Arts News

House performance by Barking Gecko Theatre Company

Last week the Year Four class attended the Barking Gecko performance of House at the Albany Entertainment Centre. Here are the reflections of Jessie:

"I enjoyed the Theatre Production because I thought it had a great meaning to the story. The play ‘House’ is about a girl called Cataline, who was the loneliest girl in the world, and House which came to rescue her. To Cataline’s surprise there were two people already in House, called Elka and Peter. Both Elka and Peter had reasons why House collected them but Cataline and Peter didn’t know that Elka had a reason. Elka messed with the wires to make House go into a storm. As House was going into the storm, it struggled. When the characters realised that Elka had messed with the wires they found her badge which said ‘Last Place’. Then they realised that she had been collected by house. Cataline encouraged them that the door to the outside wasn’t dangerous and they finally went outside. I liked the Theatre Production because I believe the characters were quite funny and they did a great job acting. It was very entertaining." - Jessie Rotoff | Year Four

Junior School Drawing Festival 

In Junior School Visual Arts our focus this term has been on drawing. A drawing is any trace left by a tool drawn along a surface. We have been exploring a variety of different materials – pencil, pastel, texta, graphite – to make marks, rubbings, and images. Student artworks are currently on display in the ECC and Junior School buildings. 

Since cave art in prehistoric times, drawing has been an important part of human communication and the benefits of drawing are far-reaching. It can aid cognitive development; helping to write and think creatively, develop hand-eye coordination, hone observation, spatial and analytic skills and conceptualise ideas. Drawing can also be used to brainstorm, think reflectively, organise thoughts, support mindfulness and, of course, express ourselves.  

The ability to think creatively is becoming increasingly more valuable in our society. A key way we can learn to be more creative is by learning to translate our thoughts and ideas into tangible things and make our thinking visible. Junior School students have been a delight to teach. Some of their reflections on drawing are below: 

I love to draw because it is colourful. It makes me feel happy. 

Stephanie - Year One 

I love to draw because it’s good. You can draw for a long time. You can draw underwater things and on-land things, you can draw shapes- anything you want! Blake - Year One

I love the different colours and getting to know the colours in what you draw.  You can look and see -ooh, that colour looks good, I’m going to use that! 

Amity - Year One

I love to draw because it is endless with no limitations. 

Max - Year Four 

I like drawing because it is fun and relaxing and you can let your imagination go! Thomas - Year Four 

I like drawing because it makes me calm. 

Macy - Year Four 

Mrs Phoebe Duff | Teacher

Reflections On Performing

Music is a powerful force in creating a mood or vibe. We all listen to music all the time and we use it to change and lift our mood and to chill out and relax. 

The idea behind the music played here at assemblies and other school events is the same. We are trying to create a mood at an assembly, chapel or other school events and try to lift your mood or at other times to encourage you to have a moment of quiet reflection – like in a chapel service. Music is planned as part of the assemblies and is meant to provide a break and change between listening to people speak. 

For us when we get up on stage, we are excited to play and also terrified about making a mistake. We have to be brave and trust that we have practised hard enough to know we can do this and to make mistakes. But after we have played, we feel invincible and like we could do almost anything. It’s the best feeling. A part of us hates the fact that we get up to do it, but we do it each time because it’s fun. 

We know that you’re counting the minutes till lunchtime and when we look out from the stage, all we see is a blur of faces. We can usually see some of our friends smiling at us and it’s great to think you might be enjoying our music.  We would love it if you could give us a smile or nod your heads, tap your feet or give us a small sign that you are enjoying the music. 

At Monday's assembly we had some amazing performances. The songs performed were Mozart’s Alleluia by Senior Strings, Hit the Road Jack by the Year Ten Music students and The Yellow Submarine by the Year One and Two students accompanied by the Year Twelve VET students. There was a lot of contrast between each of the songs which kept things entertaining and exciting. Music during assemblies is definitely something everyone appreciates, so thank you to everyone who put in the time an effort to put on a great show. 

Toby Manson | Arts Captain