Communicating with the Specialist Team

We look forward to partnering with you in 2024, and welcome your input:

Penelope Lang (Performing Arts) penelope.lang@education.vic.gov.au

Wominjeka!

Community Christmas Concert - Thursday 5th December

Our end of year Christmas concert will be held on Thursday the 5th December (weather permitting). Please note the following information:

Dinner: 5.00pm to 6.00pm - opportunity to come along and bring a picnic dinner. There will be ice-creams to purchase from our friends at Their Care and we thank them in advance for their support.

Concert: 6.00pm to 7.00pm (approximately). This year's concert will be noticeably shorter (as last year it was combined with an Art Show and the launch of our Rock Band). I know your children are very excited about performing for you and celebrating their 2024 achievements. More information about seating will be provided in due course.

Concert Costume Requirements

As in previous years, it would be great if the students could come dressed up in their Christmas colours (red, green, white, silver, gold etc) or something they feel comfortable in. Some classes have extra costume requirements as follows:

Foundation: The classes have been split into different groups, namely, Reindeers (reindeer ears required), Elves (elf ears/hat required), Santa/Mrs Claus (Santa hat required) and Toys (toy dress up required). Some students have told me they have 'an entire Elf costume' or 'the whole Santa dress up'. They are certainly welcomed to wear this if they already have it. There is no expectation to buy entire dress ups. Most of these hats/head pieces can be purchased at Arthur Daleys for $2. I will be providing a list of roles to your child's teacher if you would like to double check which group your child has chosen (they got to pick themselves).

Year One: Are going to be rap dancing Reindeers. They will need a set of Reindeer ears and then can add on anything they like to complete the look ie caps (worn backwards of course), chunky chains, groovy sunglasses etc.

Year Two: They will be heading to the beach for their song and dance so they can watch Santa on his surfboard. It would be great if they could wear a Santa hat and then anything 'beachy'. Boardshorts, summer dresses etc sunglasses, coloured zinc on their nose. They might even want to wear their wetsuit (I have been asked by a student!).

Year Three/Four: No extra costume requirements (just Christmas colours as noted above) but they will require a CARROT (all will be revealed). This is needed for a prop but will also make a nice healthy snack during the show.

Year Five/Six: No extra costume requirements (just Christmas colours as noted above) although quite a few props are required and I will confirm this with the individual students.

Victorian State Schools Spectacular - 2025

We are still waiting to find out if we have been offered a place in the 2025 VSSS. As soon as I know, you will know. In the meantime, applications are open for anyone who is interested in applying/auditioning for a place with the ensemble dance groups, Performing Arts professional choir, solo singers as well as backstage crew, lighting and sound. All information about registering your interest can be found on the page link below or by searching 'Victorian State Schools Spectacular 2025'.

https://web.cvent.com/event/0b63c336-ebac-4683-81c4-cd63932da5a3/summary?RefId=SUMMARYPAGE

The Seven Network proudly supported the 2024 Victorian State Schools Spectacular. It was hosted by Home and Away's Ada Nicodemou and there will be a special broadcast with behind-the-scenes highlights on Saturday, December 14 at 7.00pm, on Channel 7 and 7plus. Watch closely and see if you can spot one of our 16 dancers! VSSS 2024 dancers can you please return your fluoro hats to me asap. There are still a few missing.

Ausmusic T-shirt Day - 28th November

It is that time of the year again!!! Time to dust off your Ausmusic T-shirt from last year and wear it to school again on Thursday 28th November. All the funds raised by Ausmusic T-Shirt Day go towards crisis relief, mental health and wellbeing support to musicians, managers, crew, music workers and organisations, along with support for First Nations music workers. It is a very important fundraising initiative that raised a record-breaking $904,656 for charity last year. We were one of the ONLY schools in Victoria to contribute to this amount. Well done us!

On this day, students are invited to bring a gold coin donation and wear an 'Ausmusic T-shirt'. It can be an Australian band t-shirt or an Australian solo singer or even a t-shirt from a musical theatre show you have been to in Australia. I know BigW have some amazing 'Wicked - the musical' t-shirts and Kmart have some band t-shirts as well. This will be a great conversation starter about the Australian music industry and the importance of social and emotional well-being and helping people in need. All of the money we raise will be sent directly to the registered charity Support Act - https://supportact.org.au/. Please note this is not a free dress day and there is no obligation to participate.

Find out more about Ausmusic T-Shirt Day by visiting ausmusictshirtday.org.au.

In the Performing Arts room

Foundation

The students in Foundation have been continuing to work on developing their performance confidence and directional awareness. We have mastered moving forwards, backwards, to the left (your left not mine!) and to the right. We have been singing the beautiful song, 'Everyone Belongs' in unison, paying particular attention to the different parts of the song and how the words overlap. We look forward to singing this as a whole school at the end of year Christmas concert. The students have also been learning the steps to the traditional dance, 'The Nutbush' (if you get time you might be able to have a go with them) and have been learning the song lyrics and choreography for their two class items. Please ask your child if they are performing at our concert as a Reindeer, an Elf, Santa/Mrs Claus or one of the Christmas toys. They have been fantastic at remembering their parts.

Year One and Year Two

The students in Years one and two have been working very hard at learning their class items for our end of year Christmas concert. The Year one students have been given the extra challenge of working with a partner (so please let me know if your child will not be attending). This has required patience and cooperation. It has been wonderful to watch some great team work in action. The Year two students have enjoyed finishing their drama story performances and have been taking on the feed forward being provided by their class mates. It was great to observe some students vary the pitch and pace of their acting voices and concentrate on the different stagecraft skills that they have learnt. Both classes have been polishing their 'Nutbush' skills and learning the song lyrics and melody to the uplifting song, 'Everyone Belongs'. We cannot wait to share this with you.

Year Three and Year Four

The students in Years three and four have finished performing their short drama stories, depicting a change a mood. This was shown through varying their drama voices, facial expressions, gestures and movements. I was very proud of the groups who had to improvise when one of their actors was away from school and the 'show had to go on'. Well done! We have been busy learning the song lyrics and choreography for the class item for the end of year Christmas concert. Please note, that the 3/4 song is being performed with a partner so it would be great if you could let me know (email me) if your child will NOT be attending. I can then re-partner the students. The students had a lot of fun on Halloween day practising some spooky body percussion songs and choreographing their own short dance to the song, 'Ghostbusters'. They worked hard to dance in time to the beat, include a variety of moves (high, low, fast, slow) and use as MUCH of our room as possible.

Year Five and Year Six

Our focus over the last few weeks has been on learning the song lyrics, melody and choreography for the end of year Christmas concert. The year 5/6 students have a very busy term ahead with lots of extra sporting commitments as well as graduation speeches to write. We have certainly needed to hit the ground running! The students displayed great cooperation and responsibility when determining their small singing groups and have showed focus when learning the choral-ography (which just means dance moves that match the lyric). They will be performing with props, but for now we are using our imaginations. There is a slightly tricky rhythmic clap in their song that has been challenging for some students. We will not give up! Halloween was full of fun, laughter and some outstanding choreographed performances. I was in awe of some group's ability to plan, rehearse and perform some remarkable dances with such limited time.

"Who you gunna call? - Ghostbusters!"

Christmas Choir

As many students still do not have a choir folder, I have now started handing out song sheets (for our Christmas concert songs) in plastic page protectors. Can you please make sure these lyrics sheets are at school every WEDNESDAY and THURSDAY.

Dress-up Costumes - Donations required

I am very keen to build up our collection of dress-up costumes in the Performing Arts room. I am especially searching for small dress-ups (sizes 3 to 6) that would fit our Foundation students. If you have any in your playroom at home that you no longer use, I would LOVE to take them off your hands. Thanking you in advance for your kind donations.

Instrumental Lessons

Please see below for information about our school's Instrumental Program that is run by Groove Foundations. We offer lessons on most instruments and have an outstanding team of musicians who deliver this program to over 100 students. The first 'trial' lesson is free of charge and your child will get the opportunity to perform in an end of year instrumental concert if they want to. Feel free to contact Jordan Scotney who would be happy to answer any of your questions.

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