Our Year 5 and 6 students, and a team of incredibly dedicated teachers led by Mr Huxtable and Mrs Janetzski, are preparing for next week’s Wakakirri competition.  Wakakirri is Australia’s Largest Performing Arts event for schools and our Year 5 and 6 children will experience performing on the stage at the Norwood Concert Hall. The children will perform a ‘Story-Dance’ of 7 minutes, using a combination of dancing, creative movement and acting to pre-recorded music. 

Once again, Mr Huxtable has composed all of the music himself this year! Good luck to the Year 5 and 6 teachers and children who have spent so much time in preparation. Thank you also to our families who have spent time sourcing and making costumes for this year’s very unique theme.

Later in the term our Performing Arts and Year 1-4 teachers will turn their attention to Concert. 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:

• Monday Week 9 (Sept 18): Whole school dress rehearsal, 
• Wednesday Week 9  (Sept 20): Concert filming, and photos. 
• Monday Week 10 (Sep 25): Year 1 afternoon performances 2-2.45pm 
• Tuesday Week 10 (Sept 26): Year 2 afternoon performances 2-2.45pm 
• Wednesday Week 10 (Sept 27): Year 3 afternoon performances 2-2.45pm 
• Thursday Week 10 (Sept 28): Year 4 afternoon performances 2-2.50pm 

Friday September 29 is an optional attendance day for all children. 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.”