Creative arts is mandatory for students from Kindergarten to Year 6.
In creative arts, students discover a variety of art forms through a study of dance, drama, music and visual arts where they 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.
Creative Arts assists students in their lifelong learning in the visual arts, music, drama and dance. It also assists students to participate in and contribute to cultural life, to become informed consumers of the arts and culture and to empathise with others.
We are very privileged at Cromer Public School to have a specialist art teacher. You can read all the news about art in the school's art blog.
A wide range of extra-curricular activities are offered to our students ranging from:
- Choir - Senior choir and junior choir.
- Dance - Senior dance, junior dance, senior hip-hop dance and junior hip-hop.
- Drama - Senior drama and junior drama.
- Violin - Senior string ensemble, intermediate string ensemble and training string ensemble,
- Band - Senior band, intermediate band and training band, senior chamber ensemble
- Debating teams - for Year 5 and Year 6.
Many of these talented groups are chosen for the district, regional and state performances at the Sydney Opera house, Glen Street theatre, the Seymour Centre, NIDA and the Sydney Entertainment Centre. The school is extremely proud of it's creative and performing arts programs. Each year the school showcases these talented groups Cromer's annual creative and performing arts evenings.
The school is indeed extremely fortunate to have so many dedicated and talented members of staff whose expertise in this area is outstanding. Many of the groups rehearse before and after school, as well as during lunch time periods.
Visual arts
How to help your child in visual arts:
- Try to make available a variety of simple tools and materials for artmaking activities, such as paper, pens, brushes, glue, coloured pencils, paints, cardboard cylinders, boxes, leaves and twigs, and containers to store these materials.
- Find purposeful ways for your child to use their art knowledge and skills - for example, occasions such as birthdays, children could design and make cards and gifts.
- Talk to your child about the design and construction of artworks, signs, logos, shopping centres, public parks, buildings and public sculptures.
- Display your child's artworks at home.
- Encourage your child to keep a diary for their drawings of things that interest them and a scrapbook for images they like.
- Make artworks with your child and discuss what you are each doing and why you are doing it.
- Talk to your child about what artists and designers do.
- Where opportunities arise, encourage your child to visit galleries and museums (including virtual galleries on the internet).
- Many art galleries have children's programs that run on weekends and during school holidays.
- Check out art games and activities online as this encourages information and communication technology (ICT)as well as art.
- Encourage your child to enter art and drawing competitions.
Music
At Cromer, we believe that Music provides a unique medium by which our students can communicate providing inspiration and motivation. Students are given the opportunity to express themselves through this enjoyable medium. Music has the ability to play an important part in the development of an individual.
Music enables our students to understand their world because it reflects our culture and the society in which we live. Music is a creative and enjoyable activity.
The school's music program aims to enable students to:
- Know and understand how sounds are made and organised into musical structures.
- Make music using a variety of instruments.
- Understand how music is composed and recorded.
- Develop the skills of reading, performing, composing and appreciating music.
- Enjoy and appreciate a variety of musical styles.
- Make informed judgements about the quality of music.
Due to students having widely differing musical abilities, suitable learning opportunities are provided for all students to develop and extend their musical potential. Music is taught throughout the school by a specialist Music teacher who structures the program to meet the needs of all students.
Dance
Cromer Public School has three dance groups. There is a Junior Dance Group targeting Years 1-3, the Hip Hop Dance Group targeting Years 4-6 and the Senior Dance Group targeting Years 4-6.
All groups will be performing in the Sydney North Dance Festival held over the last two weeks of Term 2 at the Glen St Theatre, Belrose. The Senior Dance Group will also audition for the State Dance Festival, to be held at the Seymour Centre and the Schools Spectacular, to be held at Homebush.