Junior school
Over the course of their studies in the Junior School, students have the opportunity to experience Dance, Drama, Music, and Visual Arts which provides insight into the pathways available to them in the senior school.
Senior school
Dance
Dance fosters creative and expressive communication. It uses the body as an instrument for expression and communication of ideas. It provides opportunities for students to critically examine and reflect on their world through higher order thinking and movement. It encourages the holistic development of a person, providing a way of knowing about oneself, others and the world.
Students study dance in various genres and styles, embracing a variety of cultural, societal and historical viewpoints integrating new technologies in all facets of the subject.
Historical, current and emerging dance practices, works and artists are explored in global contexts and Australian contexts, including the dance of Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Students learn about dance as it is now and explore its origins across time and cultures.
Students apply critical thinking and literacy skills to create, demonstrate, express and reflect on meaning made through movement. Exploring dance through the lens of making and responding, students learn to pose and solve problems, and work independently and collaboratively. They develop aesthetic and kinaesthetic intelligence, and personal and social skills.
Drama
Drama fosters creative and expressive communication. It interrogates the human experience by investigating, communicating and embodying stories, experiences, emotions and ideas that reflect the human experience. It engages students in imaginative meaning-making processes and involves them using a range of artistic skills as they make and respond to dramatic works.
Students experience, reflect on, understand, communicate, collaborate and appreciate different perspectives of themselves, others and the world in which they live. They learn about the dramatic languages and how these contribute to the creation, interpretation and critique of dramatic action and meaning for a range of purposes. They study a range of forms, styles and their conventions in a variety of inherited traditions, current practice and emerging trends, including those from different cultures and contexts.
Students learn how to engage with dramatic works as both artists and audience through the use of critical literacies. The study of drama develops students' knowledge, skills and understanding in the making of and responding to dramatic works to help them realise their creative and expressive potential as individuals. Students learn to pose and solve problems, and work independently and collaboratively.
Drama in Practice
In Drama in Practice, students explore and engage with two core topics of study — 'Dramatic principles' and 'Dramatic practices' — as they participate in learning activities that apply knowledge and develop creative and technical skills in communicating meaning to an audience. Individually and in groups, they shape and express dramatic ideas of personal and social significance that serve particular purposes. They identify and follow creative and technical processes from conception to realisation, which fosters cooperation and creativity, and helps students develop problem-solving skills and gain confidence and self-esteem.
Media Arts in Practice
Media Arts in Practice focuses on the role media arts plays in the community in reflecting and shaping society's values, attitudes and beliefs. It provides opportunities for students to create and share media artworks that convey meaning and express insight.
Students learn how to apply media technologies in real-world contexts to solve technical and/or creative problems. When engaging with school and/or local community activities, they gain an appreciation of how media communications connect ideas and purposes with audiences.
They use their knowledge and understanding of design elements and principles to develop their own works and to evaluate and reflect on their own and others' art-making processes and aesthetic choices.
Students learn to be ethical and responsible users of and advocates for digital technologies, and aware of the social, environmental and legal impacts of their actions and practices.
Music
Music fosters creative and expressive communication. It allows students to develop musicianship through making (composition and performance) and responding (musicology).
Through composition, performance and musicology, students use and apply music elements and concepts. They apply their knowledge and understanding to convey meaning and/or emotion to an audience.
Students use essential literacy skills to engage in a multimodal world. They demonstrate practical music skills, and analyse and evaluate music in a variety of contexts, styles and genres.
Visual Art
Visual Art provides students with opportunities to understand and appreciate the role of visual art in past and present traditions and cultures, as well as the contributions of contemporary visual artists and their aesthetic, historical and cultural influences. Students interact with artists, artworks, institutions and communities to enrich their experiences and understandings of their own and others' art practices.
Students have opportunities to construct knowledge and communicate personal interpretations by working as both artist and audience. They use their imagination and creativity to innovatively solve problems and experiment with visual language and expression.
Through an inquiry learning model, students develop critical and creative thinking skills. They create individualised responses and meaning by applying diverse materials, techniques, technologies and art processes.
In responding to artworks, students employ essential literacy skills to investigate artistic expression and critically analyse artworks in diverse contexts. They consider meaning, purposes and theoretical approaches when ascribing aesthetic value and challenging ideas.
Visual Art in Practice
Visual Arts in Practice focuses on students engaging in art-making processes and making virtual or physical visual artworks. Visual artworks are created for a purpose and in response to individual, group or community needs.
Students explore and apply the materials, technologies and techniques used in art-making. They use information about design elements and principles to influence their own aesthetic and guide how they view others' works. They also investigate information about artists, art movements and theories, and use the lens of a context to examine influences on art-making.
Students reflect on both their own and others' art- making processes. They integrate skills to create artworks and evaluate aesthetic choices.
Students decide on the best way to convey meaning through communications and artworks. They learn and apply safe visual art practices.