Drama encourages children to stand in the shoes of another, to see the world from a variety of stances, to work socially to understand both thought and feeling, indeed, it nurtures emotional intelligence, awareness and sensitivity.

Drama is given a tiny corner of the curriculum in KS3, it is a social art form and a space in which children should be invited and actively encouraged to explore the world as they see it.

Like a game of grandma's footsteps, protecting into a role takes negotiation, skill and sensitivity from the teacher who must act as artist, assessing the moment and judging the pace.

"School Drama is in crisis!" we are being told. "What - again?" might well be your response. Certainly the subject - along with its sister discipline English - has been through endless trials and tribulations during the period of pedagogical uncertainty which many commentators have identified since the establishment of the National Curriculum at the end of the 1980s. But (whisper it...) is there something about Drama educators which means that we enjoy - as we do in the plays we teach and direct - the crisis, the tension, the confrontation?

When it came to choosing a set text for Component 3, Dennis Kelly’s ‘DNA’ seemed an obvious choice. The characters are teenagers in Year 11 who have bullied a young boy – sadly a universal theme amongst secondary schools.

A statement from the NEC of the NATD in response to the death of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter Movement that renews our commitment to developing a Living Curriculum; an education that meets the needs of our young people.