Next, we headed into the dance studio where we properly introduced ourselves. Each of us shared a bit about who we are and offered some advice to help the newcomers settle in. It felt good to share what we’ve learned and make others feel welcome. After introductions, we set some ground rules as a group, which helped establish a respectful and comfortable space for everyone.

Once we were back in the theatre, we played a few icebreaker games to keep the energy up and continue getting to know each other. One of the highlights of the day was performing an improv based on the story of The Three Little Pigs. It was hilarious, spontaneous, and brought out everyone’s creativity.

To end the session on a high note, we played Just Dance, which was a great way to bond through movement and have some laughs together.

Overall, it was a really fun and engaging first day. I’m excited to see how this group grows over the next few sessions.

After that, we moved into a run-around activity focused on creativity — not through imagination, but in a more literal sense. We explored different paces and beats, practicing focus, engagement, and relatability through movement. It was an interesting way to think about how physicality and rhythm affect our creativity and how we connect with an audience.

Next, we played a few games like Stuck in the Mud and a ball game to build energy and teamwork. These helped strengthen group dynamics and encouraged us to work together, which is key for the next stages of our project.

We also set up our Wix websites, Padlet, and YouTube channels, which will be important for documenting our process. These platforms will be used to share our research, performance clips, photos, reflections, and everything related to our digital portfolios.

We were introduced to Project 1, which will run from Tuesday 8th September to Wednesday 22nd October. Our main goal is to create and deliver a live mini musical, incorporating all three performance elements: acting, singing, and dancing. This project will cover three units and help us build essential performance and production skills.

It was a busy but exciting day. There’s a lot to do, but I’m looking forward to the challenge. This project will really push me to grow in all areas — performance, research, and production — and I’m excited to get started!

Later on, the Extendeds came in to visit us. It was their first day back, and they gave us a brief insight into what it’s like moving up from Level 3 to the Extended course. They also offered us some advice for making the most of Level 3, which was helpful and encouraging — it made things feel a bit more real in terms of what’s ahead and how we can prepare for it.

We then took part in a few group activities with Level 2 and the Extended students, which helped break the ice and gave us a chance to connect across the different year groups. It was a fun way to build a sense of community within the department.

After that, we had a group meeting to talk about upcoming trips. The one I’m most excited about is the Italy trip — I really hope I can get a spot! It sounds like such a fun experience, but also an amazing learning opportunity, especially in terms of culture and performance.

To end the day, we received the scripts for our first project. We only had a brief read-through.

Overall I enjoyed today and am excited to dive into the new project as this year I want to focus on getting more into my characters.

We also looked at the meaning of the play and the story it comes with so we can understand our scenes better and act around it which was really I trestinf as I got to learn new things about les mis

We ended our practical lesson with a quick run through adding the new things we had learnt to our characters

We then had a theory lesson and started our research on les mis For our Wix site

We then went on to start our dance rehearsals for les mis with Jacob. Which was interesting to see what he had came up with and was fun to work with someone new. Although I would have loved to do more of a dance his ideas are great and is really helping us characterising our characters.

We then did a pd lesson where we learnt about democracy which I found really helpful as I'm not really politically taught. We then did a vote on crisp flavours to step into democracy a little more which was fun.

We then had our last lesson which was a vocal lesson where we focused on our song for les mis which was very helpful as we hadn’t gone over it yet but got very overwhelming with all the different things going on at once. Due to this I went and watched the level 2s work which I thought was fabulous and got given the amazing chance to work with them and help finishing there dances which I’m really looking forward to do.

These where are notes: Flags are to postery and hiding behind them and not giving anything flag only last chorus  flags icing we need to bake the cake

Passion for characters float around like a child more confidence happy that we did song more entry on being proud authenticity

Song needs more projection more characterisation keep chin up and out direction push out as loud and proud as possible make a point need more fight and passion more realisation come into a group the song develop through blocking.

This lesson was really helpful as we got feedback on our showpieces and I enjoyed performing it while being more in character but I wasn’t to impressed that people where laughing at our mistakes and sneering at each other.

We then moved on to our theory lessons where we went over many different things

These are my notes: Crotical awareness- become a critical thinker

Wat do you need to know about the topic or issue(les mis): the environment, the context, themes, couture, lyrical analysis, characters, creators, style, society(what was happening and social impact), politics(political influence), motives

Discovery and analyse( to find the point(quote) and exsplain

Rationalise and inference

Point

Evidence

Explain

Evaluate

D and A mean discover and analysis

R and I rationalise and influence

Referencing

Reference list or bibliography

Sources used: internet, YouTube, film, book, script, plays, books, interviews, photos, songs, newspaper, reviews, google scholar

How do you validate sources-look at who you are saying is a valid source(investigate)

Www.citethemright.com - sign in with college login

Different approaches, opened mind, different opinions, use your knowledge with support, don’t assure the info is correct, don’t take things at face value that you hear or read, don’t jump to consolations or presume you know it all

Reference style is Harvard

This session was very helpful as it helped me get a better understanding of my research and also gave me new resources to help me while doing my course work.

Overall today was a very productive and helpful.

We then had to go up to the high tech building for are headshots. I’m really excited to get these back.

We then had a theory lesson where we looked at risk assessments. This was helpful as it got a section done in my course work.

Over all today was helping as I got a lot done.

We then had our introduction session where we looked at run hide tell. We did some practice drills in the theatre where are teachers pretended to be terrorist and we had to hide. This was helpful as I’ve never acherly done a terrorist drill before and I learnt what to do.

We then had a theory lesson where I worked on summarising the story of Les mis. I surprised myself on how much I got done as I normally struggle with theory.

We ended our day with another practical session. In this session we got into our groups and discussed what needs to be worked on and what our strong points is. I realised we where quite set compared to some other groups so I decided to help

Choreograph the dance for west side story which was fun working with New people and getting an idea of there musical.

Overall today was fun and helpful.

When then had out theory lesson where I worked on my timeline and research the structure of Les mis as I’m behind quite a bit and struggling. We then planned what we should be doing over the best two weeks in preparation for our due date of our course work and our practical assessment.

I think the strengths today was that I came to the realisation that my course work was behind and acherly got a good bit done of it. Within practical I think the strengths where my character development throughout the rehearsal time we was given.

I think I need to improve on my movement and acting throughout our song as I lack a lot of development in that section. I also need to improve on my time management and concentration on my coursework.

My target for next week is to get a good chunk of my course work done and to work on the song with my group.

Overall I think today was very useful as I came to realisation of a lot of things and developed a lot throughout my sessions.

We then had our theory lesson of the day where I started my Padlet and also did some more of my Les mis research.

To finish our day we had a practical lesson to work on our project 1. We focused on just getting a couple runs through and getting it filmed for our Padlet but I didn’t acherly receive the video 😑.

The strengths throughout the day where my engagement writhing my lessons and getting through as many runs as we could have les mis.

My areas for improvement would be to get more of my course work done within my time given as I tend to get distracted easily in them lesson and also to work on remembering my last line in project 1.

My target would be to get a good chunk of my course work done and to learn my last line.

Today was quite an intense day — there was a bit of tension in the group this morning because some people had fallen out. Luckily, it didn’t involve me, but you could definitely feel the awkward atmosphere at first. Thankfully, everything got sorted out pretty quickly, and by the end of the day things felt much more relaxed again. I think the stress of the upcoming assessment just got to everyone a bit.

We spent the first part of the day rehearsing in our groups. I’ll be honest, it started off a bit chaotic — we couldn’t stop laughing and getting distracted! Still, we managed to pull ourselves together and go over the scenes properly. We talked about the bits we kept getting wrong so we knew exactly what to focus on before performing.

Later, we had PD with Sophie, where we filled out a few questionnaires. They actually helped me reflect on how I’ve been feeling lately and gave me a better sense of where I’m at personally and professionally. After that, we had theory with Ryan — he gave us one of his classic pep talks, which always helps calm my nerves and get me motivated before performing.

When assessment time finally came, we all did a group warm-up in the theatre — a couple of physical ones and then some vocal exercises to get ready. After that, we waited in the dance studio for our turn. My group ran through our piece a few times, but honestly, the run-throughs weren’t going great. Somehow though, when we actually got into the theatre and performed, it went so much better! It wasn’t perfect, but it definitely felt stronger and more focused than any of our rehearsals.

I think we all knew what we were doing — we just needed that extra bit of pressure to bring it together. If I could do it again, I’d definitely take the rehearsals more seriously right from the start and push myself further. I know I held back a little and didn’t quite reach my full potential.

Overall though, I’m happy with how it went — and now I’m really looking forward to starting the Christmas show and diving into something new!