b'can be obtained from studying Grades 6, 7 or 8 in any subject.Here at HGS, we tend to concentrate on the first of these three. This is partly because the Public Speaking subject is where we see the greatest demand but also because it is hugely creative CONFIDENT AT SPEAKING IN PUBLIC? and interesting. Students have to create the speech themselves; they have to research it and then they have to put it together in a way that will have maximum impact.Acting and the Speaking of Verse and Prose are also valued and At some point in life there will almost certainly come an occasionenjoyable subjects. Students immerse themselves in the life of the when you have to give a presentation or make a speech. Forcharacter they are representing, exploring and analysing a range some of us, this will happen multiple times, and you want to be atof texts, and thus their creative and empathetic side is developed.your best, for your speech to be heard and to make that speechHow does it work? Each week, students attend a thirty-minute land with impact. lesson to work on their chosen LAMDA subject, working on How many of us wish we had had coaching in public speakingperformance skills, presentation skills, text analysis, all aspects skills at school? Then we would have the confidence and theof vocal training (including breathing, projection, articulation and technique to do it well. pronunciation), confidence and self-esteem.The speech and drama lessons offered at Handsworth GrammarStudents and their parents often comment on a general increase School develop the skills that our students will be able to take within personal confidence and self-esteem that flows from taking them on their journey through life. They learn, for example, how toLAMDA classes. The value of this is incalculable. As we all know, start a speech in an engaging, intriguing way; they learn the art ofpersonal interaction and confidence is critical to success in life.stage movement and gesture, and so much more. If you believe your son may benefit from studying LAMDA tuition LAMDA (London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art) providesthen please contact me: areynolds@handsworth.bham.sch.uk.a structured and progressive range of examinations in SpeakingMiss A. Reynolds (LAMDA Teacher)in Public, Acting, and Verse and Prose. Medals and UCAS points AFTER THE OFSTEDINSPECTORS CALLEDSchool inspections always begin withwho take centre stage on the English phone calls, but the twentieth-centuryLiterature course. These literary works drama An Inspector Calls famously endsare also amongst the most popular texts with one, as J. B. Priestleys searingfor television, film and radio adaptations, indictment of class prejudice and socialespecially An Inspector Calls. This can injustice reaches its climax. And it was thispresent difficulties for students seeking dramatic moment which recently broughtto appreciate the play as a performance, to a close a new and exciting productionas adapted versions, with their additions of the play, performed by the fledglingand omissions, can mislead or present School Staffroom Theatre Company at thesubjective interpretations by individual beginning of April this year. directors.Together with Shakespeares Macbeth,Enter the School Staffroom Theatre Dickens A Christmas Carol, andCompany stage right to provide a solution. Stevensons The Strange Case of Dr JekyllDrawing on acting skills from across the and Mr Hyde, Priestleys play remains aschool departments, budding Handsworth perennial favourite at GCSE for schoolthespians stepped forward to deliverSalmaan Ahmad in Year 12. Despite initial English departments up and down thewhat can only be described as Oscar-appearances, the seemingly relaxed and land, as it continues to hold teenagers inand BAFTA-winning performances, in ancomfortable opening of the play soon gave suspense with its many twists and turns.online production organised in time for theway to a series of dramatic confrontations, The story of an Edwardian familys slow- Easter break to support Year 11 in theiras the staff theatre company energetically motion car crash, caught in the glare ofexam preparation and revision. Gatheredand enthusiastically threw themselves into a police inspectors headlights, in factaround the plays celebration diningtheir roles, using J. B. Priestleys detailed shares similar themes with the othertable were Mr Organ and Mrs Hibbertstage directions to create scenes of literary works studied by Years 10 and 11as the Birling parents, Miss Morgan anddramatic revelation, as plot twists wrungpersonal ambition, social responsibilityMr Sanders as their children, Sheila andthe truth from characters determined to and the abuse of power, with studentsEric, and Dr Tepe completing the dinnerconceal it.often recognising a number of otherparty as Gerald Croft. Verbal sparring interesting similarities between the setcommenced upon the sudden arrival ofFollowing the school performance, another texts. Each play and novel, for example,Inspector Goole, played by Mr Conway,phone call is now eagerly anticipated and explores in very different settings thewho was admitted to the dining room byawaited in school, not from some fictional presence of the supernatural as a possibleEdna, the housemaid, performed by Mrsinvestigating police officers, not from explanation for the events which unfold,Bedson from the school sixth form. StudioOfsted, but who knows? The BBC? with Priestleys Inspector Goole perhapsproduction was skilfully provided by MrHollywood? They have our number and the most enigmatic and mysterious figureHinton from the schools ICT Resourcesknow where to contact us.amongst the many individual charactersDepartment, who was ably assisted by 41'