Homelessness Scheme of Work

(ages 12-13)

This six‑lesson scheme invites Year 8 students to explore homelessness through practical, issue-based drama. Pupils develop a fictional teenage runaway, Chris, using techniques such as frozen pictures, improvisation, hot‑seating and mime. Lessons progress from factual discussion and perspective-taking to devising linked scenes about family, danger and street life, concluding with filmed group performances and student self-evaluation. The unit is designed to build empathy, ensemble skills and confident group devising.

What Students Will Learn

Students will investigate the social and emotional aspects of homelessness while developing drama techniques. Across the unit they practise improvisation, tableau/frozen pictures, mime, hot‑seating, split scenes, thought‑aloud and sound collage. Pupils learn to devise and perform group pieces, present viewpoints of different characters, evaluate peer work and complete a self‑assessment following a filmed public‑information or documentary-style performance aimed at a Year 8 audience.

Week 1: Understanding Homelessness
Introduces the issue of homelessness using a factual quiz and class discussion to challenge assumptions. Pupils create frozen pictures from powerful images and add a thought‑aloud headline for presentation and evaluation.
Resources Include
Resources
10 Facts about Homeless PeopleImages of Homeless People
Week 2: Point of View
Explores different perspectives of people on the street and passers‑by to build understanding. Activities use mime, frozen pictures and slow‑motion transitions, with thought tapping to reveal contrasting opinions.
Week 3: Chris’s Story
Uses a fictional runaway, Chris, to explore motives and experience through hot‑seating and individual improvisation. Pupils devise and perform scenes showing why Chris left home and evaluate performances.
Week 4: The Good Samaritan
Examines ambiguous street interactions and potential dangers via role‑play and devised scenes. Students improvise scenarios where Chris meets a helpful stranger, exploring choices and consequences before performing and evaluating.
Week 5: Family and Friends
Focuses on the emotions of those close to the runaway using frozen pictures and split scenes to contrast moments in time. Groups prepare linked scenes, ending in a frozen picture and a written message from Chris.
Week 6: Assessment
Groups devise a documentary or public‑information film about Chris using mime, sound collage and thought‑aloud techniques. Pieces are filmed, played back and pupils complete self‑evaluation sheets to review learning.