Hello, I’m Carol Harvey-Barnes and as Holly told you last month I will be covering Holly’s maternity leave. On that happy note Holly gave birth to a beautiful baby boy Madison on September 26^th, 2014. The proud parents and baby Madison are all doing well.

A little about me, I’ve been an examiner for Trinity College for over fourteen years and a teacher of Drama and Musical Theatre for even longer! Besides running a performing arts school in the Midlands, most recently I spent five years in a further education college originally as a teacher of A Level Drama and Theatre Studies and then BTEC Level 3 to 5 in Acting and Musical Theatre. I firmly believe that my knowledge and experience, professionally and personally, can support your delivery of Trinity College exams as I understand the challenges we all face in both formal and informal educational contexts. 

More Pupil Premium.....


Following on from Holly’s September blog, I attended the book launch of, 'A Practical Guide to the Pupil Premium' on Thursday 18 September at St Joseph's Primary School in Covent Garden. The morning launch was an informative, interesting presentation and an opportunity to hear other teachers’ experience of the Pupil Premium and the wider experience that the author Marc Rowland, Deputy Director of NET, had in order to research the book. Tim Coulson, Regional Schools Commissioner launched the book and gave his views on the Pupil Premium. We at Trinity are particularly interested in how the Pupil Premium could be used to support your delivery of Trinity examinations in the curriculum or as enrichment activities to support arts education for disadvantaged learners. As always email your thoughts to dramateachers@trinitycollege.com

 Changes to accreditation.......

Ofqual the exams regulator confirmed on its website on October 14^th that it is changing the way it regulates vocational qualifications. Chief Regulator, Glenys Stacey said that the accreditation requirement for most qualifications will be removed from 3^rd November. The announcement also clarified that awarding organisations will be audited and checked for the duration of a qualification in England and Northern Ireland. The aim of this is to ensure the quality of a qualification is ‘valid and reliable at the design, delivery and awarding stages’. GCSEs and A Levels will remain accredited as they are checked against detailed and specific criteria. Ofqual suggest that the changes will provide employers and students with more trust in vocational qualifications and their reliability. 

Whilst we are on the subject of Ofqual, a consultation document is in progress on the proposed changes to GCSE and AS/A Levels including Drama, in 2016. You can comment via the Ofqual website, the consultation closes on November 19^th. If you feel these changes might impact upon your teaching of the Drama curriculum or your delivery of Trinity examinations then this is an opportunity to share your knowledge and ensure that change works for all. If you have any thoughts you would like to share with us at Trinity then please get in touch.

To the Bard.......

The Shakespeare Schools Festival (SSF) is in  full swing…  with the  promise of  some great innovative performances and interpretations of the Bard’s work on offer and many schools are taking Trinity ‘In Production’ exams too. I will blog more about the festival in November so watch this space.....

So, I’m signing off for now as I get ready to see lots of exciting performances….have a good month.

Best wishes,

So what's coming up in September...

Well, I am off on maternity leave so from Monday 8th September 2014 Carol Harvey-Barnes will be covering in my absence and taking over this blog! It will still be monthly and you can still comment as normal. I look forward to keeping my eye on the blog whilst I am off and seeing what is going on in Trinity Drama world!

National Education Trust are launching a new book all about Pupil Premium later this month so keep your eyes peeled for more about that. 

We have a new Teaching Standards Document coming out to support you (UK & British overseas schools appropriate only) you can request your copy of this document from October onwards by emailing: dramateachers@trinitycollege.co.uk

Our back to School e-newsletter is coming out shortly, so make sure you get your copy. If you haven't got yours by the end of september be sure to email dramateachers@trinitycollege.co.uk or comment below and we will ensure a copy gets emailed to you. 

National Theatre are running FREE talks this month & next! You can attend one on Wednesday 24th September from 2.30 - 5pm all about the architecture of the NT. On October 16th from 2.30 - 4pm there is talk on Poster Design, again this is Free too but you do to get in touch with NT Learning to book your free place.

Unicorn Theatre have a free teachers event on Tuesday 23rd September so if you would like to find out more about what the Unicorn can offer your school go and hear about their exciting new season of shows from Artistic Director, Purni Morell, then watch a performance of the award-winning, sell-out show Something Very Far Away (Winner of the Off West End Award for Best Production for Young People 2013). To book, email schools@unicorntheatre.com with the names of the teachers attending and the name and postcode of your schools (2 tickets available per school).

Keep your eyes peeled for the Drama GCSE consultation that will be coming out shortly, any teachers are advised to read the proposals and get your opinions across - think about how those reforms could impact on the graded exams you offer or teach. Does this reform enhance or hinder Trinity's grades? 

OCR put together a monthly briefing policy newsletter which I would also suggest you keep up to date on. You can read the latest one here. You will see that Ofqual are calling for your opinions on the Spoken Language element of GCSE English Language, this links heavily with Trinity's Communication Skills offer so consider that when thinking about the changes coming into affect. 

Requesting Teacher Support Sessions (Overseas)

Should you need to request that an examiner gives you support during their overseas tour with you, you need to request this support via the Academic Team in the international Head office. 

You can do this by going to this link: www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/requestforteachersupport-drama

By completing this, in advance of your tour we can ensure you have the best possible training for your teachers but without being in breach of our compliance rules for the regulator. 

We look forward to those requests coming in!

Best of luck for this term and the rest of the academic year...

Until next year (from me)

Holly