Junior School 

Performing Arts

Year 1 Strings Program

Our string program recommenced for our Year 1 students last week. For those involved, please ensure instruments and books are brought each THURSDAY for their session with Mrs Moxey.

Musicianship – Grade 1

Students taking their Grade 1 Musicianship will be split into year groups and supervised by Mrs Sinclair to continue preparation for their online exam. The timetable is below.

YEAR 6 – THURSDAY 1st half lunch

YEAR 4 – FRIDAY 1st half lunch

Virtual Musical Performance 

As you are aware, we will not be able to stage our much-anticipated production of Giants in the Sky this year. I am acutely aware of how disappointing this is for many students, particularly those in our lead cast. Whilst I cannot change this outcome, I have crafted a way that we can provide a small opportunity for our students to engage in some performing arts endeavors this term. 

With the technical assistance of our Instrumental Coordinator Miss Katherine Howarth, we will spend Choir time during this term creating a virtual presentation of a song written by the same team that wrote Giants in the Sky. The song is called Only the Theatre for Me and talks of the inspiration we can get from being on the stage. Each student who had a lead role will having a singing or speaking line in this song and take part in some of the dance elements too. As we cannot sing together or mix year groups, each part will be videoed separately then put together in a ‘Brady Bunch’ style video. Students in the chorus (remaining Year 5 and 6 students) will feature in groups dancing in the chorus sections with the assistance of Mrs McRae. 

I am excited to see how this project comes together over the next few weeks and look forward to sharing the final production at the Celebration Assembly later this term.

Year 4 Band Program

I would like to congratulate Year 4 band students on the commitment and enthusiasm they showed last term, particularly during the lockdown period. It was very encouraging to see students practicing their instrumenting and engaging with their tutors both face to face and online.

This term, due to current health restrictions on school campus, we are unable to proceed with our band program. Unfortunately, this means we will need to bring the program to an early conclusion. However, we strongly encourage students who wish to continue learning to enroll for private lessons. 20 minute one-to-one session (beginners only) is $26 and 30 minutes is $40. We have limited places available for brass and woodwind instruments. Instrumental tuition can continue at school under the current restrictions. We advise students to enroll for lessons as soon as possible to give them the opportunity to be suitably prepared to join JS Beginner Band which is due to begin in Term 1 2022. 

All instruments (regardless of whether your child is enrolling for lessons) should be returned to school by the end of WEEK 1 please. 

To enroll for individual lessons please contact performingarts@kws.nsw.edu.au 

For more information about the instrumental program, or to discuss the best options for your child, please contact Katherine Howarth (K-12 Instrumental Coordinator) at kahowarth@kws.nsw.edu.au

choir not choir!

To comply with restrictions that do not allow group singing in school, students will be engaging with dance, body percussion and signing (not singing!) during Choir time. The session time will be altered to 25mins for each year group. We will also be learning how to sign the National Anthem in AUSLAN. I trust this will be an enriching experience for our students. 

Once again, we are calling for assembly performers for our virtual assemblies which will take place on Wednesday afternoons. If you child would like to perform, please liaise with their music tutor to organise either a live or recorded performance. Students playing piano or drums will need to pre-record their performance which can then be shared with the other students. Instruments such as violin or trumpet can be played live in the students’ classroom. 

If you have any questions about the information, please do not hesitate to contact us at the Performing Arts Office at performingarts@kws.nsw.edu.au or 63920347.