News from our Specialists
Visual Art
Junior School Art
This term in Art, students will explore creativity through the theme “It’s not a mistake… it’s an opportunity!”, inspired by the story Beautiful Oops. Students will learn that art is a journey, focusing on process, experimentation, and sharing their ideas with others.
Throughout the term, students will work with a variety of materials and techniques, including autumn leaf artworks, colour and line exploration, texture and layering, and creative construction. They will also learn about important elements of art such as colour, line, form, and value.
Students will create several exciting pieces, including textured collages, paper constructions, Monet-inspired artworks, and seasonal crafts, building their skills and confidence along the way.
Grades 3/4
This term in Art, our Grade 3/4 students are taking part in Dairy Australia’s Picasso Cow project, with a focus on the theme “Farm to Plate.” Students will be researching Australian dairy farming through the Dairy Australia website, building their understanding of how milk and dairy products journey from the farm to our tables. Using this knowledge as inspiration, they will collaborate to design and decorate a life-size cow, exploring colour, pattern, and visual storytelling to represent what they have learned. We are very excited to see their creativity come together in a vibrant and meaningful final piece!
Grades 5/6
This term in Visual Arts, our Grade 5/6 students are continuing to develop their drawing skills while exploring the vibrant style of Australian contemporary artist Jai Vasicek. Inspired by his well-known tile artworks, students will create their own mixed media pieces by combining tie-dye backgrounds, self-portraits, collage, and text, along with decorative elements such as tassels and pom poms. Throughout the term, they will experiment with colour, composition, and personal expression to produce bold and engaging artworks that reflect both their creativity and individuality.
Performing Arts
Junior School Performing Arts
It is set to be a busy and creative term for junior school music makers! Our Foundation movers and shakers will be dipping their toes into the world of dance, experimenting with dances and responding to music through movement. They will be exploring musical contrasts, high and low, fast and slow and all the different ways composers shape the music they write. Our Grade 1/2 students will be diving headfirst into composition! They will be experimenting with simple written notation, composing, notating and performing their own simple musical works. Then they'll be picking up their mallets and heading to the Band Room to play music (including their own compositions!) on the marimbas!
Senior School Performing Arts
Grade 3/4 students are continuing to develop their skills on the ukulele, building their bank of chords and learning new chord shapes. They will be learning skills to help them transition between chords and how to put these chords together to make songs. They will be continuing to grow as composers, creating, notating and performing their own body percussion compositions - a great transition from our learned body percussion pieces last term. They will also be exploring ways to add depth to existing music, adding vocal and percussive ostinati to familiar, learned songs.
We have already had some impressive vocal performances from our Grade 5/6 cohort this term, with the culmination of our song writing unit, started last term. Senior school students will also be having a strong instrumental focus this term, dusting off their ukuleles and learning new songs to go with their growing bank of chords. They will also be practising Marimbas, and exploring creating digital music.
Mandarin Chinese
Welcome back to Term 2. This term, students will continue to develop their Chinese language skills through topic-based learning across all year levels.
Prep students will explore the topic, My Family. They will learn simple vocabulary and number words to talk about family members and build confidence in speaking Chinese through songs and interactive activities. Students will also be introduced to basic cultural content through songs such as My Family.
Grade 1/2 students will explore the topic The Days of the Week. They will learn to recognise and use the days in Chinese and build on their knowledge of numbers and time. Students will apply this learning through simple calendar activities and will also learn songs to support language development and retention.
Grade 3/4 students will explore the topic Giant Pandas: From Endangered to Hopeful. They will learn about why pandas were once endangered and how conservation efforts have contributed to population recovery. Students will develop language skills through related vocabulary and simple sentence structures, while also learning about China through cultural and geographical content.
Grade 5/6 students will explore the topic An Imaginary Trip to China, combining geographical knowledge and information learned about China in Term 1 with the theme of Facts of China. They will investigate cities and tourist attractions through the 12-Day Tour of China activity in class. By the end of the term, students will create their own passports and develop an imaginary seven-day itinerary for a trip to China.
