Ku-ring-gai High School

Harmony in Diversity

Telephone02 9144 3477

Emailkuringgai-h.school@det.nsw.edu.au

Creative arts

CREATIVE ARTS AT KU-RING-GAI HIGH SCHOOL

 

CAPA – Creative And Performing Arts
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Ku-ring-gai High School has contemporary and innovative programs in Dance, Drama, Music, Photography, Visual Arts, & Entertainment Industry courses. Creativity is nurtured and developed. Attention is paid to individual skill development, ensuring that each student is encouraged to obtain their best in performance, art making and academic results. We currently offer the following subjects:

  • Year 7 and 8 mandatory - Music and Visual arts
  • Year 8 - Drama
  • Year 9 and 10 electives - Dance, Drama, Music, Visual Arts
  • Year 11 and 12 High School Certificate - Dance, Drama, Music 1 and Music 2, and Music Extension, Photography and Digital Imaging, Visual Arts and Vocational Education and Training - Live Production - Entertainment Industries (VET)
  • TEP - Contemporary Dance, Drama, Popular Music, Painting, Sketch, Mixed Media, & Photography & Digital Imaging

Students are able to showcase their performances and Artmaking in Student showcases and Exhibitions throughout the year. These are run by teachers in collaboration with Entertainment Industry Students

DRAMA
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Drama at Ku-ring-gai High School ranges across all years, giving students the opportunity to experience dynamic and engaging explorations of the dramatic and theatrical arts. 

The Drama TEP (Talent Enrichment Program) introduces students to a variety of performance skills that they develop through diverse and challenging dramatic and theatrical mediums. Students work with other students from years 7 to 10.

Stage 4 Drama 

This course runs in Year 8. Students study Improvisation, the Elements of Drama, Narrative Playbuilding, Comedy & Acting for Screen.

 

Stage 5 Drama

Year 9 elective students study Improvisation, Melodrama, Commedia dell’arte & Elements of production

Year 10 elective students extend on their knowledge & skills gained in Year 9 to develop a dramatic playbuilt film. They also explore and develop their script writing skills to perform their own monologue, explore and experience Political Theatre through the study of Bertolt Brecht & conclude their Stage 5 elective course by creating a Children’s Theatre Production for local primary school students.

 

Stage 6 HSC Drama (Years 11 and 12)

In Drama, students can investigate, shape, and symbolically represent ideas, feelings, attitudes, beliefs and their consequences. By studying this major art form students acquire skills in interpretation, communication, performance and critical analysis and become aware of the technical processes and technologies that may be used to heighten dramatic presentation. In the critical study of drama and theatre students can recognise the collaborative contribution of actors, directors, playwrights, designers and technicians to production. They develop an understanding of the cultural traditions and social contexts of drama and theatre.  

 

 

DANCE
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Stage 5 - Years 9-10

Elective Dance in Year 9 and 10 offers students the opportunity to develop their skills in a range of genres, in a particular focussing on safe dance, technique, composition, dance analyses and film production in Dance.  Lessons are catered to suit a range of technical dance experience and all students are welcome to select Dance as an elective subject in years 9 and 10.

 

Stage 6 - Year 11-12

Stage 6 delves further into Dance as an Art form. Students will develop their skills further in Performance, Composition, Dance Appreciation and Film production.

Students are encouraged to participate in external Dance classes to strengthen their dance technique and performance quality.

 

 

MUSIC
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Music is compulsory in years 7-8 and Elective music is offered for years 9, 10, 11 & 12. Both Music 1 and Music 2 are offered in Year 11 and 12. Students have opportunities in composing, listening and performing, utilising our extensive resources including rehearsal studios, guitar program and keyboard laboratory. 

The Talent Enrichment Program (TEP) in Music offers extension activities for Choir,  Contemporary Music and performs regularly at school as well as community concerts. Students also have the opportunity to work with specialist tutors including school alumni and professional musicians.

Extra-curricular ensembles involve our school Concert Band who perform regularly at school, Eisteddfods and school tours. The 2018 tour to Port Stephens was a great success and we look forward to repeating this experience. The school Concert band is run by the P&C and rehearses every Tuesday morning.

 

PHOTOGRAPHY, VIDEO AND DIGITAL IMAGING
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HSC students - Year 11 and 12 may elect to study 2 Unit Photography Video and Digital Imaging in the Preliminary and HSC Course. Course explores the creative use of cameras, photographic lighting, the photographic darkroom and digital manipulation of images. Students study the historical and contemporary photographic practice of a range of Australian and International Photographers. Recurring field trips offer students a diverse range of subject matter to photograph.

 

 

VISUAL ARTS
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At Ku-ring-gai High School Visual Arts, students have at their disposal a wide range of resources and support from a range of highly experienced Visual Arts staff. It is an environment that supports the fostering and enjoyment in the production and consumption of art. The subject seeks to build informed citizens and discerning audiences for art and to raise the standard of cultural awareness in contemporary society. At Ku-ring-gai High School, students will be part of a vibrant learning culture that actively promotes the Visual Arts - a culture that inspires students to discover and realise the artist within.

Visual Arts is an integral part of all students' total intellectual, emotional and physical development and education. The subject of Visual Arts is theoretically and practically sustained by practice, the frames, and a conceptual framework about art. These underpinnings form the basis for content and accommodate the range of student abilities and interests.

Through the making and studying of art, students develop an informed point of view that acknowledges different sets of beliefs and values, and respects cultural diversity. The subject rewards individual thinking and develops students' skills in reflection, critical thinking and judgement.

In art making, aspects of content are engaged through the making of artworks in a variety of expressive forms including painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture and digital media. In art criticism and art history, students focus on the key concepts within each aspect of content through broad investigations of ideas in the visual arts from Australia and other regions at different times.

The Visual Arts course provides a unique vehicle of self-expression while allowing students to appreciate their self-worth, their cultural heritage, and respect for others' point of view.

The Visual Arts Department is energetic and multi-faceted with an experienced and dedicated staff. Regular student exhibitions and competitions present student work to the school and the public. Visual Arts will continue to embrace the advancing technologies of computer graphics and video while giving a solid grounding in traditional methods and theories of Art.