Hillsborough

These activities, using the Hillsborough tragedy as stimuli, can form two or three lessons. It can work for Year 9, but the subject matter is perhaps more suited to GCSE groups. At KS3 or KS4, use of this scheme will develop both students’ Drama skills and their wider social skills, while extending their understanding of a socially and historically important event.

The tragedy is of continued relevance and is highly sensitive, therefore anyone leading these activities should ensure they know their group and establish clear boundaries for the sharing of ideas and practical work. The final activity offers a challenging and exciting opportunity to produce a performance response featuring everyone in the class at the same time. The activities afford both practical and discussion opportunities for the students and can work effectively for mixed or setted ability teaching.

Learning objectives

By the end of this scheme all students will:

• Have developed their social skills including group work
• Have developed their speaking and listening skills
• Have reflected on the Hillsborough tragedy, considering the emotions felt and why they are still so strong
• Have used the historical event as a stimulus for practical work to understand the emotions and events more thoroughly.

By the end of this scheme some students will:

• Have developed their characterisation in performance skills
• Have developed their ability to work using physical theatre and non-naturalistic drama techniques.

Number of lessons: 2