Performing Arts

   Communicating with the Specialist Team

We look forward to partnering with you in 2025, and welcome your input:

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

Wominjeka!

Welcome back to school and the last Term of 2025! I can't believe how quickly this year has gone. I guess time flies when you're having fun! I had a very eventful school holidays with my daughter surprising us with her return from the UK (turning up on the doorstep at 6.30am) and my son celebrating his 18th birthday and getting his Ps on the same day! Never a dull moment. I hope you had a lovely break too.

Whole School Christmas Concert

We have launched into this Term at full speed as we prepare for our end of year Christmas concert. Make sure you have the date in your diary:

Thursday 4th December, 6.00pm - 8.00pm (approx)

ON THE OVAL!

If you have not already heard the exciting news, we will be moving our concert down onto the oval this year. We think this will make the evening more enjoyable for everyone! More information will be sent home closer to the event. Please see below for some 'costume' suggestions for your child's performance. These are only suggestions and not a requirement. It is absolutely fine if your child wears 'Christmas' colours to the concert, namely red, green, silver, gold and a bit (or a lot) of tinsel. Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any concerns or wonderings.

Do they Know It's Christmas Time?

Our school choir, (with some special guests) will be performing the iconic Band Aid song, 'Do they Know It's Christmas Time?' at our concert. To coincide with this, we will be supporting the Foothills Community Care with their Giving Tree to support families in surrounding communities who are doing it tough.  I have discussed this in all of my Performing Arts lessons and have had some very rich conversations about empathy and gratitude. 

Suggested donations include:

🎁 New, unwrapped presents for primary-aged children

🥫 Non-perishable food items for care packages. See the attached Reverse Advent Calendar for some ideas.

We will start this at school on MONDAY 3rd November and collect donations up until the night of the Christmas concert. Please let me know if you can assist us in collecting the donated items for delivery and we thank you in advance for your kindness. Every little bit helps.

Upwey South's Got Talent

We are very excited to be running Upwey South's Got Talent again. As in previous years, there are TWO categories for entries, namely a JUNIOR category and a SENIOR category. Your child can only enter once and, if they are performing with a sibling or a friend from another year level, they can pick which category they wish to enter. For example, if someone in Year 1 is entering a talent act with another person from Year 4, they can either enter their act in the junior OR senior category, but NOT in both. 

The competition is only open to Upwey South Primary School students, but family members can assist with the filming etc. Remember, the 'talent' can be anything from singing, dancing, acting, telling jokes, mime, cooking, bmx riding, gymnastics, aerobics, rubix cubing, cooking, magic, poetry reading and much more. The winners (as voted for by the students) will be announced at our final assembly.

To enter you must use GOOGLE CLASSROOM. Your child's classroom teacher will provide you with their login details if they do not already have them. Please put your child's name and class in the file name when you upload their entry. The classroom codes are as follows:

USGT SENIOR - zagvdimn

USGT JUNIOR - 3ds4kifj

Entries close on Monday 1st December at 9.00am

IN OUR PERFORMING ARTS ROOM

Foundation

The Foundation students have been learning several songs for our Christmas concert. Our short weekly Performing Arts lessons have been very FULL! Their songs are:

I'm the Happiest Christmas Tree - they can come dressed as a Christmas tree

The Nutbush - they will be staring as the 'Tree of Wisdom' - think green!

Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer - If they have a Santa hat they can wear this

The students have also been learning the whole school finale, 'Move Your Feet' (from Trolls).

It would be amazing if you could play any of the above songs at home for them to practise to. We have been focussing on 'safe dance practice' and remembering our stagecraft skills including facing the audience, looking up and out, entering and exiting a stage and taking a bow.

Year One and Year Two

The students in both year levels have done a tremendous job of learning our whole school Christmas concert finale, 'Move Your Feet', which is very fast but lots of fun. They have been using the mirrors to 'mirror' the choreography. We have revisited The Nutbush and included the lyric, 'Rika-Pudy-Fan-Dan-Doogly' aka Tree of Wisdom style. It would be great if you could play this at home (and join in on the night) so they can polish their dance. The class items are as follows:

Santa Bring me a Dinosaur - Year One - feel free to wear anything with a Dinosaur on, with a touch of Christmas colours

Rocking Around the Christmas Tree - Year Two - it would be GREAT if this class could wear Christmas Pyjamas. They can be any length/style but they need to be able to dance in them

Remember that the above are only costume suggestions. It is totally Ok if your child wears something festive. In a few weeks time we will be heading over to 3Mdr to record the song items in preparation for our performance.

Year Three and Year Four

The students have been working incredibly hard on their song for our Christmas concert. They will be performing to Bob Dylan's version of the 1960s classic, 'Must be Santa'. This song is structured as a 'call and response' with a cumulative chorus that becomes rather 'hectic'. As I always say, 'we can do hard things' and if anyone can, the 3/4s can! It has been amazing to watch their progress every week.  

Must Be Santa -  It would be great if all students could wear a Santa Hat? Or feel free to come dressed as Santa (if you already have this).

The students will also perform in the finale and will lead the community in a whole school Christmas song supported by Katherine Jones.

Year Five and Year Six

It was great to see all of the students back together in week three after several sporting and Life Ed commitments. We had fun watching a past recording of the 6s when they were in classes 1A and 1B performing the song, 'Pig the Pug'. We can't wait to share this important message of sharing with you again in the Christmas concert. We are on the hunt for the original PIG THE PUG from our previous performance. It is a little Pug dressed in Christmas clothes. If you have this in your house we would love to borrow it. There are no specific 'costume' requirements for the Year five/six students but they are welcome to get dressed up as a Christmas rapper (caps, bling, sunnies etc) if they wish.  Some classes finished off their Portfolio Tasks for Semester Two and enjoyed experimenting with some bucket drumming. I hope to continue this with the current Year five students next year. 

Instrumental Concert

If your child is currently learning an instrument and wishes to perform in the Groove Foundations instrumental concert, please make sure you have read the email from Amaris as to which session your child is playing at. See below for a copy of the communication:

Here are the guidelines for session times for our Student Concert on Thursday 27 November. To ensure each session is kept within time, and to align with each teacher's availability, the following session groups have been planned.

Please take note of which session your child(ren) is/are scheduled in and please let your teacher know if you need to be scheduled in the other session instead.

Session 1 (3:45-4:45)

Pamela's students (Pamela won't be present)

Maddy's Students

Rohan's Students

Ayesha's Students

Session 2 (5-6pm)

Justin's Students

Treelo's Students (Treelo will also be present for both sessions)

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.comfor more information.