Just wondering what the relative benefits are of choosing the drama course over public speaking. Are they the same or is drama only for those wishing to pursue an interest/career in drama? Do they teach different skills? Any pointers would be of huge help. Thanks.

I'm not quite sure what you are asking. What 'benefit' are you looking for?

DS has an option to choose drama or public speaking but not both as he does not have enough time. So I wanted to know what skills these two different types of LAMDA courses teach. I have read the information on the LAMDA website. Both seem to work on the child's speech (appropriate to the given context) and vocal projection. So are the skills developed really any different? Or are they somehow connected to what courses child wishes to pursue in A-levels and beyond?

They really aren't much benefit unless you are looking to go into acting or politics!

Are you thinking of 'benefits' for uni applications?

I'm not really sure what you are asking either. I don't think you need these skills for any A levels apart from Drama, where I assume you study them anyway. I don't have any experience of either to draw on as none of my children has ever shown interest in such things but if your son is interested and you are happy to pay for one why don't you let him choose?

Yes, I would say whichever he is interested in. For some people drama would be their worst nightmare!

We have enough drama in our house without paying for more.

I know the feeling

I know nothing about public speaking but would expect that to be based on his own words whereas the LAMDA exams I have seen tend to use published material on the whole.

With Lamda Performance: Acting, the student learns 2-3 pieces to perform as monologues or as duologues. During the preparation of the different pieces (from different periods) the student learns about the language and theatre of that time, has to develop an understanding of their character's motivation and know the importance of the scene to the whole play. So language skills are enhanced and hopefully history as well.

Learning something about how other people think and why they do what they do is useful in any walk of life.
The student will be improving his or her ability to stand up in front of others with confidence and convey a message both spoken and unspoken.
The student will be improving his or her memory.
If working in a duo team working skills are exercised.
At higher levels there is a component of acting theory probably only needed by those serious about drama.

Lamda Public speaking requires the student to research several topics and write speeches, prepare props, and effectively deliver a speech. There will be questions. At higher levels students may be given a topic and only 15-30 minutes to come up with a speech.
This is helpful for developing the ability to think on your feet and helps with interviews too I'm sure. Surely any of these skills are useful to any student at secondary and university level, not to mention teachers, business folk, lawyers...?

The advantage of doing these through Lamda (or Trinity etc) is the one to one (or two or three) coaching and taking more time over it than is often possible in a classroom situation. It also adds a drama option where it may not fit into school curriculum.

DD has loved doing drama but found the public speaking really challenging. She learnt a lot in both. Why not try whichever your DC thinks might be more fun? You can swap later if wanted. It takes one term to do a lower level exam and often two at the higher levels.

Edited 1x for punctuation and to add 2nd to last paragraph.