Teaching Team

Dan Dinnen, Jane Leighton, and Kristy St.Clair

Welcome to another exciting term of Performing Arts!

Continuing on from last term, each class has an hour session each week where they participate in learning experiences combining drama, music and movement. This term’s focus is Present and Perform.

In the Junior Classroom (Prep – Year 2)

In the lead up to the Arts Showcase, the focus across our junior classrooms is stagecraft: the art of preparing for performance. In addition to learning and rehearsing songs, chants, dialogue and stage directions (expressions and movements), students are taking ownership across all aspects of production by crafting prop and costume items, selecting complementary background music, and even designing posters and invitations for the event. Prep and Year 1 are presenting traditional fairy tales, while Year 2 are extending their learning by developing their own fractured tales with improvised dialogue. 

Students are also learning to utilise instruments and body percussion to create sounds and rhythms that accompany performance. Prep are experimenting with a variety of unpitched percussion instruments, including bongo drums, güiros, maracas, tambourines and triangles, while Years 1-2 are extending their exploration into pitched percussion instruments, including glockenspiels. 

In the Senior Classroom (Years 3-6)

Years 3 and 4 students spent last term refining their skills of working in unison as part of a chorus, and applying these skills to the creation of a theme-based performance idea. Each group now has a short piece of theatre to work on during Term 3 that will form part of a cohesive, theme-based performance we will be presenting to families in Term 4.

We will be refining our scripts, learning stagecraft, and using voice and movement to present scenes using both chorus and featured characters. Each group’s performance also features song and/or music elements. A variety of instruments will be used to bring the musical elements of our performances to life.

In Years 5 and 6 we are building on the student-led creations from Term 2 towards our Term 4 Showcase performance. The senior students will be learning about the elements of stagecraft, the rehearsal process and the intricacies of working collaboratively to refine and rehearse a group performance. 

Script writing, developing characters, stage blocking, voice projection, engaging with an audience and choreographing a crowd of people to move effectively on stage will be just a few of the experiences the students will participate in.

Years 5 and 6 will also be exploring how to create music, including their own compositions in order to create a soundtrack matching our showcase performance. Students will be encouraged to use GarageBand and live instruments where appropriate. If you have a particular talent for an instrument please don’t hesitate to email your child’s teacher as we are always looking for guest artists. 

‘Showcase’ Performance: Coming up in Term 4! 

As mentioned previously each year level is working towards creating a performance within the classroom and, excitingly, a live staged showcase for families. Further information will be sent out via Compass and the students. The dates are below: 

Years 5 and 6 – Tuesday 24th October 

Years 3 and 4 – Wednesday 25th October 

Prep – Year 2 – Thursday 26th October (a straight after school event) 

Teaching Team

Dan Dinnen (Monday-Wednesday)

Jane Leighton

Kristy St.Clair (Wednesday-Thursday)

Gallery