THE ARTS

Arts- Visual Arts focus

Nat Cook Drawing Competition

Each year, our local Member of Parliament, Nat Cook, holds a drawing competition for primary school students across her electorate. In Week 1, students had the opportunity to create a drawing showing what kindness and respect mean to them.

Students who wished to enter the competition could submit their artwork for consideration. One Junior Primary student and one Primary student from each school will be selected as winners.

We look forward to finding out which of our talented students have been successful later this term. Good luck to everyone who entered!

Castle Unit- learning about colour, line and shape

Students in Castle Unit have had a colourful start to the term. The Receptions have been exploring the rainbow through creating paper plate rainbows and singing along to a song using coloured ribbon instruments. The Year 1/2 classes have learned about the colour wheel and have discovered the difference between warm and cool colours. Students painted Cool Cats and Hot Dogs to represent this difference. 

Over the final weeks of the term, students will turn their attention to shape and line in art. Reception students will draw a patterned maraca artwork and design a cityscape using a variety of lines. The Year 1/2 classes will be creating a fruit bowl artwork using their drawings of fruit, cut out shapes and colourful, patterned lines.

Holly and Stillwell Units- How can light, colour, line and shape influence the artworks we create?

Holly and Stillwell students have been exploring this big question in their Arts lessons by viewing and discussing artworks by some of the great masters, including Paul Cézanne and Claude Monet. Students have been experimenting with techniques and ideas inspired by these artists, while developing their own skills and creative approaches.

While reflecting on his still-life drawing of fruit, one Year 4 student shared, “I never thought I could draw apples this good. All I had to do was look at all the detail on each apple and see where the light was hitting them to get the shading right.” This wonderful observation demonstrates how developing our understanding of artistic techniques can help us apply new skills and create something we can be proud of.

An excursion to the Art Gallery last week to see the Monet to Matisse exhibition provided further inspiration for our young artists. During a studio activity, students had the opportunity to create their own original artworks using the elements of light, colour and shape. Working with coloured markers on clear acetate sheets, students experimented with colour, transparency, overlapping shapes and the effects of light.

Take a look at the photos of our still-life fruit drawings, created using oil pastels, and our excursion to see these developing skills and understandings in action!

HEPS Choir – Preparing for the Southern Metropolitan Music Festival

The HEPS Choir members are working hard to prepare for their performance at the Southern Metropolitan Music Festival on Thursday, November 5th. They have been working diligently together this term to learn all of the festival songs by heart, including choreography for three of the songs. We encourage all Choir families to support their children by practising regularly at home using the app. This will help our singers build confidence and ensure they are well prepared to achieve their performance goals.

We are excited to share the Choir’s progress with our school community at the Week 8 Assembly, where you will have the opportunity to hear how fantastic they are sounding!

We are also thrilled to announce that four of our talented students have been selected as soloists for concert night. This is an outstanding achievement, particularly as in previous years we have had only one or two students successfully audition. Congratulations to Charlotte L, Hannah B, Alexandra C and Hanna C. We are immensely proud of you and look forward to seeing you shine on the concert stage! We also acknowledge Ava S who auditioned for three different solos at two different times but narrowly missed out. She certainly showed our school value of Persistence and Resilience. Thanks for your efforts, Ava.

Melissa Thiele

Arts Teacher