**GCSE Drama – The Written/Reflective Phases (Complete 1–5) AQA • OCR • Edexcel Aligned**

AQA • OCR • Edexcel • Eduqas aligned | Component 3 (AO2 • AO3 • AO4)

Turn set-text knowledge into top-band writing. This complete system builds examiner-ready responses from first read to final timed essay. Students learn to think like theatre-makers and write with precision, integrating acting, directing and design across all question types.

Who it’s for

GCSE Drama (Years 9–11), whole-class teaching, intervention, cover, and independent study.

Works with any set text; text-agnostic workflows and models throughout.

What you get (Phases 1–5)

Phase 1 – Understanding the Set Text (Master Edition)
Beat mapping, throughline thesis, actor/director/designer lenses, quotebanks that convert into stageable choices, and examiner-friendly paragraph engines. Students finish with two scene dossiers ready for exam revision.

Phase 2 – Interpretation for Performance
Build a clear directorial vision and justify specific, stageable decisions across Actor / Director / Designer lenses. Practitioner plug-ins (Stan/Brecht/Artaud/Frantic) used with purpose, not name-drops.

Phase 3 – Analytical & Evaluative Writing
Teaches sentence architecture and frameworks (PETER+ / PETAL / DEED / SCALE) so every line shows Intention → Technique → Impact → Evaluation. Includes model paragraphs and timing drills.

Phase 4 – Evaluating Live Theatre
Field-note system, show dossier, and the DAER engine (Describe → Analyse → Evaluate → Refine) for high-band live-theatre responses, with vocabulary/judgement banks and an upper-band exemplar.

Phase 5 – Exam Practice & Reflective Mastery
Full exam-day blueprint: Exam Flow Grid, AO Weave (integrating AO2–AO4 in one paragraph), precision vocabulary upgrades, self-marking grids, and “Triple Sprint” simulations.

How to use

Teach as a sequence across a term (Phases 1→5), or drop-in to shore up weak AOs before mocks.
Pair Phase 4 with a live/streamed performance week; run Phase 5’s Triple Sprint drills twice weekly before exams.

Assessment objectives covered

AO2 – Application of acting/design/directing with stageable, precise technique.
AO3 – Knowledge/understanding of drama as live art (style, genre, context) embedded in choices.
AO4 – Analysis/evaluation with judgement language, counter-readings, and refinements.

Teacher benefits

Text-agnostic: reuse every year regardless of set text.
Plug-and-play: minimal prep; clear exemplars and sentence frames increase confidence fast.
Examiner-style marking: matrices + self-mark sheets speed feedback and make progress visible.