CAPA Report

Term 2 has been an exceptionally creative period for our budding young artists. I'd firstly like to thank all of the CAPA teachers for their dedication and commitment to nurturing, challenging and developing the skills of our students in Drama, Visual Art, Photography and Music. Some of our Yr 11 Music Students performed at YIPA and were very well received.  

Congratulations to Mia Schull of Year 11 who received the Coast Academy of Music Encouragement Award from Youth in Performing Arts - YIPA. The award includes free tuition on drum kit and percussion. Well done, Mia!

The amazing Lyn Bowtell, a recent contestant in The Voice Australia graciously gave up some time to run a masterclass for our Music Students. What an amazing experience.

 You would have seen lots of our big highlights and student successes from this term in previous editions of the newsletter (A Central Vision, On Track, HK's Got Talent, etc.) but here is a run down of what's been happening every day in our classrooms:

Drama

Our Stage 5 Drama class have been working this term on Mime and Physical Theatre. Mrs Draper has had them working hard using their bodies in creative ways to build strength and dexterity for physical theatre. You can check out some great photos of this on our CAPA Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/HKHSCAPA/posts/1536738479733702

Year 11 Preliminary HSC Drama have been working through scenes from the Australian play 'Jasper Jones'. This has been a challenge for this enthusiastic students, but one that they have really enjoyed and sunk their teeth into. https://www.facebook.com/HKHSCAPA/posts/1539136386160578

Year 12 HSC Drama are under the pump to get their Group Performance Projects and Individual Projects completed and polished before the Trial exams in Weeks 4 and 5 next term. Their official HSC practical assessment will take place during Weeks 6 or 7 of next term. Mrs Draper has, once again, been selected by NESA to travel around the state marking HSC Practical exams - this is of a huge benefit to these students as they can be confident in the knowledge that Mrs Draper is thoroughly cognisant with what it takes to achieve well at HSC level. 

We were so delighted to welcome Mr Quilty's Year 8 English class into the Drama room for some collaborative 'interfaculation' (a term Mrs Hogan has coined). These students performed their own dual-scene plays. This was the culmination of multiple lessons of project-based, student-centred learning. The classroom was alive with enthusiasm and energy throughout the process and performances. It was fantastic to see such a high level of engagement and excitement! Thanks to Mrs Draper for workshopping the elements of drama with these students to help them bring their work to life.                https://www.facebook.com/henrykendallhighschool/posts/440365909661259

Drama Club

In a classic case of "from little things, big things grow" we are very excited to tell everyone about the Year 7/8 Drama Club that has started up this term. It was an idea proposed to Mrs Draper by a couple of Year 7 students. Mrs Draper set the challenge that they would need to find at least 5 people to do it to make it worthwhile. Nearly 20 students turned up to the first session and it has continued to remain very popular with our junior students. This is an excellent opportunity for those students to try their hand at Drama and see if it's something they would like to pursue as one of their Stage 5 Electives. https://www.facebook.com/HKHSCAPA/posts/1558457790895104

Photography

Mr Clift's Stage 5 Photography class have been working hard all year building their photographic skills on cameras, as well as their editing skills using Photoshop. At the moment they are learning how to manipulate and layer photos to create illusions that challenge our perspective of the world. They are learning how to make people look like they are levitating as well as doing some invisibility tricks. Stay tuned next term to see their wonderful creations.

Year 11 Preliminary Photography have been investigating and learning about thematic photography and creating photographic narratives using a grid style arrangement of related photographs. 

Year 12 HSC Photography have been working on creating advertising and marketing material based on their own photographs and graphic design skills. This is a fantastic unit that provides then with a look into one of the more lucrative industries of the 21st Century.

They are also preparing a collection of work for exhibition in late August. Their work will be exhibited with the Yr 12 Visual Arts Bodies of Work and other works from our amazing Visual Artists across the years in  late August.

Music

Year 9 Elective Music have been learning about Baroque Music which covers the historical period from roughly 1600-1750. For many of these students this is not something they have ever experienced or considered in their musical journey, but they have thoroughly enjoyed engaging with the music through listening and performance tasks.

Year 10 Elective Music have been delving deep into the concept of Pitch and how different notes relate to each other, how chords and scales are made and why things sound the way they do in terms of melody and harmony. This will lead into their next unit of Rock Music where they will compose their own 12-bar blues songs.

Year 11 Preliminary HSC Music have been working hard creating their own arrangements of popular songs and performing these in small ensembles. There is a wonderful level of creativity and enthusiasm in this class. 

Year 12 HSC Music are now on the down-hill run to their HSC Practical exams which take place in Weeks 8 or 9 of Term 3. All systems are go, they are rehearsing hard and revising their listening skills as often as possible.

Music tutorials continue each week and spots are still available in guitar and voice. PAN audition applications will be going out early next term for our Week 8 celebration of all things performing.

Visual Arts

The Yr 7 YAP and Year 8 Visual Arts class collaboration on a journey story about our local area and daily travels from home to school. How many of you know the name of the hill right next to Henry Kendall? Do you know where the name of it came from? We have been considering some of these interesting local questions. These artworks are in the shape of a jigsaw puzzle and are just being finished. The first one was glued together this week. These will find a permanent place somewhere in our school. Great work Years 7 and 8, and excellent collaborations with each other.

Yr 10 Visual Arts are constructing sculptures for the Sculpture by the Bay event which will be presented at the Gosford Regional Gallery next term. Their work is being supported by the sculptor Col Henry who has generously donated so much of his time for this project.

Year 11 Visual Arts have been developing some excellent technical skill with Mrs Wilkinson to build their drawing and painting abilities. This has resulted in some excellent portraiture and detail work. 

Year 12 Visual Arts are also under the pump to get their HSC Body of Works completed before the Trial Exams in Weeks 4 and 5. This is their major project and should represent 20-30 weeks of solid work. Well done to these students who are creating some excellent displays with a solid understanding of the Conceptual Framework. A huge thank you also to our Principal Mr Backhouse and Mrs Wilkinson for providing their expertise in order to support Ms Keft and her students in this class.<