At St. Monica’s, we recognise the importance of educating the whole child. We have specialist teachers in the areas of Music, Visual and Performing Arts.
At St. Monica’s, The Arts, is based on the Victorian Curriculum and includes Dance, Drama, Music, and Visual Arts. The Arts enable students to develop their creative and expressive capacities. Students are both artist and audience in the Arts.
They make and respond and learn to appreciate the specific ways this occurs in different disciplines. Through engaging in The Arts students are entertained, challenged and provoked to respond to questions and assumptions about individual and community identity, taking into account different histories and cultures.
As part of the Performing Arts Program (Dance and Drama) a formal program is taught to all students from Foundation – Year 2 on a weekly basis. These sessions include: games, improvisation, mime, script, puppetry, movement, rhymes, poems, singing and theatre. The program aims to give students the opportunity to use their imagination as well as invent and discover positive ways to solve problems. It also aims to promote the all-round development of students, especially in the areas of self-confidence and sensitivity towards others. The most notable outcome of the program to date has been the students’ expressions of sheer enjoyment and delight at the conclusion of each lesson.
As a part of our Visual Arts Program a formal lesson is taught to all students from Foundation – Year 6 on a weekly basis for one Semester. These lessons include creating and making two and three dimensional art in the areas of Modelling, Threads and Textiles, Collage, Construction, Drawing, Painting and Printing. Children are also given opportunities to explore and respond to art theory, history and culture.
Additionally, all students in Years 3 – 6 take part in formal music lessons on a weekly basis. Students explore many different styles of music and learn the elements of music using percussion instruments, tuned instruments, songs and movement. They have the opportunity to create, improvise and in groups.
As part of the music program students in Year 3/4 learn the recorder. Children learn how to read music and build up a repertoire of pieces to play and perform.