The Dance department are specialists in their area with experience in various dance styles and teaching from Key Stage 3 to Key Stage 5. The department strives to stretch and challenge the creativity of all of the students at UCC, and thus allow them the opportunity to improve upon a wide range of transferable skills.
Dance is a fantastic subject that helps build confidence, enabling students to express themselves. UCC also has its own purpose built dance studio.
Key Stage 3
Throughout KS3, students study a broad spectrum of dance styles ranging from Contemporary to Capoeira to Charleston. Students learn teacher taught phrases linking to a variety of themes, and then have the opportunity to use their own creative flair to develop their own choreography, both individually and as part of a group.
Key Stage 4
In Key Stage 4, students study the AQA GCSE specification, which comprises of both practical and theoretical elements. Students are assessed on performance, both as a soloist and as a trio or duet, with performance, expressive and technical skills being the focus of the assessment. Choreography makes up 30% of the practical grade, with students having to create a choreographed group piece based around 1 out of 5 questions presented by the exam board.
Key Stage 5
The department runs the BTEC Level 3 National Extended Certificate in Dance. This comprises of four units taught across two years, incorporating workshop based activities, research, investigations and performances. The course aims to prepare students for the world of work and the opportunity to develop a number of qualities, which are sought after by employers.
Staff
- Mrs A Key (Head of Department)
- Miss E Slattery
Intent & implementation
The aim of the Department is to provide an array of activities delivered through successful teaching and learning methods through which every student within the classroom has an opportunity to progress and thrive, with each child being equally stretched and challenged.
Students will gain an understanding of the key skills within dance and how these can impact upon improvements of confidence, creativity, teamwork, resilience, leadership, communication and discipline. They will have the opportunities to partake in various extracurricular activities with a vast array of performance opportunities for our students.
Our curriculum promotes the acceptance of creativity and how this can be maximised within a performance setting. Creativity and self-expression are key components of the dance curriculum allowing students to thrive in areas, which they may not be able to access in other subjects.
The delivery of dance is done so by allowing students to use their own creative ideas and interpretations. An emphasis on building confidence is key throughout the teaching of the subject thus allowing students to understand the importance it has within the curriculum. Students are encouraged to actively participate in physical activity and thus promote a healthy lifestyle.
Throughout key stage 3, the students experience an array of dance styles, allowing students to learn a variety of skills, whilst maintaining their love of learning. The curriculum is structured to promote both individual and group work, thus broadening their independence, communication, leadership and teamwork skills. This, in turn, will encourage students to participate in performing arts extracurricular clubs, performances, musicals and shows.
Curriculum Maps
To find out what we are learning about and why, please see the appropriate curriculum map:
Year 7Year 8Year 9Year 10Year 11Year 12 BTEC Dance & DramaYear 13 BTEC Dance & Drama
Developing Cultural Capital
Within the dance department cultural capital is embedded throughout the curriculum. Dance themes are based around a variety of subject matters which allow students to explore their own opinions, thoughts and beliefs and develop their own ideas based around these subject matters. The curriculum has been structured to allow students throughout all key stages to explore a variety of moral and ethical issues. Students are regularly given opportunities to develop both their leadership and team work skills, alongside being able to recognise both successes and failures and how to deal with these.
Extracurricular opportunities
The Dance Department runs a variety of clubs and trips throughout the year, for all year groups, alongside a number of performance opportunities.
