Latest / Gabi’s Speech and Drama Podcast / Ages, grades and difficult topics...

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Ages, grades and difficult topics... · Gabi’s Speech and Drama Podcast

• 0:04
  SPEAKER_01: Hello everybody and welcome to the latest
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_01: Gabby's Speech and Drama Community Zoom Meetup.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to everyone who is here live.
• 0:14
  And if you're watching the recording or listening to the
• 0:16
  podcast,
• 0:17
  welcome to you as well.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_01: We've got a really great agenda this week.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you to Rachel for suggesting it.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_01: It's something that comes up all the time,
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_01: but I think it's really good to have a session devoted to it.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_01: So we're going to be talking about the ages of students and the grades
• 0:35
  and what our recommendation is for students to take particular
• 0:41
  grades at particular
• 0:42
  ages and what the wiggle room is in there and when we make
• 0:46
  exceptions and why.
• 0:48
  How do we enforce it if we have a parent who wants their child
• 0:53
  to take a higher
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_01: grade than we think?
• 0:55
  Or I think what is probably more tricky to navigate when we
• 1:00
  inherit a student from
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: another teacher
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: who has already done grade 17 at the age of four.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_01: We will also be talking about,
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: particularly when we get up to medals,
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: about handling difficult grown-up material.
• 1:15
  And that can be a particular problem when you have a young
• 1:19
  child taking a higher grade.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_01: It's also...
• 1:25
  kind of a tool that we sometimes use with parents of saying
• 1:28
  well it's not really a
• 1:29
  good idea for your 12 year old to be doing grade six because
• 1:32
  the material is very
• 1:34
  adult and we'll be exposing her to adult language and adult
• 1:37
  themes and of course we
• 1:38
  all know that we don't have to pick plays with swear words and
• 1:44
  drug taking and sex
• 1:46
  and things like that there are plenty of plays that don't have
• 1:49
  those things in
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: but it's sometimes I think,
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_01: I don't really do that,
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_01: but I have seen people suggesting it in other forums that they say,
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_01: oh,
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_01: well,
• 2:01
  that can be a way of dissuading a younger child from doing a
• 2:06
  higher grade.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_01: But of course,
• 2:08
  older students who are 14 and ready to take grade six can also
• 2:13
  be either anxious
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_01: about performing very gritty material,
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: Or they may be drawn to it.
• 2:22
  They may be desperate to do quite adult stuff and to finally
• 2:27
  get to swear and talk about things.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_01: And we need to protect those students as well.
• 2:34
  Just because they're drawn to it doesn't mean that they
• 2:36
  necessarily have the
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_01: maturity to handle it.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: So something that we can also talk about together is making a list of
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_01: materials that we can use at medal grades,
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: even up to grade eight,
• 2:51
  that doesn't involve adult content or stuff that might
• 2:56
  potentially upset someone.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: So that's the plan.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: Let's go back to the beginning.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_01: I'm going to share a screen.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_01: So if you are
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_01: watching the video, you'll be able to see it as well, I think.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_01: And if you're listening to the recording, I'm going to describe it.
• 3:14
  So it's basically my table that I give out in all of my
• 3:20
  training that kind of goes
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: through my recommended minimum ages for each of the grades.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_01: And these are in line with what used to be lambdas, actual
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_01: strict minimum ages for each grade,
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_01: back in the olden days,
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_01: before they were kind of registered with Ofqual and things like that.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_01: By the way, that is the reason that they don't have minimum ages now.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_01: Because, you know, I don't think you can
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_01: have an Ofqual qualification that has,
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_01: for example,
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_01: Maths GCSE,
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_01: the vast majority of students take them in the year that they turn 16,
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_01: year 11 at school.
• 4:11
  But you will have some children who at the age of 10 take their
• 4:14
  Maths GCSE.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_01: So you have to kind of have that flexibility in the system.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_01: I think that is why that that's what I've been told anyway,
• 4:22
  that they that they took away those minimum ages when they
• 4:25
  became registered with
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_01: Ofqual.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_01: OK,
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_01: so generally speaking,
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_01: if you're looking at the introductory grade stage one,
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_01: my recommended minimum age is five.
• 4:37
  so that is usually year one I would do stage one so they may at
• 4:44
  some point during
• 4:44
  that year they will turn six but because we take our exams our
• 4:49
  big cohort of
• 4:51
  students take their exams in December that's why we do stage
• 4:56
  one in year one if
• 4:58
  your students are taking their exams in the summer you may
• 5:01
  decide actually if
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: you've got reception students by the time
• 5:06
  they take their exams in July,
• 5:08
  the vast majority will have already turned six.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_01: And so they could potentially,
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_01: sorry,
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_01: reception students,
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_01: the vast majority will have turned five.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_01: So you could do stage one with reception children.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_01: And then you go up from there.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_01: Stage two in year two,
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_01: stage three in year three,
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_01: entry level in year four,
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_01: grade one in year five,
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_01: grade two in year six,
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: grade three in year seven,
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: and so on,
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_01: all the way up to grade eight,
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_01: which they would then be doing in year 12.
• 5:39
  Like I said,
• 5:40
  if you're doing summer exams,
• 5:42
  that might all slip back by one year.
• 5:45
  And they're actually then doing grade eight in year 11 instead
• 5:48
  before they take their GCSEs.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: But
• 5:51
  I don't think there are going to be many GCSE students who also
• 5:54
  want to take a
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_01: grade eight Lambda exam in the July after they finish their GCSEs.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_01: So it works quite well.
• 6:02
  What I tend to find with my students is if they're going to
• 6:04
  skip a grade because of
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: GCSEs,
• 6:07
  it's usually grade seven and they will still come to classes
• 6:11
  and do the work,
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_01: but they may decide not to take the actual exam.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_01: And then I still let them do grade eight the following year.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_01: Because again,
• 6:18
  those December exams will often fall just before or just after
• 6:21
  or possibly even
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_01: during their mock GCSEs in year 11.
• 6:27
  Sorry,
• 6:27
  I've just said lots of years and lots of numbers and lots of
• 6:30
  grades.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_01: And I hope that all makes sense.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_01: Anyone that's here with me today,
• 6:37
  if you want to unmute yourselves at this point and tell me
• 6:41
  about any different
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: rules that you have for grades,
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_01: that would be great.
• 6:47
  Rachel so I have I've always gone with the similar idea to you
• 6:53
  because I'm in a
• 6:54
  school that keeps kind of acquiring merging and acquiring other
• 6:57
  schools and I get
• 6:58
  these big influxes from certain schools and I'm in sorry in
• 7:01
  private schools so you
• 7:02
  do the math they're often a bit ahead and so I've had to give a
• 7:06
  little bit of give
• 7:06
  and take with grades so I've gone I've allowed to I've allowed
• 7:12
  to grade up from
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_01: that so basically my rule is level one
• 7:15
  for primary you cannot go above level one so in other words you
• 7:18
  cannot do your
• 7:19
  grade four if you're in primary school and that's a hard rule
• 7:23
  and I've lost
• 7:24
  students over it but I don't care because I just think I'm not
• 7:27
  going to I teach the
• 7:29
  way I teach which is about building life skills not just about
• 7:33
  passing exams and
• 7:34
  getting the biggest certificate you can so I've been yeah
• 7:38
  across the board and I'm
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_01: also bringing I've also as I've started to teach older students recently
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_01: I've brought in no medal grades before year 10.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_01: You cannot even start your grade six until you're in year 10.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_01: For similar reasons,
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_01: just ability and development and not just material and all of that.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_01: I've now been,
• 7:59
  I've decided to allow myself to be sort of negotiated with by
• 8:03
  one specific student.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_01: who's at a fantastically academic school,
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_01: like one of the most academic schools in the country,
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: really dedicated.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_01: I get on well with her mum, I've taught her for years.
• 8:14
  Mum wants her to get through to grade eight by the end of year
• 8:18
  nine because of
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_01: pressures at school.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_01: And I've said, look, we take it grade by grade.
• 8:25
  She's never going to do acting anyway,
• 8:26
  this girl,
• 8:26
  she doesn't like acting.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_01: If you want to do public speaking,
• 8:30
  don't come to me because I can't teach public speaking on a
• 8:32
  fast track to grade eight.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_01: That's somebody else.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_01: You need an expert and I'm not that expert.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_01: But if you want to do verse and prose,
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_01: which she does,
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_01: take it grade by grade,
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_01: see how she gets on.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_01: But I've warned her of all the things.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of stuff that if she was in year 10,
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_01: 11,
• 8:49
  she'd have learned at school and she can bring to the verse and
• 8:52
  prose exam,
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_01: like what is a theme?
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_01: Like having read a high level enough
• 8:57
  text you know for you know for their prose they've got to do
• 9:00
  I've said George
• 9:01
  Orwell Jane Austen that kind of thing she won't be reading that
• 9:03
  at school when
• 9:04
  she's in year eight even in an academic school so I've given
• 9:07
  her all the pitfalls
• 9:09
  and I've said so long as she takes my word for it when her
• 9:13
  daughter is you know
• 9:14
  whether her daughter's ready or not we'll give it a go why not
• 9:16
  but and she's
• 9:17
  totally listened to me and said yeah I listen to you I take
• 9:20
  your advice but I still
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_01: like to go for it so that's fine but that's very different from
• 9:25
  my daughter needs to do her grade this in one term you know
• 9:28
  half an hour a week
• 9:29
  grade six public speaking in one term yeah you know having
• 9:33
  never done lambda before
• 9:34
  so okay give and take that's what i'm saying so i think i think
• 9:37
  this is good we've
• 9:38
  kind of got these basic ground rules and i think you've drawn a
• 9:41
  line in the sand
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_01: and said
• 9:43
  Absolutely no grade two until secondary and prepared to lose
• 9:49
  students over that.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_01: And I think I completely agree with you.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_01: I do have a couple of year sevens doing grade four,
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_01: but it's the exception rather than the rules.
• 9:58
  so year seven so that's you know first year of secondary but
• 10:01
  most of my year sevens
• 10:03
  who are completely new to Lambda start at grade two I would
• 10:07
  then possibly let them
• 10:08
  skip grade three and jump straight to grade four when they're
• 10:13
  in year eight but I
• 10:14
  think it you know grade two is a really nice starting point if
• 10:18
  you've never you see
• 10:19
  these are the things you have these these rules and then you
• 10:21
  you make exceptions so
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_01: let's start
• 10:25
  by thinking about when would you put someone below,
• 10:28
  a grade below your minimum age.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_01: And I think I've said one of them, which is never done Lambda before.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_01: When you go into the exam room for the first time,
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_01: I always say there are two hurdles that you have to jump.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_01: You've got to meet the assessment and grading criteria of that exam,
• 10:46
  but you've also got to deal with nerves and the experience of
• 10:51
  going into an exam
• 10:52
  room and having to give an account of yourself in front of a
• 10:54
  complete stranger.
• 10:56
  So I like to keep the hurdle of what the assessment and grading
• 11:01
  criteria are a bit
• 11:03
  lower for their first exam so that they can then meet the
• 11:07
  hurdle of going into the
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_01: exam room.
• 11:10
  But then if they handle that and they're absolutely fine,
• 11:15
  you can skip a grade.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_01: There's that flexibility in the system, which is nice.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_01: What other reasons?
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_01: Well,
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just going to say one thing before I go on to that is that often,
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_01: if you're not sure,
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_01: if you've got a student who's new to Lambda and you're not sure.
• 11:30
  So I had a 10-year-old student,
• 11:33
  never done Lambda before,
• 11:35
  seemed quite nervous.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 11:38
  started him off on a known choice piece thinking we'll see how
• 11:41
  he goes with it he
• 11:42
  could just stick to that and do entry level it quickly became
• 11:45
  clear that actually
• 11:47
  he was going to manage that quite well and was doing a good job
• 11:50
  so i added in a
• 11:51
  grade one set text and pushed him up to grade one so he's doing
• 11:55
  grade one at ten
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_01: He'll be a year behind, but at some point he may skip a grade.
• 12:02
  So there's another way of adding flexibility and by starting
• 12:04
  with an own choice
• 12:05
  piece and then making a decision about whether to go for a set
• 12:11
  text at grade one or
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_01: two or three or whatever,
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_01: a little bit further down the line.
• 12:16
  What other reasons do people have for putting students in for
• 12:19
  grades that are below
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_01: their minimum age?
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_01: So like a slightly easier exam.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_01: Well,
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_01: SEN and confidence,
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_01: I've got this,
• 12:26
  it's just come up at one of my schools and with one of my
• 12:29
  private students.
• 12:30
  If they've got SEN or they're lacking confidence,
• 12:35
  and I'll be honest with them and say...
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_01: Look,
• 12:37
  I think your confidence would benefit from going down for a
• 12:40
  slightly easier grade
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_01: just for this year.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_01: Let's see how you get on.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_01: You know, if that feels easy, then skip a grade later.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_01: And actually, the students are really open to that.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_01: They very rarely say, oh, no, I want to do the same as everybody else.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_01: Or English is a second language.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I've got one girl who has very limited English.
• 12:57
  So she's gone down a grade just so that she can stick with
• 12:59
  poems only where her
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_01: classmates are doing monologue and prose.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_01: And you may then broaden out.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_01: So let's say they've done grade one verse and prose.
• 13:08
  Maybe they've got a merit or even a distinction,
• 13:11
  but they're still building their confidence.
• 13:13
  Then keep that hurdle low and do grade one in a different
• 13:19
  subject and broaden their skills.
• 13:21
  We have a student who is 18 and he's been coming to us since he
• 13:25
  was about eight.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_01: And we are literally doing every single exam, every single grade.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_01: He's just managed to get a distinction in his grade four acting.
• 13:40
  And he's now working towards grade five speaking in public
• 13:44
  because he did grade four.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_01: And he's, you know, again, an interesting character.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_01: But he failed all of his GCSEs, was totally miserable about that.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_01: But he is now,
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_01: in a level two exam for Lambda,
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_01: which is,
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_01: in the same tier as GCSEs,
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_01: he's getting distinctions.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_01: Just got 80.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_01: But that's it's making a huge difference to his life and his confidence.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_01: And just because he's 18,
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_01: there's no I don't know,
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_01: actually,
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_01: if he will ever be able to manage medal exams.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_01: We'll have to, we'll have to see.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah,
• 14:18
  I did grade one speaking in public with a year eight boy who
• 14:22
  came to me and his mum
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_01: was just desperate and said,
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_01: he's bright,
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_01: he's academic,
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: but he just doesn't,
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: he literally doesn't see the point of a conversation.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_01: And that came out in our lessons that he literally said,
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_01: I don't understand why people talk to each other.
• 14:34
  If you haven't got something you need to tell the other person,
• 14:37
  why do you have a conversation?
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_01: So we did, we did conversation technique and grade one public speaking.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_01: So obviously he had to do the conversation.
• 14:45
  and um his brother who was 10 so he was sort of 13ish his
• 14:48
  brother was 10ish came
• 14:50
  and did in one term grade one first and pros and the older one
• 14:53
  was doing grade one
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_01: speaking in public but he got a distinction the examiner put you are an
• 14:59
  inspirational speaker oh wow and it was all he just learned how
• 15:03
  to do i gave him a
• 15:04
  load of action techniques like actioning we actioned his public
• 15:07
  speech like you
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_02: know i educate you
• 15:10
  i um i you know fascinate you i inform you i inspire you and we
• 15:15
  did that through
• 15:16
  each little section of his speech and he sort of learned how to
• 15:19
  do it almost in a
• 15:20
  kind of mirroring way and he was so grateful to have done it he
• 15:23
  was so even though
• 15:24
  he hated every second of it um so you know it's not this is why
• 15:28
  i think there has
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_01: to be flexibility in both directions well look
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_01: You know, case in point, I've gone into this new school.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_01: I've got quite a lot of year nine students.
• 15:36
  Some of those year nines are doing grade six because they have
• 15:39
  already got very
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_01: good marks at grade five.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_01: So it makes sense to let them carry on.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_01: They'll take the exam when they're ready.
• 15:45
  I've also got year nine students doing grade three who have
• 15:48
  never done Lambda
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_01: before and who are,
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_01: building their skills.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: So you have to you can have these these kind of rules and these rules.
• 15:57
  recommendations and whatever but we have to then trust
• 16:01
  ourselves to um uh to to
• 16:07
  utilize that flexibility um so if i scroll down here like
• 16:11
  confidence english is a
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_01: second language learning difficulties sen
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_01: New students with no previous Lambda experience.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_01: And can anyone think of anything else?
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_01: I've said students whose birthdays fall just before their Lambda exam,
• 16:24
  but that's kind of just a little point to make that if you've
• 16:28
  got summer born
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_01: children,
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_01: you may not want to put them in the same grade as their year group peers.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_01: But the important thing is, I've said it's always best to be cautious.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_01: They won't mind getting a higher mark and can skip a grade later on.
• 16:43
  And the other important thing to say,
• 16:44
  of course,
• 16:45
  Lambda exams,
• 16:46
  not just for children.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_01: They are absolutely suitable for adults as well,
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_01: particularly,
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_01: I would say,
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_01: public speaking and verse and prose as well.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_01: Helen, you were going to say something before.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_01: Was it about students taking an exam that's
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it was.
• 17:04
  I've got one lovely girl who she did grade two acting and she
• 17:11
  just didn't like the
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: feeling in there.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: She did fine.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: She got a merit, but she came out feeling really jittery.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: So we're now doing grade two again, but reading aloud.
• 17:22
  because i think it's a memory reading for performance yeah and
• 17:25
  the other thing i do
• 17:26
  with my groups is when i first get them in year seven i tell
• 17:30
  them that i'd like
• 17:31
  them all to start on your grade two if they are feeling super
• 17:35
  confident they can go
• 17:37
  for your grade three so actually then the ones who are in
• 17:42
  acting schools or do a
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: lot of performance they will naturally go for the grade three
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: And the ones who haven't, they naturally go for the grade two.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just, it evens it out nicely.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's their choice.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_00: And there's no kind of, no one feels less than.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_01: And it means that you're not saying...
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_01: you're a bit dodgy,
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_01: you do grade two,
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_01: you're amazing,
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_01: I love you,
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_01: you do grade three,
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_01: you're kind of letting that you're saying,
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_01: the standard is grade two,
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_01: if you want,
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_01: and you can even say to them,
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_01: if you're a bit worried about taking exams,
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_01: you can always start on grade one,
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_01: if you if that's your choice,
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_01: and we can always skip a grade later on.
• 18:20
  And trusting the actual student to know what they need and what
• 18:25
  and what will work for them.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_01: And I've done this with my year,
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_01: the reason I've got a year nine student taking grade three,
• 18:31
  is because I've said to him,
• 18:32
  we'll start with the speech about a hobby or interest,
• 18:38
  then if you decide actually i want to push myself and do a
• 18:41
  grade four exam which
• 18:42
  the majority of them have done that becomes their own choice
• 18:45
  speech and then they
• 18:46
  choose one from the list and the syllabus to do alongside that
• 18:50
  and that's what the
• 18:50
  majority of the year nines have done that have never done
• 18:53
  lambda before so but
• 18:54
  there's one student who said no do you know what i'm just gonna
• 18:58
  stick with grade
• 18:58
  three and just do one speech and he's made exactly the right
• 19:02
  decision for him
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_01: because he's
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_01: You know, he struggles with eye contact and things like that.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_01: But I also say to them, it might depend on how much free time you have.
• 19:12
  If you know you're the sort of person who has an after school
• 19:14
  activity every single
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_01: day of the week,
• 19:16
  then do a lower grade because you're not going to have as much
• 19:19
  time to work on it.
• 19:20
  So you're not saying to them,
• 19:23
  you know,
• 19:23
  I think it's a really good point to say,
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_01: give them the,
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_01: empower them to make the decision about what's best for them.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_01: And it also means if there's any blowback from parents,
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_01: why is my son doing grade three and his friends doing grade five?
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_01: Because that's what your son chose to do.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: The other thing I add with particularly,
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: not so much at the state school,
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: but the private school is I say to the parents,
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_00: this,
• 19:50
  how quickly we move through the grades is very much dependent
• 19:54
  on how much support
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: they get at home.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not on me.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_00: They need to be doing stuff at home.
• 20:01
  So if you are London based or your students are using the
• 20:04
  London Public Centre,
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_01: then it's,
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_01: you are so fortunate because as the students are ready,
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_01: you can then enter them for exams.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_01: And,
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 20:16
  I'm very lucky living and teaching where I do in London schools
• 20:20
  or schools on,
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_01: surrounding London.
• 20:24
  If we don't set up private centres within that school,
• 20:28
  then we've got that amazing flexibility.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, I started at this school in September.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_01: I've got my first students taking their exams middle of Feb.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_01: Some students I've entered for March, end of March.
• 20:40
  Some students I've not,
• 20:41
  you know,
• 20:41
  they're going to do it in the summer term.
• 20:46
  Generally speaking,
• 20:46
  of course,
• 20:47
  it's the lower grades that I'm entering first,
• 20:49
  but not always.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_01: I've got one student who's been so slow,
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_01: he hasn't printed out his pieces yet,
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_01: and he's meant to be doing grade three.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_01: And I keep,
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_01: I've now kind of got mum involved in that as well,
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_01: exactly for what you said,
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_01: Helen.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_01: It's, you know, the support at home is really important.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_01: Sarah, what were you going to say?
• 21:07
  or I know it was a while ago I saw you I genuinely can't
• 21:10
  remember that um generally
• 21:12
  no I mean I'm I teach in Brighton and Hove but but most of my
• 21:16
  students are in um
• 21:17
  London and so yeah I just they do exams throughout the year at
• 21:21
  the public centers
• 21:22
  because they are so buried in what they are you know in where
• 21:26
  they're at and so
• 21:27
  it's fantastic because it takes the pressure off them um I just
• 21:30
  have to make sure
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_02: that I don't
• 21:33
  sit back too much and go it's okay we can do it anytime yeah
• 21:36
  yeah yeah you have to
• 21:37
  yes you you're cautious and go not until they're absolutely 100
• 21:42
  ready and you know
• 21:43
  there's always more you can do with a student so there has to
• 21:46
  be a cutoff for me so
• 21:47
  dates are important yeah sometimes unless they have the date of
• 21:51
  the exam they won't
• 21:52
  pull their fingers out and do the work but it's also great for
• 21:55
  students like
• 21:55
  rachel's um girl who wants to do grade date wants to go through
• 22:00
  the grades at a
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_01: pretty pace
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_01: You just say, well, that's fine.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_01: That's fine.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_01: As soon as they're ready, they'll take the exam.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_01: Because the question I get asked more than,
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_01: any other from parents,
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_01: the slightly pushier parents is,
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_01: if we start their grade eight now,
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_01: when are they going to be ready to take their exam?
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_01: Could be three months, could be six months, could be two years.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_01: When they're ready, I'll enter them.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_02: I mean,
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_02: I still struggle with public speaking,
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_02: parents just expecting you to sort of,
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_02: to really basically help them write their speech.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_02: And I have given so much feedback, written and verbal.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_02: And that's the one I struggle with,
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_02: is the parents just not getting that,
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_02: you know,
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like,
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not going to write their speech for them.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_02: And I don't want them to write their speech anyway.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_02: I want them to do bullet points.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_01: Do you know what I will do?
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_02: That's my biggest struggle.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_01: With students who just don't do it at home,
• 22:59
  and so you end up using the class time for actual structure and
• 23:03
  content and things
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_01: like that,
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_01: I sit down at my laptop and I say,
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_01: okay,
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_01: what do you want to say in your introduction?
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_01: And as they speak, I type their ideas into bullet points.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_01: So they are still writing their own speech,
• 23:20
  but something about the fact that they're delivering it
• 23:23
  verbally and then I'm just
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_01: kind of like honing it as we go.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, absolutely.
• 23:31
  And I also ask the parents and ask the school if the kids can
• 23:35
  bring their phones
• 23:35
  because I get them to record what they're saying so they can
• 23:38
  hear it back just as
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_02: voice memo.
• 23:40
  And especially for my very dyslexic students,
• 23:43
  that's really helpful that they can listen
• 23:46
  back to what they've said you know and I'm a slow typer yeah um
• 23:51
  Helen you had your
• 23:51
  hand up and and then Emma I'm going to come to you as well and
• 23:54
  welcome Tala to the
• 23:55
  to the meeting hi it works really well for devised acting as
• 24:00
  well that I have a
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_00: very ADHD girl who she literally paces around the room
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_00: and talks and tells me exactly what her character is going to say.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_00: And I just type it out as she's talking.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I've never worked like that on device before.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_00: But I genuinely feel with this girl, she's year seven.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think I've ever had anyone so imaginative before.
• 24:22
  And I think these are going to be some of the best pieces
• 24:24
  they've ever done.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm literally just typing as she's going.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_00: It's incredible.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_01: That's great.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, it's good to do that for devising as well.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_01: I can see that.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_01: Emma, what were you going to say?
• 24:40
  Have any of your children,
• 24:41
  the younger ones,
• 24:42
  done remote online assessments?
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_01: Have you found that for the younger primary children?
• 24:48
  I've had one – I can't remember exactly what year he was in,
• 24:54
  but he did popcorn.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_01: What's that entry level?
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_01: So –
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_01: Tala, you're muted.
• 25:03
  Yeah,
• 25:03
  I was just trying to think of,
• 25:05
  yeah,
• 25:05
  popcorn's like two or three,
• 25:07
  isn't it?
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's entry level.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_01: It is entry?
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, okay.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_01: That's okay.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_01: I'll do a quiz at the end of the meeting.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_01: I'll fire out anthology pieces.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_01: You have to tell me what volume and what grade...
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_01: Opening night, volume four, grade four.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_01: We all know that one, don't we?
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, the last one.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_01: Last one in the set.
• 25:36
  But yes,
• 25:37
  he...
• 25:37
  So if he was doing entry level,
• 25:39
  he was probably year four then.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_01: So not the younger end of primary school.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_01: He's the youngest I've had doing...
• 25:45
  remote online i think we may have had a few students from china
• 25:50
  do it a few years
• 25:51
  ago um but i i can't i'm not as anyone can anyone else be more
• 25:57
  helpful to emma on
• 25:58
  that i have had um one um and it was very obvious they they
• 26:07
  what i was told was to
• 26:08
  make sure that the mom's out the way yeah every time there's a
• 26:11
  question they go
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_01: And that would be a referral.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_01: The examiners are trained to check eyeline.
• 26:20
  Also,
• 26:20
  not just is there someone else in the room,
• 26:22
  but are they reading off the screen?
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yes, absolutely.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I just did it during COVID because we had no option.
• 26:32
  But I realised that it was for some of my students who get
• 26:36
  really anxious,
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_02: online was an absolute gift for them.
• 26:40
  you know and especially for my for my um some of my autistic
• 26:46
  students who are doing
• 26:48
  public speaking um even from like quite a small age and um yeah
• 26:53
  i just noticed that
• 26:54
  they really relaxed physically when we used to when we
• 26:56
  practiced um so yeah it's
• 27:00
  it's my only kind of rule of thumb is if they're doing the exam
• 27:03
  online it's better
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_01: for them to have the lessons online yeah i see absolutely
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_01: Just so that you can see what the examiner is seeing.
• 27:17
  I've done it where you have your lessons in person,
• 27:20
  but the last three are online.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_01: And I've done it the other way around as well,
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_01: where the lessons are online,
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_01: but the last three have to be in person because they're doing it live.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I've done it at school as well,
• 27:34
  where I've had the laptop in the drama studio and I've
• 27:38
  literally put chairs along
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_00: the sight lines.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_00: So where they go out of view, I've put chairs.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yes,
• 27:45
  I think if you're doing the set up yourself in your own venue
• 27:49
  and they're coming to
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_01: you for their exam,
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_01: you can get away with teaching them live as well.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_01: But if they're doing the exam from home,
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_01: I would say you need to have at least three or four lessons with them.
• 28:02
  being at home and you being somewhere else okay sorry just to
• 28:06
  say i did it online
• 28:07
  in a primary school um in covid i'd completely forgotten so the
• 28:12
  exams are online um
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_01: so it's 2021 in the summer and um
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_01: The problem I found is sending a child into a room on their own.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_01: That's what I found made me nervous.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_01: When you send them into a room with the examiner,
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_01: if anything goes wrong,
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_01: there's an adult in the room.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_01: Somebody can come out and tell you what I mean.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_01: They can come out and tell you.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_01: Whereas they were alone in the room with the computer doing their exam.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_01: So sort of trying to get them to understand if things go wrong,
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_01: you need to come to the door and tell me.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_01: But only if things really go wrong and you don't hear.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_01: You know, that was that worried me about it.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_01: Whereas if they are at home,
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_01: then,
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_01: okay,
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_01: they're alone in a room,
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_01: but they're alone in a room in their living room or,
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_01: something like that.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like we have...
• 29:02
  talked about some good reasons for being a bit flexible within
• 29:09
  the grade system.
• 29:10
  Possibly something we could touch on a bit more is when we
• 29:13
  allow a younger student
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_01: to do a higher grade.
• 29:16
  Rachel,
• 29:16
  you've touched on that with your girl who wants to get to grade
• 29:20
  eight very quickly.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_01: And you're going to allow that as long as
• 29:27
  mum accepts that you are the boss when it comes to whether
• 29:30
  she's ready or not to
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_01: take the actual exam.
• 29:33
  And that will largely depend then on the work she does in
• 29:36
  between classes.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_01: What about,
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 29:41
  if you inherit a student who has done a very high grade at a
• 29:44
  very young age?
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_01: Now, let's say you've done all the checks.
• 29:47
  So,
• 29:47
  you know,
• 29:49
  parent says,
• 29:50
  oh,
• 29:51
  yeah,
• 29:51
  they've done grade three and they are nine years old.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_01: And you say, can I see their certificate?
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_01: And you realise it's stage three, not grade three.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_01: Fine, easy to deal with that.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_01: Or you realise that it's a group acting exam,
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_01: maybe at grade three,
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_01: but it was,
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 30:08
  maybe an after school drama club and she was the youngest one
• 30:11
  in the group because
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_01: it was,
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_01: year three up to year six or something like that.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_01: And she isn't being marked as an individual.
• 30:17
  So again,
• 30:18
  that's another reason why you can say,
• 30:19
  look,
• 30:20
  that's great that she's done that exam.
• 30:22
  But it doesn't give me an indication of what she's able to do
• 30:25
  on her own.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_01: Let's say, you know, you have a new nine-year-old student.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_01: You've checked the report sheet.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_01: She has done grade three solo and she's got 82.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_01: Do you then prepare the...
• 30:43
  the this nine year old for grade four what how do you manage
• 30:46
  that so as with
• 30:47
  anything it depends so i had um a girl a couple of years ago
• 30:52
  who'd done grade four
• 30:53
  acting and she was in year six she'd come from another school
• 30:56
  blah blah blah they'd
• 30:57
  all been pushed and um she said can i do my grade five and i
• 31:01
  said no but let's you
• 31:03
  know have a look at what you've got and think about it blah
• 31:06
  blah blah she got a
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_01: merit which okay i always say merit is good well done you but
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_01: She couldn't stand still.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_01: She couldn't speak clearly.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_01: You know, all of that.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_01: And I actually phoned her parents and said,
• 31:17
  I really want her to come to me and do grade two with the rest
• 31:20
  of her year group
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_01: and do verse and prose and learn how to stand still,
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_01: speak clearly,
• 31:25
  learn those basic presentation skills that are going to help
• 31:27
  her in her life.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_01: And then when she goes to secondary, think again, if you like.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_01: And I was amazed when they said yes.
• 31:36
  And it really did have the power of good because she learned
• 31:38
  some really good,
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_01: learning the text accurately.
• 31:42
  She hadn't really learned to do that with her because she'd
• 31:44
  been just doing acting.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_01: That's all she'd ever done.
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_01: So sometimes it works, but the parents have to be receptive.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_01: OK, so two things spring to mind.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_01: We run our private centre here in December and occasionally
• 31:56
  we have other local teachers who bring their students to our
• 32:00
  private center,
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_01: if there is any space.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_01: And a few years ago,
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_01: a teacher brought a few students and he,
• 32:11
  I think he traveled around local homes and did private Lambda
• 32:14
  classes in people's
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_01: homes.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_01: And he, there was an eight-year-old girl
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_01: And he said, she's doing grade three verse and prose.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like,
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_01: we were emailing each other and I wrote back and I said,
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_01: oh,
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_01: I think you mean stage three verse and prose or stage three introductory,
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_01: right?
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_01: If she's eight.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_01: And he said, no, no, she's doing grade three verse and prose.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_01: She's a real bright one.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, OK, not my not my student, not my not my problem.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_01: And she arrived and she was like super precocious,
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_01: really confident,
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_01: lovely little girl,
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_01: went in,
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_01: did her exam,
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_01: came out.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_01: And of course, I got all the results because it's my centre.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_01: And she got, I think, like, you know, 72 or something, which is amazing.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_01: But a girl like that should be getting marks in the 90s, yeah?
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_01: And so by getting her to go up the grade so quickly at such a young age,
• 33:16
  I felt that it was doing a bit of a disservice because there's
• 33:22
  a chance that she's
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_01: going to look at that mark and go,
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_01: oh,
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_01: I only got a merit,
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_01: which,
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_01: as you say,
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_01: nothing wrong with getting a merit.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_01: If you are,
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_01: the student who is,
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_01: building their skills or is falling down in certain areas.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_01: So that's the first thing I wanted to say is, you know, if they are.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_01: very young,
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_01: doing a high grade,
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_01: and you're seeing that they're not getting those top marks,
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_01: that gives you a really strong argument to say to the parent,
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_01: they need to broaden their skills rather than keep going up the grades,
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_01: because that's going to keep happening.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't think it's the right thing to do.
• 34:03
  let's say they've got their distinction though it gives you
• 34:06
  less ammunition to do
• 34:08
  that doesn't it to say you know you're absolutely right first
• 34:11
  port of call let's
• 34:12
  stay at this same grade or possibly one grade below and do a
• 34:17
  different subject
• 34:17
  that's the first thing i think most drama teachers speech and
• 34:20
  drama teachers would
• 34:20
  say yes what are the parents says no they've got their
• 34:24
  distinction at grade four or
• 34:25
  they've got their distinction at grade three i want them to go
• 34:27
  up to the next grade
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_01: any ideas on that yes helen
• 34:31
  So I had one who came to me and it was only that she wanted to
• 34:35
  do her grade four in year seven.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_00: But she's got a distinction at grade three in year six.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_01: Which, let's face it, is not outrageous.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's not outrageous.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_01: Grade four in year seven.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_01: I've got students doing that.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_00: But she is really, really good.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_00: So I put her in for her grade four and she got 82.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_00: The trouble is that she's so good.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, so if you look at the other kids.
• 35:01
  I have students who are really good who are the right age for
• 35:04
  their exam and are getting 82.
• 35:06
  They may have just not shown the examiner or the examiner may
• 35:11
  have got it wrong.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, yeah.
• 35:14
  She is now working on her grade five and she's got her exam in
• 35:18
  a couple of weeks.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_01: And is she now year eight or is she still year seven?
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, she's year eight.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, fine.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_01: That's only one, like she's only slipped one grade ahead of where she is.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_01: And I also want to make the point that if you're having private classes,
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_01: then you can,
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_01: you can push students a little bit beyond.
• 35:41
  The one place that I find it much more of a struggle is in a
• 35:44
  group class because
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_01: you're not then able to give them the extra time.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_01: Sarah, are you going to say something?
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I was just going to say one of the...
• 35:52
  One of the things that I find really helpful in terms of like
• 35:56
  parents sort of
• 35:56
  understanding why perhaps their kids are at a certain level is
• 36:00
  it's one of the
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_02: reasons that I do showcases.
• 36:04
  And so the parents come along and so it's like a celebration of
• 36:06
  their work and blah,
• 36:07
  blah,
• 36:07
  blah.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_02: But it means parents can see.
• 36:11
  where their kids are at and they can see where other kids are
• 36:14
  at in in a hopefully
• 36:16
  wholly uncompetitive way but it's like oh yes i see my child is
• 36:20
  actually really
• 36:21
  quiet my child doesn't doesn't walk along the on the stage with
• 36:25
  ease you know she
• 36:26
  won't make eye contact so then that and that's quite it's quite
• 36:30
  helpful yeah
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_01: because every child thinks that their child is you know
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_01: incredible and talented and magnificent.
• 36:41
  And so I think actually having that little reality check
• 36:45
  sometimes is quite a useful thing.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_02: Because I think,
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_02: you know,
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_02: parents don't realise that,
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_02: you know,
• 36:50
  there is a difference between speaking in a room and going over
• 36:53
  your lines with
• 36:53
  SPEAKER_02: your parents and being able to project beyond...
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_02: you know, like two metres.
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_02: And that does seem to be baffling to...
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_01: The other thing I just want to say is,
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 37:05
  coming back to what I said earlier about sometimes you will get
• 37:08
  a 10-year-old who
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_01: does their GCSE maths and gets a nine.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_01: So I think the same is true for speech and drama,
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_01: that sometimes,
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_01: and it is the exception rather than the rule,
• 37:20
  you will get a nine-year-old who has come to you and got a
• 37:23
  distinction at their
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_01: grade three and can...
• 37:27
  work towards grade four and get a distinction,
• 37:32
  given enough time and support.
• 37:34
  And as long as you're not doing all their work for them or
• 37:37
  anything like that,
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_01: then,
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 37:40
  maybe we have to accept that sometimes there will be
• 37:43
  exceptional situations.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we definitely do.
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_01: The challenge I've got is that parents talk to each other.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_01: When you're in schools, parents talk to each other and all of that.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_01: And even privately, word gets around.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_01: And then it's, well, if they can do it, why can't my child?
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_01: That's the first thing.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_01: Because your child isn't exceptional.
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_01: I know, but it's really hard to say that to a parent.
• 38:04
  And then the other thing is,
• 38:07
  I have had it insinuated that I'm not a very good teacher.
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_01: Because I don't enter,
• 38:12
  I might only do grade one in year five and they only do grade
• 38:16
  two in year six.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_01: And therefore,
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 38:18
  Miss Stanton can't be a very good teacher because such and such
• 38:20
  a teacher at such
• 38:21
  SPEAKER_01: and such a school,
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_01: she's got them going for grade four already when they're in year six,
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_01: whatever,
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_01: whatever.
• 38:27
  And that puts me in a difficult position because I don't want
• 38:29
  to say anything
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_01: negative about any other teachers.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_01: But how do I prove to everybody that,
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_01: no,
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_01: actually,
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_01: I'm doing this for sound educational reasons?
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_01: And I've gone through and I've written extensively.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_01: I would say exactly that.
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_01: There are lots of different teachers.
• 38:44
  And some teachers will focus very much on the assessment and
• 38:48
  grading criteria and
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_01: tick each box and...
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_01: And they won't necessarily give a broader education.
• 38:58
  And if that's what you want,
• 38:59
  then maybe I'm not the right teacher for you.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_01: But what I will do is make sure that your child enjoys themselves,
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_01: is developing life skills,
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_01: is developing excellent communication skills,
• 39:11
  and is going into that exam room feeling really confident that
• 39:15
  they can give the
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_01: best presentation of themselves in that situation.
• 39:21
  And if that's the sort of teaching you're looking for,
• 39:22
  then I'm going to...
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_01: I'm the one.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 39:26
  So you're not necessarily saying I'm getting it right and
• 39:29
  they're getting it wrong.
• 39:31
  SPEAKER_01: You're saying there are different,
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_01: and again,
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_01: I've had it at festivals where,
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_01: you see very kind of stagey,
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_01: large gestures and,
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 39:46
  and all the emphasis on one word emphasize and sometimes a
• 39:53
  parent will come to me
• 39:54
  and say you know what my child wasn't doing that should you
• 39:59
  know I you know should
• 40:01
  shouldn't you be teaching them to do that and I'm like no if
• 40:03
  you enjoyed that
• 40:04
  performance if that's what you're what you're after then I'm
• 40:07
  not the right teacher
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_01: for you because I'm much more about truthfulness and subtlety and
• 40:15
  SPEAKER_01: You know, but if you want the show, don't tell.
• 40:18
  SPEAKER_01: Or if you want me, tell, don't show rather.
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_01: Then by all means, you know, you have to give the parents...
• 40:26
  a little bit of sass sometimes don't you all right i'm just
• 40:29
  aware that we have more
• 40:30
  on our agenda that i want to talk about so um let's say let's
• 40:35
  just start start with
• 40:36
  you know some of the plays that we do um that have quite uh
• 40:42
  adult themes so i'm
• 40:43
  thinking we we sometimes will do swallow at grade seven and
• 40:45
  eight which has
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_01: self-harm and
• 40:48
  as a theme and transitioning from female to male and all sorts
• 40:57
  of language and stuff like that.
• 41:01
  SPEAKER_01: We will do The Long Road sometimes,
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_01: which is about the murder of a young man,
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_01: and it has very adult language.
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_01: Even the C word gets used.
• 41:15
  SPEAKER_01: I don't mean crap.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_01: We have got... I mean, Medea murdering your own children.
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_01: It's not just modern text.
• 41:28
  It feels...
• 41:30
  You get more distance from it in the classical text,
• 41:32
  don't you?
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't feel quite as raw.
• 41:35
  SPEAKER_01: But what would you do in that situation if you've got a student who is...
• 41:43
  eager drawn to that kind of material tally you're shaking your
• 41:52
  head does that mean
• 41:53
  no i just say no no i just say no it's no they're not i'm not
• 41:57
  there's no sometimes
• 41:58
  there's no need for it and i think um i also it depends on i've
• 42:04
  if i if i've got a
• 42:05
  SPEAKER_01: group of four and
• 42:07
  SPEAKER_01: The ages, the way it works, I can't say, right, you've all got to be 15.
• 42:10
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't work like that.
• 42:12
  SPEAKER_01: If a child comes in today.
• 42:13
  SPEAKER_01: You might have a younger student in the class.
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_01: Avoid that play for all of them.
• 42:18
  SPEAKER_01: You know what the chances are some of the older ones actually go,
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_03: I can't say it because she's here.
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_01: But I think, I think it's, it's,
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_01: No, I think I say to the... No, I do.
• 42:28
  SPEAKER_01: I say to the parents,
• 42:29
  SPEAKER_01: especially if it's...
• 42:30
  SPEAKER_01: If year seven,
• 42:31
  SPEAKER_01: oh my God,
• 42:31
  SPEAKER_01: year seven,
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_01: about the first week,
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_01: they know...
• 42:33
  SPEAKER_01: Oh,
• 42:33
  SPEAKER_01: no,
• 42:33
  SPEAKER_01: I'm talking about medals.
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_01: I'm talking about GCSE and older.
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, right, okay.
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_01: For this stuff.
• 42:41
  SPEAKER_01: Then again, the kids say it to me.
• 42:43
  SPEAKER_01: I've got a year 11 who's saying, I don't want to say those words.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, that's fine.
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_01: And we can talk about that in a moment.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_01: But for now, let's stick with students who want to, for whatever reason.
• 42:57
  explore you know we do reasons to be pretty which I don't think
• 43:03
  the themes are
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_01: necessarily like difficult themes but the language is fruity
• 43:12
  And we have students who can't wait to do that play because
• 43:17
  they've seen someone else doing it.
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_01: And they're like, oh, I'm doing grade seven now.
• 43:19
  SPEAKER_01: Please, can I do something from Reasons to be Pretty?
• 43:23
  So,
• 43:24
  you know,
• 43:25
  they are studying plays like this for GCSE and A-level,
• 43:29
  particularly A-level.
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_01: So I can understand why you wouldn't with some students,
• 43:37
  but if you have a student who wants to and you're comfortable
• 43:39
  with it as a teacher,
• 43:41
  SPEAKER_01: what do we need to do,
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_01: if anything?
• 43:46
  By the time they get to that age,
• 43:49
  I've normally worked with them for five,
• 43:52
  six years.
• 43:54
  SPEAKER_00: And you know them.
• 43:55
  SPEAKER_00: So,
• 43:56
  SPEAKER_00: yes,
• 43:56
  SPEAKER_00: there are certain students who I will say,
• 43:59
  I don't think this is a good fit for us to be working on and
• 44:04
  immersing ourselves in
• 44:05
  SPEAKER_00: for this amount of time.
• 44:07
  And then there are other students who I'd have no problem with
• 44:11
  doing that at all.
• 44:12
  SPEAKER_00: I will always email their parents and say, we've chosen a sweary one.
• 44:18
  So I think that's the first point I wanted to make is that I
• 44:21
  think you have to
• 44:22
  involve the parents at this point and possibly the school if
• 44:25
  you're working in a
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_01: school environment.
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_00: Also, I've got one who she's just chosen.
• 44:30
  SPEAKER_00: She didn't want to do any grades because she's doing a GCSE.
• 44:34
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm helping her with her GCSE monologues.
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_00: And she's chosen a very sweary piece from The Bull.
• 44:40
  SPEAKER_00: I can't remember what it's called.
• 44:43
  So I've had to contact the head of drama to say,
• 44:47
  just so you know,
• 44:47
  this is what she's chosen.
• 44:49
  SPEAKER_00: Have a look at it.
• 44:50
  You might need to limit younger students coming to watch it,
• 44:55
  if that is the case.
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 44:57
  SPEAKER_00: It's the F-bomb.
• 44:58
  SPEAKER_00: It hasn't got the C-bomb.
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_01: But swearing is one thing.
• 45:02
  SPEAKER_01: My issue is,
• 45:02
  SPEAKER_01: say,
• 45:03
  I've got a girl doing grade six and she's doing Juliet about to
• 45:07
  swallow the poison.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_01: And I want a comedy for her.
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_01: I put this on the forum.
• 45:11
  SPEAKER_01: I want an intense comedy because she's very intense.
• 45:15
  And I want to show her that you can be funny and intense at the
• 45:17
  same time,
• 45:18
  right?
• 45:19
  SPEAKER_01: And somebody suggested Immaculate.
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_01: I started reading Immaculate.
• 45:24
  SPEAKER_01: And it's great.
• 45:24
  SPEAKER_01: It's a great suggestion.
• 45:25
  SPEAKER_01: But my God, within the first page, it's references.
• 45:28
  SPEAKER_01: It's not just swearing.
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_01: It's like really graphic,
• 45:31
  SPEAKER_01: very funnily written,
• 45:33
  SPEAKER_01: clever,
• 45:33
  SPEAKER_01: love it,
• 45:34
  SPEAKER_01: but very graphic about what a sex worker does.
• 45:38
  SPEAKER_01: And this girl is in year 10.
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_01: She's very mature.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_01: Her parents are liberal.
• 45:41
  SPEAKER_01: I don't feel comfortable saying to this 15-year-old girl,
• 45:45
  here talk about the bodily fluids this person has in her hair
• 45:49
  you know it's
• 45:49
  literally that level so and i i'm confused as to why people put
• 45:55
  on the forum oh
• 45:56
  i've got this great suggestion do this and then you read it and
• 46:00
  we're talking about
• 46:01
  clean pieces for younger students doing medals things like um
• 46:05
  is it called Linda
• 46:06
  the play Linda which is again great play full of the c-word
• 46:09
  full of references to
• 46:10
  suicide that is not that is not a lightweight play funny though
• 46:14
  it is clever though
• 46:14
  it is brilliant though it is that is not a play for somebody in
• 46:17
  year nine or
• 46:18
  SPEAKER_01: whatever it might be you know
• 46:20
  SPEAKER_02: Is this me?
• 46:22
  SPEAKER_02: No,
• 46:22
  SPEAKER_02: I mean,
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_02: so I've got the wonderful,
• 46:25
  SPEAKER_02: one of my,
• 46:26
  SPEAKER_02: she's a fabulous student and she's doing,
• 46:28
  she's done Lambda with me for years and now she's applying to
• 46:31
  Brit school for sixth
• 46:32
  SPEAKER_02: form.
• 46:33
  SPEAKER_02: And she said, so from their chosen list, I'm going to do Galloper Pace.
• 46:38
  SPEAKER_02: I was like, great, okay.
• 46:39
  And it was very clear when she started doing it,
• 46:42
  she hasn't got a clue what it's about.
• 46:45
  and um not not really she knows Juliet and she's watched the
• 46:49
  film and she's you
• 46:50
  know um and she is going to be 16 soon but I just thought as we
• 46:55
  were going through
• 46:55
  the language I thought I have to word this very carefully this
• 46:59
  is about her
• 47:01
  thinking about losing her virginity and about um all that
• 47:05
  vulnerability and that
• 47:06
  SPEAKER_02: excitement and fear and
• 47:08
  SPEAKER_02: And actually loneliness, because she can't talk to anyone about it.
• 47:11
  SPEAKER_02: All of which is,
• 47:12
  SPEAKER_02: this girl may well be experiencing all that,
• 47:14
  SPEAKER_02: but that's not a conversation I can have with a 15-year-old.
• 47:19
  SPEAKER_02: And so I just had to, you know, it's how you word it.
• 47:23
  SPEAKER_02: And that's Romeo and Juliet, you know, in year nine.
• 47:27
  SPEAKER_02: So...
• 47:30
  SPEAKER_02: How do you,
• 47:31
  SPEAKER_02: you know,
• 47:31
  SPEAKER_02: there are lots of other speeches are much easier to manage,
• 47:34
  but I thought I can't send her off to the Brit school without
• 47:36
  really knowing what
• 47:37
  SPEAKER_02: this piece is about.
• 47:38
  SPEAKER_02: I think a key thing... It doesn't embarrass, you know.
• 47:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, Helen.
• 47:42
  SPEAKER_00: So a key thing is,
• 47:44
  SPEAKER_00: isn't it,
• 47:44
  SPEAKER_00: is actually saying to them,
• 47:49
  SPEAKER_00: you can't play a part that you don't understand the emotions of.
• 47:55
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, you'd never get a child to...
• 48:00
  childbirth or something like do you know what i mean you just
• 48:03
  oh it's in the
• 48:04
  anthology i think at grade three two unborn twin fetuses going
• 48:09
  through it from the
• 48:10
  SPEAKER_01: inside out is that volume five yeah i've fallen out with that one
• 48:16
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just, yes, I'm falling out with that one big style.
• 48:21
  SPEAKER_00: I do say if they haven't, if they haven't experienced that.
• 48:25
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not sure if I agree with you.
• 48:27
  I'm going to push back a tiny bit because I think that I get
• 48:31
  students all the time
• 48:34
  SPEAKER_01: to go through things.
• 48:36
  experiences that they have never been through the feeling not
• 48:41
  the not necessarily
• 48:43
  the experience then the feeling so if it's if they're in a
• 48:46
  particular situation
• 48:48
  which is quite grown up but actually when you lock down on it
• 48:50
  that's like intense
• 48:51
  embarrassment you can go for that yeah but even what what's the
• 48:55
  feeling of
• 48:55
  SPEAKER_01: childbirth vulnerability pain
• 49:00
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 49:00
  I mean,
• 49:02
  not that I have ever given a student a monologue about giving
• 49:05
  birth before.
• 49:07
  Yeah,
• 49:08
  it's things that they're not ready for,
• 49:10
  then,
• 49:11
  though,
• 49:11
  that kind of...
• 49:15
  some students won't be so like you know okay we there's a scene
• 49:18
  in swallow where
• 49:20
  she throws glass she throws a bottle of wine against the wall
• 49:23
  and she throws her
• 49:24
  glass against the wall and then later she comes back into the
• 49:27
  room and she forgets
• 49:27
  about the glass and she she falls and this piece of glass goes
• 49:32
  through her cheek um
• 49:35
  and uh and and that's kind of where she first experiences the
• 49:40
  kind of almost like
• 49:41
  SPEAKER_01: the
• 49:42
  SPEAKER_01: not the pleasure of pain,
• 49:44
  SPEAKER_01: but the relief that it can bring you when you're in a very,
• 49:48
  SPEAKER_01: very heightened state.
• 49:50
  SPEAKER_01: And I had to,
• 49:52
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 49:52
  SPEAKER_01: again,
• 49:52
  SPEAKER_01: this is a student I know well,
• 49:54
  SPEAKER_01: been teaching her since she was nine years old.
• 49:56
  SPEAKER_01: She's now doing her grade eight.
• 49:58
  SPEAKER_01: I've talked to the parent about the content of this play and said,
• 50:01
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 50:01
  SPEAKER_01: please read it before,
• 50:03
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 50:03
  SPEAKER_01: if you want to,
• 50:04
  SPEAKER_01: or if you want to discuss anything,
• 50:05
  SPEAKER_01: parents like,
• 50:06
  SPEAKER_01: nah,
• 50:06
  SPEAKER_01: it's fine.
• 50:08
  SPEAKER_01: students loving something a bit grittier.
• 50:11
  And the way I suddenly had this idea that before she pulls this
• 50:14
  piece of glass out
• 50:16
  SPEAKER_01: of her cheek,
• 50:17
  SPEAKER_01: she's like exploring it with her tongue,
• 50:19
  SPEAKER_01: that she could like actually push it further and then pull it out.
• 50:25
  I thought that was like this moment where she suddenly goes,
• 50:29
  you know,
• 50:30
  we explored that.
• 50:31
  SPEAKER_01: And then I suddenly thought, oh my God, if this is a student who...
• 50:37
  might have had an experience of self-harm or whatever but I it
• 50:42
  was a one-to-one
• 50:42
  class so I could talk to her about it and I said look I've had
• 50:46
  this idea you you
• 50:48
  know what what do you think and she loved it she was like and I
• 50:51
  said is this going
• 50:52
  to be a difficult thing for you she was like nah love it and so
• 50:58
  we went for it and
• 50:59
  SPEAKER_01: I think I don't know do you think I'm a terrible teacher for doing that
• 51:04
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 51:05
  SPEAKER_01: So I think you have to tread carefully.
• 51:07
  SPEAKER_00: It is the student.
• 51:12
  SPEAKER_03: And your relationship with the student.
• 51:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah,
• 51:14
  SPEAKER_00: because as you're talking,
• 51:15
  SPEAKER_00: I think about one of my grade eights and you're just going,
• 51:19
  SPEAKER_00: you could never.
• 51:21
  But then I'm thinking about the GCSE girl I'm working with and
• 51:24
  I'm like,
• 51:24
  yes,
• 51:24
  she could.
• 51:25
  SPEAKER_00: It is very much.
• 51:28
  SPEAKER_01: We just had our results.
• 51:29
  SPEAKER_01: She got 97.
• 51:30
  SPEAKER_01: Oh.
• 51:31
  SPEAKER_01: For her grade eight.
• 51:33
  SPEAKER_01: That's amazing.
• 51:36
  SPEAKER_01: So again,
• 51:37
  SPEAKER_01: it's obviously a student who is like brave and prepared to kind of,
• 51:43
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 51:43
  SPEAKER_01: make those kind of interesting choices,
• 51:45
  SPEAKER_01: I suppose.
• 51:46
  But this partly comes back to age and what they've done and
• 51:49
  blah,
• 51:49
  blah,
• 51:50
  blah,
• 51:50
  because...
• 51:52
  on the flip side I've got a year 11 doing grade 6 new to Lambda
• 51:55
  but does drama GCSE
• 51:57
  he wants to do his GCSE set text for his monologues which is
• 52:03
  working brilliantly
• 52:03
  because he knows he's got ADHD and he's got lots of barriers
• 52:06
  and things that won't
• 52:07
  swear he won't you know there's lots of things he's not
• 52:09
  comfortable with but he has
• 52:11
  all this control because he's saying i want to do macbeth and
• 52:13
  woman in black i know
• 52:14
  the plays he knows that he's comfortable and that's great
• 52:17
  because he's brought it
• 52:18
  to me what's tricky is if they're a bit younger they don't know
• 52:21
  any plays and this
• 52:22
  is what i would say this is one of the reasons i say to okay no
• 52:24
  grade six till
• 52:25
  SPEAKER_01: they're older because they need to know some plays
• 52:28
  SPEAKER_01: So I,
• 52:29
  SPEAKER_01: so let this,
• 52:30
  SPEAKER_01: this brings us onto the final bit of the meeting,
• 52:32
  SPEAKER_01: which I know we're overrunning a bit.
• 52:33
  SPEAKER_01: And if you, if you need to go, that's fine.
• 52:35
  SPEAKER_01: But I would say grade six,
• 52:39
  I avoid all of the things that I've just been talking about
• 52:42
  swallow and even
• 52:43
  SPEAKER_01: sometimes DNA can be.
• 52:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 52:47
  a lot at grade six my grade six choices for the modern play
• 52:51
  i'll still do greek
• 52:52
  tragedy and stuff um because again you've got that that
• 52:55
  distance in the language
• 52:56
  SPEAKER_01: and stuff um but i will try and give them pieces from plays that are
• 53:07
  you know,
• 53:08
  that have been written kind of with children in mind,
• 53:11
  I suppose.
• 53:12
  SPEAKER_01: So things like Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,
• 53:17
  SPEAKER_01: things like The Ocean at the End of the Lane,
• 53:23
  SPEAKER_01: The Curious Incident.
• 53:27
  SPEAKER_01: What other ones spring to mind?
• 53:29
  SPEAKER_01: I've just seen Ballet Shoes.
• 53:32
  if you haven't seen ballet shoes yet,
• 53:34
  as soon as you log off from this call,
• 53:37
  book your tickets.
• 53:38
  SPEAKER_01: What do you use from ballet shoes?
• 53:39
  Because the only bit I could find is Posey talking about
• 53:42
  finding the teacher dead
• 53:43
  SPEAKER_01: and it's quite a short one.
• 53:44
  SPEAKER_01: So I don't know because I haven't read the play.
• 53:47
  SPEAKER_01: I've only seen it and I cried for two and a half hours.
• 53:50
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, isn't it gorgeous?
• 53:51
  SPEAKER_01: It is one of the best shows I've ever seen.
• 53:53
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely loved it.
• 53:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um,
• 53:55
  SPEAKER_01: But there must be maybe duologues between the girls.
• 53:58
  SPEAKER_01: I think there might be.
• 53:59
  SPEAKER_01: The scenes are quite short, but we'll talk about that.
• 54:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 54:02
  SPEAKER_01: But even like we went to see Stranger Things as our big Christmas show.
• 54:08
  SPEAKER_01: I bet there's something in there.
• 54:11
  SPEAKER_01: You know, but his dark material.
• 54:13
  SPEAKER_01: His dark material, I was just going to say, yeah.
• 54:15
  SPEAKER_01: But also,
• 54:16
  SPEAKER_01: if they want something a bit grittier,
• 54:18
  SPEAKER_01: there are plays like Who Cares,
• 54:19
  SPEAKER_01: which are full of monologues,
• 54:22
  SPEAKER_01: which there's a bit of mild,
• 54:25
  SPEAKER_01: I think there's a shit or two,
• 54:26
  SPEAKER_01: a bit of swearing.
• 54:31
  SPEAKER_01: There's a one-woman show by Anushka Warden called My Mum's a Twat,
• 54:36
  SPEAKER_01: which they all love because of the title.
• 54:40
  which is a one-woman show about a girl whose mum was a cult
• 54:44
  member and her experience of that.
• 54:47
  SPEAKER_01: Can I ask about a couple of plays?
• 54:49
  SPEAKER_01: How to Be a Kid, I don't know if you know that one.
• 54:52
  SPEAKER_01: I do know it.
• 54:52
  SPEAKER_01: I have looked at that one.
• 54:53
  SPEAKER_01: I usually use it with Level 1 and 2,
• 54:55
  SPEAKER_01: but I just wondered,
• 54:56
  SPEAKER_01: could you get away with it for Grade 6?
• 54:57
  SPEAKER_01: It is a play.
• 54:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes.
• 54:59
  um the other one i was thinking of oh published pay you can do
• 55:04
  it and heritage i
• 55:05
  think the grade two monologue from heritage which is a slightly
• 55:08
  different form in
• 55:09
  the national youth theater i think but one of those books is
• 55:13
  such a great piece for
• 55:14
  older girls it is pretty edgy if you read the whole play there
• 55:17
  is some strong
• 55:17
  language one of the central characters is called dickhead why
• 55:20
  why did they think
• 55:20
  SPEAKER_01: that was suitable for grade two but anyway
• 55:22
  SPEAKER_01: It's much more suitable for grades.
• 55:23
  SPEAKER_01: And for this grade six girl I was talking about,
• 55:25
  SPEAKER_01: it'd be brilliant for her,
• 55:27
  SPEAKER_01: but it's a two set piece.
• 55:28
  SPEAKER_01: Is the examiner going to judge you is what I'm saying.
• 55:32
  SPEAKER_01: Oh no, it's not a set piece anymore.
• 55:34
  SPEAKER_01: No, but technically it is, but it's still usable.
• 55:37
  SPEAKER_01: So is the examiner going to judge you is what I'm saying.
• 55:41
  SPEAKER_01: Listen, I've got a girl doing grade six
• 55:44
  SPEAKER_01: She's 13, nearly 14.
• 55:46
  Again,
• 55:47
  you know,
• 55:48
  don't really want to,
• 55:49
  but she's been working on it for nine months.
• 55:52
  SPEAKER_01: I think I'm going to have to enter her now.
• 55:54
  SPEAKER_01: Her classical piece is Alice in Wonderland from the,
• 55:59
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 56:00
  SPEAKER_01: 1928 play or 1895 play version of it.
• 56:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 56:05
  SPEAKER_01: So it has got that kind of very period arch style to it, but...
• 56:13
  SPEAKER_01: It's a character she knows and a story she knows.
• 56:16
  SPEAKER_01: Look at plays like Wizard of Oz and things like that.
• 56:22
  SPEAKER_01: You know, slightly old.
• 56:23
  SPEAKER_01: I wouldn't do Roald Dahl stuff.
• 56:27
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's too easy, even though they are full-length plays.
• 56:31
  SPEAKER_01: But things that are a little bit more classical in style.
• 56:37
  SPEAKER_01: I've got great pieces from The Wizard of Oz.
• 56:40
  Dorothy,
• 56:40
  Scarecrow,
• 56:41
  Tin Man,
• 56:43
  that I used for grade six for their pre-1980.
• 56:48
  SPEAKER_01: They also, you know, Akebourne.
• 56:54
  SPEAKER_01: There's Gizmo, isn't there?
• 56:57
  SPEAKER_01: There's a great duologue in Gizmo between Ben and the porter.
• 57:05
  SPEAKER_01: where they have, you know, they have to do this.
• 57:08
  SPEAKER_01: You have to choreograph it really carefully.
• 57:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 57:13
  SPEAKER_01: But any other suggestions?
• 57:16
  I've reeled off a few and I will list them in the notes that
• 57:20
  accompany this recording.
• 57:22
  SPEAKER_02: Mine that are particularly,
• 57:24
  SPEAKER_02: so if you've got younger ones doing grade six,
• 57:26
  SPEAKER_02: two of my go-to just in terms of,
• 57:29
  SPEAKER_02: or they are age appropriate kids,
• 57:31
  SPEAKER_02: you know,
• 57:31
  SPEAKER_02: say they're like 16,
• 57:32
  SPEAKER_02: but they don't like things that are too sweary or content.
• 57:35
  SPEAKER_02: Alice by Laura Wade is always a great one for two logs.
• 57:39
  SPEAKER_02: Right, yeah.
• 57:40
  SPEAKER_02: And especially if you've got one week student, one strong.
• 57:45
  SPEAKER_02: And She-Wolves is wonderful.
• 57:48
  SPEAKER_02: She-Wolves by Sarah Middleton is just packed full of duologues.
• 57:54
  SPEAKER_02: And my students adore them.
• 57:55
  SPEAKER_02: And there's tons and tons to choose from.
• 57:59
  SPEAKER_02: And in terms of content, it sort of challenges them and it's great fun.
• 58:05
  SPEAKER_02: But in terms of no, very little of the content will be triggering.
• 58:09
  SPEAKER_02: So if you need to play safe, they're my play safes.
• 58:13
  And I just want to say,
• 58:14
  I do Akebourne's Absurd Person Singular for a pre-1980 play.
• 58:24
  um and I remember another teacher in a school taking on one of
• 58:30
  my students who had
• 58:31
  done a scene uh from that and the teacher emailed me and said
• 58:36
  just you know a bit
• 58:37
  worried about this because it's all about you know that not the
• 58:41
  particular scene
• 58:41
  that the child is doing but that whole um act of the play is
• 58:45
  all about suicide and
• 58:48
  SPEAKER_01: I was like
• 58:49
  SPEAKER_01: you know, this is me.
• 58:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah,
• 58:51
  SPEAKER_01: but it's funny because Eva keeps trying to kill herself and they keep
• 58:55
  SPEAKER_01: misinterpreting what she's doing.
• 58:56
  They think she's cleaning the oven when she's trying to gasp
• 58:59
  herself or they think
• 59:00
  SPEAKER_01: she's like,
• 59:00
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 59:00
  trying to open the window to get a bit of fresh air when she's
• 59:03
  trying to throw
• 59:03
  herself out or they think that she's changing the light bulb
• 59:06
  when she's...
• 59:07
  SPEAKER_01: And so,
• 59:07
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 59:08
  SPEAKER_01: the bit of me that doesn't think very deeply is like,
• 59:12
  SPEAKER_01: yeah,
• 59:12
  SPEAKER_01: that's fine.
• 59:13
  SPEAKER_01: That's funny.
• 59:14
  SPEAKER_01: But of course, what this teacher...
• 59:16
  alerted me to is that for some students,
• 59:21
  reading that play might be really deeply upsetting.
• 59:24
  And even if we don't think that there is an obvious trigger
• 59:29
  warning or reason to
• 59:31
  SPEAKER_01: email parents about a play,
• 59:34
  SPEAKER_01: Because I've never,
• 59:35
  SPEAKER_01: up until now,
• 59:36
  SPEAKER_01: or up until then,
• 59:37
  SPEAKER_01: I had never emailed a parent to say,
• 59:38
  SPEAKER_01: oh,
• 59:38
  SPEAKER_01: we're going to do Absurd Person Singular and this contains some adults.
• 59:43
  SPEAKER_01: I just thought, oh, well, that one's fine.
• 59:44
  SPEAKER_01: I would with,
• 59:45
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 59:46
  something like Swallow or some of the Sheila Stevenson plays
• 59:50
  Memory of Water and
• 59:52
  SPEAKER_01: things like that.
• 59:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 59:54
  SPEAKER_01: But I never have with that one.
• 59:56
  SPEAKER_01: And of course,
• 59:57
  SPEAKER_01: I think as teachers,
• 59:58
  SPEAKER_01: we need to,
• 59:59
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 59:59
  SPEAKER_01: just because something's a comedy,
• 1:00:01
  SPEAKER_01: as Rachel said,
• 1:00:02
  SPEAKER_01: with the macula and other things,
• 1:00:03
  doesn't mean that there aren't kind of things that could be
• 1:00:08
  upsetting for students.
• 1:00:10
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:00:10
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 1:00:11
  So there's a monologue some of my grade six students love from
• 1:00:15
  burying my brother
• 1:00:16
  SPEAKER_02: in the pavement.
• 1:00:17
  SPEAKER_02: It's funny and it's dark,
• 1:00:19
  SPEAKER_02: but I always email the parents and say,
• 1:00:21
  SPEAKER_02: listen,
• 1:00:21
  SPEAKER_02: this is the premise is a murdered sibling.
• 1:00:24
  SPEAKER_02: So,
• 1:00:25
  SPEAKER_02: you know,
• 1:00:25
  SPEAKER_02: and even with Fast,
• 1:00:27
  SPEAKER_02: you know,
• 1:00:27
  SPEAKER_02: the grade four piece Fast,
• 1:00:29
  SPEAKER_02: which is about two girls reeling from their dad's suicide.
• 1:00:33
  SPEAKER_02: Is that in the new anthology?
• 1:00:35
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:00:36
  SPEAKER_02: Like Helen, I don't have a brilliant relationship with that anthology.
• 1:00:39
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:00:40
  SPEAKER_02: No, but my kids love that.
• 1:00:42
  SPEAKER_02: Do they love it?
• 1:00:44
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I always email the parents.
• 1:00:46
  SPEAKER_01: Because you don't know.
• 1:00:47
  There may be some family history that,
• 1:00:51
  you know,
• 1:00:52
  is going to just...
• 1:00:53
  Yeah.
• 1:00:54
  SPEAKER_01: Having said that,
• 1:00:55
  SPEAKER_01: now this isn't Lambda,
• 1:00:56
  SPEAKER_01: but this is a show that I directed for our local Andram Society.
• 1:01:01
  SPEAKER_01: My mother said I never should, which you probably all know.
• 1:01:05
  SPEAKER_01: But, you know, one of the central things that happens is that
• 1:01:08
  SPEAKER_01: the mother,
• 1:01:09
  SPEAKER_01: who she thinks is her grandmother,
• 1:01:10
  SPEAKER_01: dies of cancer two thirds of the way through the play.
• 1:01:14
  SPEAKER_01: One of the girls that came to audition,
• 1:01:16
  because I actually did it with children playing the children
• 1:01:19
  and adults playing the
• 1:01:20
  SPEAKER_01: adults,
• 1:01:21
  SPEAKER_01: which are not meant to do,
• 1:01:22
  SPEAKER_01: but I did.
• 1:01:23
  SPEAKER_01: One of the girls who came to audition,
• 1:01:25
  SPEAKER_01: the audition took place three days after her mother's funeral.
• 1:01:30
  SPEAKER_01: Her mother had died of cancer and she was
• 1:01:33
  SPEAKER_01: absolutely brilliant and knocked out the park.
• 1:01:36
  And I wanted to cast her in the show,
• 1:01:38
  but obviously,
• 1:01:40
  you know,
• 1:01:40
  I needed to check.
• 1:01:41
  SPEAKER_01: And so I called her dad and I said, she was phenomenal.
• 1:01:45
  SPEAKER_01: Do you know what this play is about?
• 1:01:47
  SPEAKER_01: Does she know what this play is about?
• 1:01:49
  SPEAKER_01: I want to cast her, but I need to make sure she's going to be okay.
• 1:01:54
  SPEAKER_01: And he wrote back and said, yeah, she knows.
• 1:01:57
  SPEAKER_01: And I know, and she really wants to do it.
• 1:01:59
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, if, if, if you want to cast her, that's amazing.
• 1:02:04
  And she was brilliant and had such an amazing experience doing
• 1:02:10
  this show.
• 1:02:11
  SPEAKER_01: You know,
• 1:02:12
  SPEAKER_01: the four children that were in it,
• 1:02:14
  SPEAKER_01: honestly,
• 1:02:14
  I think it was like a formative experience for the four of them
• 1:02:18
  because they were
• 1:02:19
  SPEAKER_01: with adults that were nurturing and kind and loving and compassionate.
• 1:02:23
  SPEAKER_01: And she was able to,
• 1:02:25
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 1:02:25
  explore some of those feelings that she was feeling in real
• 1:02:28
  life in a safe
• 1:02:29
  SPEAKER_01: environment.
• 1:02:30
  So it's not that you're necessarily saying you shouldn't be
• 1:02:34
  doing this if you've
• 1:02:35
  SPEAKER_01: got,
• 1:02:38
  SPEAKER_01: if you might find it upsetting,
• 1:02:40
  SPEAKER_01: but you just need to check in,
• 1:02:43
  SPEAKER_01: right?
• 1:02:43
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:02:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:02:46
  SPEAKER_01: OK.
• 1:02:47
  I think we are unless there are any other plays that you
• 1:02:50
  suddenly thought of that
• 1:02:51
  SPEAKER_01: are PG,
• 1:02:53
  not going to upset anyone suitable for younger students doing
• 1:02:57
  medal exams or older
• 1:02:59
  SPEAKER_01: students who maybe aren't ready for that big life stuff.
• 1:03:05
  SPEAKER_01: Speak now.
• 1:03:06
  SPEAKER_01: Can you do blue stockings grade six?
• 1:03:10
  SPEAKER_02: That's always a safe bet.
• 1:03:12
  SPEAKER_02: But is there a long enough piece?
• 1:03:14
  SPEAKER_01: This is my frustration.
• 1:03:15
  SPEAKER_01: I just struggle to find... Two logs.
• 1:03:16
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, two logs.
• 1:03:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, for monologues.
• 1:03:18
  SPEAKER_01: There's so little.
• 1:03:20
  Again,
• 1:03:20
  people suggest things on the forum and they're like...
• 1:03:22
  And they're dumb to death anyway.
• 1:03:23
  SPEAKER_02: That's why...
• 1:03:23
  SPEAKER_01: I don't mind that for exams,
• 1:03:25
  SPEAKER_01: but if it's like 30 seconds worth...
• 1:03:27
  SPEAKER_01: That's why Who Cares is so good and my mum's a twat.
• 1:03:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:03:35
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of our students love girls like that, which again... Yes!
• 1:03:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yes!
• 1:03:39
  um you don't like we we do lots of um girls like that but um
• 1:03:45
  you know again gritty
• 1:03:48
  stuff yeah i hate it i find it really misogynistic i i really
• 1:03:52
  yeah i really hate it
• 1:03:53
  all right yeah yeah it's written by a man isn't it i just know
• 1:03:57
  it's victim blaming
• 1:03:58
  and i just hated it sorry don't you think he's saying that it's
• 1:04:03
  not victim blaming
• 1:04:04
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 1:04:06
  SPEAKER_01: Or that you shouldn't victim.
• 1:04:08
  SPEAKER_01: That wasn't my takeaway.
• 1:04:10
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't get that subtlety from it.
• 1:04:12
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe I'm missing something, but it just annoyed me.
• 1:04:15
  SPEAKER_01: It slightly annoyed me that it's written by a man,
• 1:04:17
  SPEAKER_01: but I also sort of thought he did quite a good job.
• 1:04:20
  LAUGHTER
• 1:04:22
  oh well opinions uh josephine and i from the whole i know
• 1:04:26
  there's the there's the
• 1:04:27
  one that's done in grade five but um so i've i've quite a lot
• 1:04:31
  of black students
• 1:04:32
  it's it's the they adore the play and the very first the very
• 1:04:37
  first scene is an
• 1:04:39
  absolute gift and it's okay brilliant really funny it's
• 1:04:42
  glorious and if you're yeah
• 1:04:44
  SPEAKER_02: okay that's a good one that's a nice mono
• 1:04:47
  SPEAKER_01: All right, we're going to have to leave it there.
• 1:04:50
  SPEAKER_01: But thank you so much for joining us.
• 1:04:54
  SPEAKER_01: And I will write up the notes and put them in the group.
• 1:05:03
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, bye bye.