Introduce GCSE Dance

Welcome to ArtsPool, you are considering introducing GCSE Dance to your school curriculum. This is a big investment in your school, and it will certainly add to your profile. You, as dance teachers know how beneficial the arts are. They offer so much more than is ever given credit for by the powers that be. For students, they can be a lifeline. For the more academically challenged they are an outlet to express themselves, offering creative freedom that the sciences do not! Equally, for the academic students, the release is often the same, it takes the pressure away from the more stringent subjects, giving them the space to be expressive. As a dance teacher in your own school, you have the base on which to build. Your students already have the passion to dance, this will give them a head start and the opportunity to work towards an extra GCSE doing something they love. Why GCSE Dance?  This creative qualification will develop students’ ability to choreograph, perform and appreciate dances through observing, discussing and actively exploring dance styles. It requires literacy and numeracy skills, awareness of space and musical feeling. Self-reflection, interpersonal skills and teamwork enable students to develop their creative, artistic, social and physical skills. AQA worked with dance teachers and subject experts to create a specification that gives teachers the freedom to create lessons that will inspire and motivate all their students.                                                                       AQA Spec 8236 2016 “I am an extra-curricular Dance teacher teaching dance outside the school setting. I have offered GCSE Dance to my dance school for a few years. ArtsPool has been an amazing resource that has been essential in helping me to do this. The staff are incredibly helpful and knowledgeable. All of the resources have helped make the teaching of the theory work much more straightforward. The student workbooks with teachers’ answer booklets have saved many hours as it has meant I did not need to create my own resource packs. I would highly recommend ArtsPool to anyone who is looking for any help teaching GCSE Dance.” Kirsty Nicholson LRAD, AISTD, BA (Hons) Art and Teaching of Ballet I, like you have my own dance school. I have been running it for 40 years. 15 years ago, I was looking to add something new to our existing curriculum and discovered AQA GCSE Dance. It gave me a new challenge and added to the diversity of the school. It also brings in external students. My daughter Charis works with me. We work well as a team and between us cover all aspects of GCSE dance, practical and theoretical. So, you get 2 for the price of 1.