In May, our LAMDA students in Years 3-8 sat their exams, performing for a visiting examiner and answering knowledge-based questions about aspects of speech, language and performance and the content of their prepared pieces. LAMDA (London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art) is an internationally renowned Drama school which has been accrediting exams in communication and performance for 130 years. Pupils can take exams in different subject areas including Public Speaking, Verse and Prose and Acting with the content and complexity of set pieces becoming more challenging as students progress.
The children then performed their exam pieces for their families as part of the LAMDA showcase events the following week. It is great for the children to be able to perform to a larger audience and share their hard work with their parents, siblings and friends. Many of our children were inspired by watching one another’s performances which ranged from The Wind in the Willows, to Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night to Tim Stoppard’s Rozencrantz and Gildenstern. All the children should be very proud of themselves for memorising their lines, engaging with complex texts and pushing themselves to embody a character. It is so important that children have opportunities to grow in confidence and develop the communications skills that they will need in life to advocate for themselves. Myself and Miss GC greatly enjoy watching the children develop and believe that a child’s participation in the arts can truly be transformational.
We now wait in anticipation for the examination results. We are pleased to be able to offer further places for children wanting to work towards LAMDA exams next year and also introduce a new opportunity from September for children to work towards exams in Screen Acting with MN Awards who specialise in acting for TV and Film. Packwood is the first to offer this qualification locally and we believe this will appeal to children who want to learn about differences in acting techniques as well as communicating effectively on screen using the technology that we all now encounter on a daily basis.
If you have any further questions about LAMDA or MN Awards, please contact Miss Dunn: md@packwood.school
