Performing Arts and Languages News

Music

Hadestown adventure and a warm welcome to Mrs Norton 

In the final week of Term 2, Music and Drama students in Years 9-12 will have the opportunity to travel to Melbourne for the day to see Hadestown and visit key arts institutions in the city. Forms and final payment due dates are coming up, so please contact Mr Scott Weston (Coordinator of Music) with any questions. 

In Term 2, we welcome Mrs Jillian Norton to the Performing Arts department while Mr Weston takes some well-earned long-service leave. Mrs Norton is an experienced music teacher and former casual flautist with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. Mrs Norton will teach Music in Years 5 to 12 so please make her feel welcome next term! 

Boosting memory and focus through Junior School music | Mrs Mary Heferen-Faulkner, Junior School Music Teacher 

Students use many cognitive skills when participating in music classes in the Junior school.  These learned skills then help the students in all subject areas. These include memory, retaining information, using attention skills with the ability to focus and concentrate, problem solving, auditory processing with chants and song, reasoning, and transferring knowledge to make sense of new activities. 

This term has been a busy one for our students. Check out Connect for videos and photos of the many activities your children participate in for Music. 

In previous issues of The Fountain, I have spoken about Year 6 incorporating Music Intervention activities in Daily PE; the importance and enjoyment of singing for all ages and the auditory processing needed to recognise pitch direction, patterns, rhythm and beat; developing recorder skills and learning to read music signs and symbols.  

The overall benefits for each child when participating in 10 minutes of consistent beat, rhythm, body percussion, and singing simple nursery rhymes can give, will strengthen and connect the neural pathways in the brain, which in turn, lifts literacy and language levels. 

Languages 

We are excited to share full details of the 2026 Italian Study Tour on Monday 7 April at 5.30 pm at St Mary’s College. Invitations have been emailed to parents who submitted an expression of interest for their child. Please ensure you have replied to the RSVP or contact Mr Michael Power for more information. 

This week, four St Mary’s College students will meet their Italian exchange student and host family via video link. We look forward to welcoming these students to St Mary's College in Term 2 and are excited for our students to study abroad and immerse themselves in Italian culture at the end of the year. 

In Term 2, we welcome Mrs Gianna Staples to the Languages Department while Prof Paola Keller takes well-earned long-service leave to spend time with her family. Mrs Staples will be teaching Year 7, 8 and 10 Italian classes, and we look forward to having her as part of the Languages department.

Drama 

Who is Drama 3 talking to this week? 

This week the Drama 3 class had the privilege of meeting with members of Bethlehem House to discuss the stadium proposal. Bethlehem House is a Special Work of the St Vincent de Paul Society (Tasmania) and was founded by our visionary Vincentians. Its purpose is to provide men in crisis and/or experiencing homelessness with shelter and support. Students led and engaged in an insightful conversation with members of Bethlehem House, which offered not only research for the project but more importantly an inspiring learning experience and exchange. 

Contest – tickets now available! 

The St Mary's College Theatre Performance 3 class proudly presents ‘Contest’ by Emilie Collyer. Tickets are now available so please register to see this outstanding production and support the Senior Theatre Performance students. 

A suburban netball team. A new player. Cass says she wants to fit in but if she won’t play by their rules, why does she bother coming at all? She claims to see something they cannot, a warning of sorts. All the other women want to do is play. But this player will push each of them to a point of furious revelation. Nothing will be left on the court once these women are done with their reckoning. A sweaty play about the petty and the profound, the mundane and the mythic, Contest asks how we might be with each other if we don’t have to win. 

Performed in a series of vignettes, Contest is a highly physical piece of contemporary theatre, exploring current themes surrounding identity, the female body and competition. 

Please be advised the work contains adult themes and strong language in parts. 

Cast: Hannah Jackman, Meredith Fisher, Lucy McKenna, Grace Munday, Izabella Riley-Hanson, Maggie Robinson, Ruby Seabourne. 

DATES: Tuesday 6 May – Thursday 8 May, St Peter’s Hall, St Mary’s College 

TIME: 7.00pm – 9.00pm 

TICKETING: Free to attend. Book here