Our Year 5 and 6 students, and a team of incredibly dedicated teachers led by Mr Huxtable, are preparing for next week’s Wakakirri competition.  Wakakirri is Australia’s Largest Performing Arts event for schools and our Year 5 and 6 students will experience of performing on the stage at the entertainment centre in front of over a thousand people. The children will perform a ‘Story-Dance’ of 7 minutes, using a combination of dancing, creative movement and acting to pre-recorded music. Incredibly, Mr Huxtable has composed all of the music himself this year! Good luck to the Year 5 and 6 teachers and children, and to Mr Huxtable who is leading the team for the first time.

Later in the term Mr Huxtable and Year 1-4 teachers will turn their attention to Concert. This year’s overarching theme is Modern Music History. Unfortunately, we are still not in a position to do a one-night performance as in the past. The format of concert this year will be the same as the last couple of years with a whole school video performance and then classes performing to parents separately in afternoons in Week 10. The outline for concert timing this year is:

• Friday Week 9 (Sept 23): Whole school dress rehearsal, filming, and photos. 
• Monday Week 10 (Sep 26): Year 1 afternoon performances 2-2.45pm 
• Tuesday Week 10 (Sept 27): Year 2 afternoon performances 2-2.45pm 
• Wednesday Week 10 (Sept 28): Year 3 afternoon performances 2-2.45pm 
• Thursday Week 10 (Sept 29): Year 4 afternoon performances 2-2.50pm 

As per Leila’s email re the student free days this term, Friday September 30 is no longer optional attendance day. Hopefully this gives you a little clarity about what lies ahead and the timing of your child’s involvement in Performing Arts this term.

With a continued focus on creativity at St Paul, performance opportunities such as Wakakirri and Concert provide children with a chance to showcase a wide variety of gifts and talents. Our Performing Arts program, both in the classroom and beyond, has become an increasingly important part of our education program and allows children to express themselves and respond to the world around them. In the words of the late Sir Ken Robinson, “The arts especially address the idea of aesthetic experience. An aesthetic experience is one in which your senses are operating at their peak; when you’re present in the current moment; when you’re resonating with the excitement of this thing that you’re experiencing; when you are fully alive.”