Celebration of the Arts - Thank you!

I wrote last week about how much I was looking forward to our Celebration of the Arts evening and that it was always the highpoint of the school year here at SKiPPS.

I think it is safe to say that the evening exceeded even these high expectations and was an absolute triumph on all levels.

It was such a fun event and I loved watching all of the students showing such confidence, talent and creativity in getting up on stage and singing, dancing and acting. The 'Odyssey' theme was perfect and the way that a story unfolded through four 'pantheons' (Greek, Roman, Celtic and Egyptian) was so clever.

The art show in the Parks Victoria pavilion was equally as impressive - the way that students from every class had worked so hard to create a range of visual artwork in media including ceramics, drawing, paint and sculpture was so great to see. This year the art work was complemented by work produced in STEM sessions and it was so interesting to see how the 3-D printer and AI had brought the students' ideas to life.

It is hard to believe that the event was pulled off against the context of no Art room (due to the current emergency building works) and a Performing Arts space that is currently also home to Team Kids. 

I am really proud that COTA is an opportunity for every single child in the school to shine - sharing their artwork and performing alongside their classmates. The night demonstrates our school's commitment to the Arts and the immense learning and magical things that happen when we take risks and engage artistically.

Events like COTA don't happen without the vision, hard work and dedication of many people. I would especially like to thank the following;

• Tanya Sleeman - this was Tanya's first Celebration of the Arts, having only started at the school at Easter. The vision for the pantheons, the script and the performance were all her own creation. The work she has put into ensuring all of the students were so well-prepared to perform with such skill and confidence is testament to Tanya's ethic of excellence and talent.

• Chantel Jose - Chantel came up with the idea for a mythology-themed COTA that eventually became 'Odyssey'. As mentioned, she has been without a classroom for a term and most of her materials are locked away in a shipping container. To still be able to ensure that every student in the school produced multiple pieces of artwork to such a high standard shows what a skilled and dedicated teacher she is. 

• Tom McKenzie - It was wonderful that STEM joined the Arts at COTA this year and the Art show contained videos and other artefacts of learning from the school's STEM sessions with Tom, also on a mythological theme. 

• Bianca Loiacono - Yet again, Bianca produced our wonderful COTA poster this year which is now sitting pride of place in the school office. We want to thank Bianca for her generosity in donating her talent and time to produce our COTA artwork for many years (alongside murals, books, drawings, silent auction donations and many more). This will be Bianca's final COTA as a SKiPPS parent (after a journey of well over 10 years) and we hope that we can continue to work with her in future.

• Mat Gdanitz - Mat once again donated his time, equipment and professional skill to arrange the lighting and filming of the whole event. The amount of work involved in doing this is hard to explain and we are so grateful to him for doing this. The film of the event will be shared with our community before the end of the school year. We also want to thank Bec Peniston-Bird for her work to support Mat with filming on the night.

• Bec Walton and Georgia Maselli for taking these beautiful photos of the evening. We are so lucky to have such talented photographers at the school who are willing to donate their time and skills to keep a record of the night. These photos (and many more) will be available for families to purchase direct from Bec and Georgia and details will follow next week.

• SKiPPA, Our Parents' Association. The amazing mums and dads of SKiPPA did a great job in co-ordinating the food stalls and other activities that turned the night into such a great community event. We are so lucky to have parents and carers willing to give so much time and energy to the school and SKiPPS would be a far worse place without them.

• All parent volunteers. It isn't possible to name all of the parents who helped to  set up marquees, chop tomatoes, cook sausages, bake cakes, sell cakes, carry chairs and stools, clean BBQs tidy and clean up afterwards and generally make the whole event happen. You are all amazing. We particularly want to thank and acknowledge Christine Kanellakis, Georgia Maselli, Bec Walton, Carolann McKenzie, Afik Gal and Inbal Nissim for working so hard to set the stage up on Thursday morning.

• Our staff - in a profession where going 'above and beyond' is the norm, our staff always go even further for COTA - from ensuring their classes knew where to be and when, to extra rehearsals, staffing the art show and even dancing themselves, the night was a demonstration of how lucky we are to have such a great group of teachers and Education Support staff at SKiPPS.

We hope that you enjoyed the evening as much as we did. We are already looking forward to 2025!