Drama Ambassadors or Drama Captains are an excellent addition to your department. Being one is a fun and rewarding experience. It’s an opportunity to learn, develop and improve leadership skills by becoming involved in the creative achievements of both the Drama Department and the school. Having them is a fantastic opportunity to help reduce the workload for you. This is especially good for small departments where time is a precious commodity.
I like to call mine Drama Ambassadors because they carry the honour and good name of the subject of Drama.
There is some fantastic good practice out there where students volunteer to help. One thing we can all agree on is that Drama students tend to be loyal and passionate about the subject and the Drama Department.
I’ve brought together some examples of good practice from various schools and colleges;
- A Level students coming into GCSE and Key Stage 3 classes to help and support during rehearsals.
- A Level students supervising and running GCSE intervention and extra rehearsals.
- A Level and GCSE students going to local feeder schools to help direct Year 5/6 school productions, run workshops or their Drama Club.
- Students of all ages helping out at Open Evenings and GCSE Option Evenings.
- Students helping out directing productions like the School Musical or Shakespeare Performances.
- A Level and GCSE students running Key Stage 3 Drama Clubs.
- Help deliver Arts Awards or LAMDA style qualifications.
They are the student face of the Drama Department. They are aspirational and positive role models for younger students. They promote a positive image of Drama both within the school and the local area.
The students taking the role will need support from you in the first instance. The more effort and input you make in the early stages the more likely the students taking the leadership role will fly with it later on. To help mine I work with them and give them a workbook. The workbook includes everything that students need to prepare, plan and run great workshops. It covers top tips for planning a rehearsal schedule, planning a workshop and behaviour management in the drama room.
Please download, adapt and use the workbook for your own purposes from. http://www.tes.co.uk/teaching-resource/Drama-Ambassadors-6343326/
BURT'S DRAMA 
It’s a good idea, I’ve run similar schemes in the past with Drama Captains and also my school’s stage crew. One thing I did was to link it to the leadership aspect of the Arts Award (artsaward.org.uk), so it felt to them that they were getting formal recognition of their hard work as young leaders.
As another solo drama teacher, I agree that running clubs can be very difficult, but in my opinion the additional enthusiasm and engagement that they create are essential in growing our ever-threatened subject.