In creative arts, students discover a variety of art forms through a study of dance, drama, music and visual arts.
Studying the creative arts, students learn to appreciate, compose, listen, make and perform. Each art form has its own unique knowledge and skills, elements or concepts as well as a capacity to inspire and enrich lives.
Students must study 100 hours of both music and visual arts during Years 7 to 10. They also have an opportunity to further develop their knowledge and skills in other art forms through elective subjects including drama, dance, photography and visual design. Students can then select from a range of courses in Years 11 to 12.
Benefits of exposing children to Creative and Performing Arts:
• Students learn to think creatively, with an open mind
• Students learn to observe and describe, analyze and interpret
• Students learn to express feelings, with or without words.
• Students practice problem-solving skills, critical-thinking skills, dance, music, theater and art-making skills, language and vocabulary of the arts
• Students discover that there is more than one right answer, multiple points of view
• School can be fun – playing can be learning
• Students learn to collaborate with others
• Arts introduce students to cultures from around the world
• Students can blossom and excel in the arts. Even with physical, emotional or learning challenges, success in the arts can be experienced.
• Arts build confidence. Because there is not just one right way to make art, every child can feel pride in his or her original artistic creations.
Year 7
Students in Year 7 have classes in Visual Arts and in Music for the entire year.
Year 8 Electives
Students in Year 8, will have the option to elect Visual Arts, Music and Drama for each semester. Options include an elective subject from the list below.
The Rock On! course provides an opportunity for students to try different instruments, using them to perform and compose in groups or individually. By spending time focusing on the guitar, keyboard, drums and vocals, students get to discover what instrument suits them. This variety provides an excellent practical basis for the topics covered. Group work is emphasised, with students taking on roles they feel more comfortable with in the second semester of the course.
Main Topics Covered:
- Popular music and Music in the Media
- Performance and composition work
- Basic skills on the Drums, Guitar, Keyboard and Singing
- Understanding of the roles of the instruments in a band
- Listening skills, both from the topics covered and of class performances, to improve practical skills and understanding of group work
Course Requirements
Music exercise book and a plastic sleeve booklet for handouts
Course Fee: $20
If you are energetic, creative and enjoy working with others and having fun at the same time, then Drama in Year 8 is the option for you. This is a practical, ‘let's do it’ subject that gets you up and moving where you will participate in dramatic activities, increase your confidence and spontaneity, and learn to work with many people.
Main Topics Covered:
• Movement - improvisation techniques
• Mime - role play
• Rhythm - performance skills
• Sound - acting for the stage
• Storytelling
Course Requirements
Comfortable clothing for practical work
Course Fee: $15
Students will explore a range of drawing and design techniques to create their own graphics, comics and illustrations based on a range of themes and ideas. Students have the opportunity to develop skills in their use of pencil, illustration pen, ink, paint and computer programs. This course is a valuable opportunity for students to develop an awareness of the multitude of media influences found today, evident in painted, drawn or written form.
Main Topics Covered:
• Art as social comment – Street Art
• The power of graphics- Skate and Surf designs
• Graphics for clothing-Branding
• Comics – the art of visuals story telling
• Digital designs and manipulations
Course Requirements
Visual Arts Process Diary, 2B pencil and a felt tip pen
Course Fee: $20
A variety of materials is used by students to explore their work and interests over the semester to develop a series of sculptural forms. Students will use clay and a variety of other materials to construct a range of 3D artworks. Students also visit the annual Sculpture by the Sea exhibition at Bondi Beach.
Main Topics Covered:
Small experimental exercises using a range of media will be completed to develop skills and knowledge of the many sculptural processes. Some of the major projects that will be completed during the semester include the construction hand built form(s), Mixed media construction, Ceramic work and Pop Art sculpture
Course Requirements:
Sketchbook, 28 pencils and an eraser
Course Fee: $25
Course Description:
Drama is a performing art in which aspects of human experiences are portrayed; it is an exploration of experiences and situations through enactment. In Drama, students learn about themselves and others by creating characters and situations. Drama provides a particularly valuable means of increasing self-confidence, developing creative self-expression, self-control and social awareness.
What will students learn about?
Through their study of Drama, students will be challenged to maximize their dramatic abilities and enjoyment of drama through making, performing and appreciating dramatic and theatrical works. Students will learn the importance of written reflection on the function of theatre and their personal responses.
What will students learn to do?
Students will create drama that explores a range of created and imagined situations. They will perform their own devised and scripted drama using a variety of performance techniques, dramatic forms and theatrical conventions, involving: Improvisation, character, role-play, play building. Students will learn about and explore performance styles and theatre conventions.
Special Features:
Group work, live performances, recorded performances, MAD Night, primary school visits and pop up performances in school and around the community.
Assessment: Performance, workshops, log book and Monologue
Additional Requirements: Practical rehearsal clothes for workshop activities.
Course fee: $20
Course Description:
Music is a course for those students who wish to improve their skills in Music and their knowledge of the history of Music. There is a strong emphasis on group work (bands and ensembles). Students are encouraged to participate in extra-curricular ensembles as part of the course.
What will students learn about?
Students fulfill the requirements of the BOS Syllabus by undertaking study of a combination of term topics, including: Rock, Jazz, Australian, Baroque, Music of a Culture, Art Music and others. Students will learn about the concepts of Music through performance, composition and listening. Students enhance and improve their skills as they gain greater experience through musical awareness and practice.
What will students learn to do?
• Understand different stylistic, social cultural and historical purposes of music
• Perform music in a range of musical styles
• Understand musical concepts through improvising, arranging and composing music in different styles and genres
• Explore the impact of technology on music.
Special Features: ‘Pop-up band’performance opportunities at school and in the community, MAD Night performance, primary school visits.
Assessment: Performance, composition, Exam and Aural work.
Additional Requirements: Students need to be enrolled in band or vocal ensemble.
Course fee: $20
The Big Gig provides an opportunity for students to try different instruments, using them to perform and compose in groups or individually. By spending time focusing on the guitar, keyboard, drums and vocals, students get to discover what instrument suits them. This variety provides an excellent practical basis for the topics covered. Group work is emphasised, with students taking on roles they feel more comfortable with in the second semester of the course.
Main Topics Covered:
- Popular music and Music in the Media
- Performance and composition work
- Basic skills on the Drums, Guitar, Keyboard and Singing
- Understanding of the roles of the instruments in a band
- Listening skills, both from the topics covered and of class performances, to improve practical skills and understanding of group work
Course Requirements
Music exercise book and a plastic sleeve booklet for handouts
Course Fee: $20
Course Description:
This course allows students to study Photography & Digital Media as a course in its own right or it can be used to extend the learning of Visual Arts Elective students who may later wish to focus on photography as their Body of Work in the Visual Arts course in Years 11 & 12.
What will students learn about?
Students have the opportunity to learn about still and moving photographic forms, specifically in ‘wet’ black & white photography, ‘dry’ digital photography and video production over the two year course. Students will develop a portfolio of work where creativity and individuality is important in the demonstration of their technical skills. The course develops students’ broad skills and knowledge in both these photographic forms in Year 9 and provides the opportunity to refine and further explore more sophisticated photographic techniques in Year 10.
What will students learn to do?
Students will learn how how to develop black and white film in a darkroom exploring ‘traditional’ or ‘wet’ photograhphic techniques to produce high quality photograpic works.
Students will learn how to develop interesting themes and conceptual layers of meaning in their work.
Students will learn to use Photoshop in a creative and sophisticated way to produce industry quality digital artworks which demonstrate a strong understanding of composition
Assessment:
Practical portfolio of works, including digital and traditional photographs; darkroom and digital image manipulation skills; writing about and responding to the meaning of other artists’ photographic images.
Course Description:
This course allows students to work practically to develop their ideas and responses to the world in a creative and visual way. Students experiment with a range of media to produce artworks in the following forms: drawing, painting, sculpture, assemblage, collage, video, performance art and installation.
What will students learn about?
Students learn that art is a visual language that conveys ideas and messages to an audience. They learn to develop their own creative ideas and explore how to develop layers of meaning in their own artworks, while also learning to interpret the meaning and value the aesthetic qualities in other artists’ work..
What will students learn to do?
Visual Arts students learn to develop their ideas in response to direct sources (things they see, experience and learn about in the world around them) and may include their own experiences, environment, and imagination. Students study the work of a variety of artists whose work directly relates to their practical work. The course provides both guided practical activities to develop skills, and the opportunity for students to create their own works exploring areas of personal interest. Students learn how to use a variety of media to create a Body of Work.
Assessment: Practical art-making; and responding to artworks of other artists; Visual Arts Process Diary book mark.
Additional Requirements: Visual Arts Process Diary, felt tip pen, 2B, 4B pencil.
Course fee: $45
Students will gain practical experience in the making of visual and graphic designs by developing a range of design skills using a variety of materials from pencil, through to paint and digitally manipulated images. Students will use their creative ideas to produce graphic art forms such as posters, T-Shirt designs, cd covers, interior decoration and illustration. Students will also look at the place of commercial art and design in the contemporary world through a study of various artists and their work.
Main Topics Covered:
Small experimental exercises using a range of media will be completed to develop skills and knowledge of the design process. Some of the major projects that will be completed during the semester include the design and construction of a personalised mirror as well as creative calico carry bag using a variety of printing and stencilling techniques
Course Requirements:
Sketchbook, 28 pencils and an eraser
Course Fee: $25
Course Description:
Write it – play it – Record it, is a performance based Music course providing guidance in all areas of writing, performing and recording original music, culminating in recordings of the classes works. Through analysis, practical, composition and recording components, the students will achieve an outlet for their creative needs as well as provide a solid background for their future as performing artists.
What will students learn about?
Song analysis, Song structure, Performance, Observation, Composition, Recording skills, Perfecting work, Technique.
What will students learn to do?
Develop an understanding of popular song structure and chord progressions
Learn to perform music with regard to the stylist techniques required
Compose music of different styles
Recording techniques to maximize the potential of the composition
Special Features: Recording own music tracks, pop-up performances at school and in the local area.
Assessment: Performance, song writing and composition skills, viva voce.
Additional Requirements: Students will need to have some prior knowledge on an instrument and/or ability as a singer
Course fee: $20
