The School is adding GCSE Drama to its curriculum for the first time from September 2007. Having introduced the subject at A2 level two years ago, led by Head of Drama Jen Baylis, the School has staged diverse works from Euripides' The Bacchae to Mark Catley's gritty northern play Scuffer in recent months and took a joint production (with Manchester Grammar School) of Sink the Belgrano! to the Edinburgh Fringe in the summer of 2005.

Actress Nicola Smythe, graduate of the Bristol Old Vic, is currently leading LAMDA classes in performance and character skills during lunchtime and after school sessions.

Mrs Baylis said: ""I am absolutely delighted with the development. Inclusion of this subject at GCSE subject will give the girls further space and time to explore in depth the world of drama and theatre studies in both theory and practice.

"Drama is of fundamental importance to who we are as students of culture and society and as human beings and I am sure that the introduction of GCSE will benefit not only the drama department, with its attendant increase in the number and quality of studio productions, but the school community as a whole."