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, a visit to Camp Broadway, seeing Two Broadway shows and doing all your usual tourist stuff!

I am sure this will be a great trip for all involved an dmore info when we get back!

I was lucky to be chosen (through application) to join other teachers across Scotland in visiting Amsterdam with Learning Teaching Scotland. This visit is focusing on Holocaust Education and working with the Anne Frank foundation.

The visit will take place over four days and will include a visit to the Anne Frank house, The Jewish historical museum and Westerbork Camp. This trip will really enable not only myself but also Knox Academy, as a school, move forward with our Holocaust Education peadogy.

This visit means a lot to me, not only as an academic but also as a person. You are probably aware if you read my blog but i am passionate about the education of the Holocaust and the lessons we need to learn from it. I want to thank Janis, Martin and Stewart for their support in my application and I look forward in representing East Lothian Council on this LTS visit.

I will post further details once I have been.

I would like to welcome a new Drama Teacher to the region, Helen-Marie started at Ross High this week and it’s great to see East Lothian Council upping it’s staffing in Drama across the region. We now have Drama Departments in 4 of the 6 Secondary Schools in the region, which is brilliant.

Helen-Marie was actually in my graduation class at Moray House so it’s great to be in the same council with her and hopefully working alongside her on some exciting projects.

Welcome Helen-Marie, hope you have a fantastic time in the council! JAZZ HANDS!