Performing Arts

 Communicating with the Specialist Team

We look forward to partnering with you in 2026, and welcome your input:

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

Wominjeka!

School Production Information

 “The Wizard That Was”

Wednesday 19th August and Thursday 20th August

Not long to go now before our whole school production of, “The Wizard That Was” is performed for you at Burrinja Cultural Centre. Tickets will go on sale early in Term Three and purchasing details will be sent home via Compass. Your child’s teacher has details of which night your child is performing. I suggest you double check this before purchasing tickets! Your children have also done a great job (all term) of remembering which night they will be performing on.

Costume Requirements

Please see below for information relating to your child’s costume requirements (this was also sent home as a compass post last week). These items will be required at school (in a clearly named bag) on Monday 3rd August in preparation for our dress rehearsals which will be held at school on Wednesday 5th August (night 1) and Thursday 6th August (night 2) Most costumes will then be returned home so they can be worn to the theatre on performance night. More information will be provided closer to the day. 

Please note the finale YELLOW T-SHIRT is required by 13th July (see below)

Please remember, we encourage sharing costumes with another child (who performs on the alternate night), borrowing items from other families, visiting op shops and thinking outside the box. We always try and be very mindful of expenses and keep things as simple as possible. Do not hesitate to reach out to me if you have any concerns.

Foundation: All students need to provide the bottom half of their costume, namely black jeans, black leggings, black pants or a black skirt (if wearing a skirt please also wear black tights). Please also provide plain black shoes with white socks OR plain white shoes with black socks. We are providing the top and various accessories. Please note, students in FC will also need a RAINCOAT or wet weather jacket for a small cameo role. They will also need the FINALE outfit (see below).

Year One: All students are dressing up as Disco Dancers. Please provide blue denim jeans and a plain white short sleeved t-shirt. Any comfortable shoes and socks are OK (the brighter the better). We will be providing hats, waistcoats, wigs and flares. They will also need the FINALE outfit (see below).

Year Two: The students are dressing up as the Cowardly Lion’s friends. They need to come dressed up as a BIG CAT of their choice. This could be a lion, tiger, leopard, cheetah, puma, jaguar, snow leopard etc. This could be in the form of a onesie (shoes must be worn to avoid slipping), animal print clothes (ie full leopard print) or a traditional dress up. Students should wear comfortable shoes that they can dance in. They will also need the FINALE outfit (see below).

Year Three/Four: The students are dancing with the Wicked Witch in her lair and therefore need a spooky witch type costume. Think Halloween type dress up. Please avoid any face masks (as we want to act out this song with our incredible facial expressions) and be mindful that we will have young children watching the show and we do NOT want to scare them. Please make sure your child can also dance and move freely in their dress up (no super large hats). You can also look at costumes from the movies ‘Descendants’ or ‘Wicked’ for inspiration. Any colour scheme is fine. Students will also need the FINALE outfit (see below).

Year Five/Six: Most costume items will be provided by the school. A note will be sent home IF anything extra is required. Backstage crew, sign holders and runners will need to wear all black. Our school production t-shirt is also suitable for crew to wear. 

We are currently looking for these costumes:

Shrek, a donkey, a horse, a butcher’s uniform (blue and white stripe apron?), two black suits (pants and jacket).

Finale Outfit:

For the Production finale we would like all students (except for 5/6s as there is not enough time to get changed) to wear plain black jeans/trousers/black leggings/skirt/tights etc and a PLAIN YELLOW short sleeved t-shirt. We will be adding something special to each child’s yellow t-shirt (in the form of an iron on transfer) so we will need ALL of these t-shirts at school in Week 1 of Term 3 (or sooner if possible). The shirt must have your child’s name on it. Please make sure you do not provide us with a special shirt that we can’t add to. The shirts will be given back to you at the end of production and will make a nice memento of the show. See below for an example of a Kmart yellow shirt ($3.50). It does not have to be this exact one. The brighter the better. Your child can also add any bright coloured accessories such as ribbons, wigs, glasses, gloves, crazy socks etc (no hats/caps please).

Help Needed: I am still looking for people who can assist me with the coordination of the 5/6 costumes as well as anyone who has capacity to iron on transfers to our yellow t-shirts. A representative from each class would be amazing! Thank you to those parents who have contacted me already. I will be in touch.

Technical Rehearsals: Our technical rehearsals will be held at Burrinja on Monday 17th August (night 1) and Tuesday 18th August (night 2). Excursion information will be sent home on Compass in Term Three. 

In the Performing Arts Room

FOUNDATION

Our focus over the last term has been on learning the songs and dances for our whole school production, ‘The Wizard That Was’. We have been using our large mirrors in the Performing Arts space to help with learning and retaining choreography. The students have been dancing both in unison (the same steps at the same time), in a cannon (same movement at different, overlapping times) as well as spontaneously and creatively improvising their own groovy moves. It has been great to see the students improve their stagecraft skills (moving on and off, looking up and out, staying in lines etc) as well as their spatial awareness. We have continued to enjoy our favourite class game, “Rock Star,” which always brings lots of energy and excitement to our lessons. 

Please check the ‘Production Costume’ information in this newsletter and reach out if you can help.

YEAR ONE & TWO

The Year One and Two students have been very busy learning the songs and dances for our whole school production, ‘The Wizard That Was’. I set both year levels the challenge of learning and performing a little clapping sequence (vintage ones from my childhood!) with a partner. It has been so wonderful to watch the students work together and help each other and realise that ‘we can do hard things’. Their resilience and responsibility have definitely been on display this term. Over the last few weeks, we have been looking at how their class dances fit into the overall story being told on stage. They have been learning about the characters who they will share the stage with (the 5/6 actors) and have learnt some simple dialogue which will be delivered as a chorus.

Please check the ‘Production Costume’ information in this newsletter and reach out if you can help.

YEAR THREE & FOUR

I have been so proud of how the Year Three and Four students have embraced their songs and dances for our August production of, ‘The Wizard That Was’. They have been very busy not only learning some fast and tricky choreography but also working with a variety of props of varying sizes. An added challenge for the students is that as well as remembering their choreography they must also ‘act’ the dance and stay in character throughout the routine. They are our ‘wicked’ assistants working alongside the Wicked Witch; or perhaps they are just ‘misunderstood’ and not really wicked at all!  We are now learning some cues and choral dialogue that will be spoken on stage after their performance as part of the scene. Next term, their rehearsals will incorporate meeting with the 5/6 actors as they discover how their class performance fits into the overall performance.

Please check the ‘Production Costume’ information in this newsletter and reach out if you can help.

YEAR FIVE & SIX

Our weekly Performing Arts lesson has been used this term to teach and learn two dances for our production, ‘The Wizard That Was’. The adage ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’ springs to mind when I look at the photographs included. It has been great to not only watch our students embrace some creative improvisation but also work very hard to retain and perform choreography with precision and accuracy. We have also had a lot of laughs along the way. 

Our Friday acting rehearsals have been making steady progress with students not only being challenged to learn their lines and cues but also follow blocking and movement directions, add facial expression and gestures and stay in character (ask your child to say something to you in their character’s voice). The valuable rehearsal process is also adding to some core life skills such as organisation (remembering their script), time management (turning up on time for rehearsals), patience (waiting for their scene), responsibility (knowing their lines before their Friday rehearsal), hard work and resilience (I can’t do this yet). Perhaps most importantly, they are learning the value of teamwork as they support, encourage and work alongside their fellow cast members throughout this exciting production journey. 

The Production t-shirt order has now been placed and the t-shirts should be arriving at school at the beginning of Term three. We will distribute these as soon as they arrive and students are then able to wear them to school as part of their uniform. Please continue to encourage your child to practise their lines over the school holidays—this will make a huge difference to their confidence in rehearsals next term as well as to the ability for Ms Oliver and myself to direct them in their scenes. We are hoping to see a lot more ACTING and less READING after the school holidays.

Please check the ‘Production Costume’ information in this newsletter as we now need to source quite a few extra items for the 5/6s and a parent helper who can coordinate this during school hours.

Victorian State School's Spectacular - 2026

The countdown is officially on. It is less than 70 days until the Victorian State Schools Spectacular takes to the stage at John Cain Arena on Saturday 29th August! I am pleased to announce that tickets for the 2026 Victorian State Schools Spectacular will go on sale via Ticketek at 11am on Thursday 16 July. I will send home more information as soon as I receive it, but please put that date in your diary. 

The VSSS participants, dance and choir, have continued to attend their off-site rehearsals with Ms Humphries and Mrs Jones and are making great progress with all of the songs and dances. Please contnue to remind your child that they should be rehearsing at home (not just at school) as much as possible by using the two GOOGLE CLASSROOMS available to them. (one for dance and one for choir). 

The next Dance rehearsal: 7th August, HE Parker Reserve, Heathmont      

The next Choir rehearsal: 22nd July Melbourne Town Hall

We have been given the VSSS uniforms (long sleeved tops - see pic) but we will not be handing these out until the dress rehearsal in August (unless you are a reserve). More costume information will be sent home to you as soon as I receive it.

School Choir 

As you will be aware, the choir now forms part of our senior electives program on a Friday in session 6. Our choir is now looking a LOT smaller, albeit still sound amazing! Last week at assembly the choir performed, 'Count on me' and 'Granny off a bus'. Thank you to those parents who came along to support us and we hope you enjoyed their performance.  Choir will continue in Term Three but we will be taking a small break in weeks 5 and 6 for school production rehearsals. I will remind our singers closer to these dates. We also welcome any new members who would like to commit for Semester two. Choir is open to students from Years One to Six and I have free choir booklets (if your child still needs one). 

Instrumental Lessons

Our school's Instrumental Program, now being managed by Amaris Lee-David, will continue to offer lessons on most instruments and will be retaining the outstanding team of musicians. 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. You also have the option of choosing a lesson during the recess breaks if you would prefer that your child is not taken out of his or her class lessons. Feel free to contact Amaris info@groovefoundations.com for more information.  Please be aware that there is a waiting list for some instruments at the moment and we are doing our very best to find some additional teachers to fill this demand. I am beyond excited to hear that we have SO MANY students wanting to learn an instrument.

Have a wonderful Winter holiday

Penelope