Worked example · Drama · Year 9
DCF: Citizenship → Online behaviour and online bullying
A secure Year 9 response, annotated so you can see which success criterion each part meets. There is no single right answer in forum theatre, but there are wrong ones: any intervention that replaces Elin or Jac, that answers insults with insults, or that relies on a sudden change of heart is “magic”. The advice here matches current UK school practice — screenshot, do not retaliate, report, block, tell a trusted adult. Show it after the forum, not before, so pupils find their own interventions first.
| Character | What they did | What they could have done | What stopped them (the cost) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elin | Filmed Cai without asking, posted it to 31 people with a mocking caption, and renamed the group after him when he asked her to delete it. | Not posted it at all. Or deleted it the moment Cai asked. | She got attention and laughs from it. Backing down in front of the chat would look weak to her. |
| Jac | Invented the nickname and told Cai to “chill” when he asked for it to be taken down. | Not added anything. The nickname is what kept the joke going. | Joining in keeps him on Elin’s side. He tells himself it is only a joke. |
| Sara | Reacted with a laughing face without reading, then laughed in the corridor. | Removed her reaction, reported the video, and not laughed on Monday. | She is not friends with anyone involved, so she thought it had nothing to do with her. One reaction felt like nothing. |
| Dev | Typed “that’s harsh” and deleted it. Told Cai to ignore it. Told nobody. | Screenshotted and reported it, messaged Cai to say he was on his side, and gone with him to an adult. | Fear of being the next target. He also thought he was respecting Cai by not making a fuss. |
| Cai | Asked once for it to be deleted, then hid it: a fake headache and leaving the chat. | Screenshotted the video and the renamed group, reported the video in the app, and told his form tutor or a parent. | Embarrassment, and “can’t take a joke” — he was told that asking for help was the problem. |
Every character is covered, including Sara and Dev, whose silence and reactions are part of how the scene goes wrong. The cost column is honest rather than blaming. Evidences criterion 1.
| Stop point | I replace | What I say or do instead | How Elin and Jac react | Real or magic? Why? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | Dev | Does not argue in the chat. Screenshots the video and caption, reports the video in the app, and messages Cai privately: “that was out of order, I’ve reported it.” | They do not know it was Dev who reported it. The video may be taken down. | Real. Reporting is anonymous, so it costs Dev almost nothing, and Cai knows he is not alone before Saturday. |
| B | Cai | After Elin’s reply he stops typing. Screenshots the renamed group, reports the video, leaves the chat, and shows his mum the screenshots that evening. | “He left lol” — but the evidence is already saved and an adult knows on Saturday, not on Monday. | Real. It is the hardest one, because telling feels like making it bigger. It costs him the embarrassment of showing someone. |
| D | Sara | Does not laugh. Walks next to Cai to registration, and after registration quietly tells the form tutor what has been in the class chat since Friday. | Jac might call her a snitch in the chat. Elin probably ignores her. | Real. It costs Sara a bit of popularity, but it gets a teacher involved on Monday morning instead of never. |
Three different stop points and three different characters, all using real actions: screenshot, report, do not retaliate, tell. Each one names its cost, and none of them turns Elin or Jac nice. Evidences criteria 2 and 3.
| Intervention I watched | What changed? | What did it cost the person who tried it? |
|---|---|---|
| Megan replaced Dev at A and posted “delete it, not funny” in the chat. | Jac replied “why u so serious” and the class said the pile-on would probably move to Dev. | A lot — he becomes the next target. The class agreed a private message plus a report does the same job more safely. |
| Rhys replaced Cai at D and told the form tutor the truth instead of “headache”. | An adult finally knew. The Joker asked if it would be easier with a friend there — everyone said yes. | Courage, and worry that the tutor would make a big announcement. That is why screenshots help: the tutor has facts to act on quietly. |
Records what the class tested and learned, including an idea that did not work and why. Evidences criterion 2.
(a) Sara at Stop point D changed the most, because she was the first person to get an adult involved. The earlier interventions helped Cai feel less alone, but only an adult can make the school act on a class group chat. It worked because it was quiet: she did not confront anyone, she just told the truth to the right person.
(b) It did not blow over — it got worse at every moment, from a video to a nickname to a renamed group to humming in the corridor. Ignoring it left Cai on his own, and nothing was saved as evidence. Dev meant well, but “ignore it” really meant “nobody is going to help you”.
(c) “That video isn’t funny and Elin’s out of order. I’ve screenshotted it and reported it. Want to tell our form tutor together tomorrow? I’ll come with you.” (27 words)
(d) In school, his form tutor first, or the head of year or the school’s safeguarding lead. Outside school, Meic on 080 880 23456 — in Welsh or English, 8am to midnight every day — or Childline on 0800 1111.
Explains why ignoring it fails using what happened in the scene, writes a message that offers practical help rather than sympathy only, and names real help inside and outside school. Evidences criteria 3, 4 and 5.