Arts
Learning in the arts stimulates the creativity within us all, through which we appreciate who we are and how we interact with our fellow New Zealanders.
Performing Arts – Music, Dance and Drama
The Performing Arts of Music, Dance and Drama are a vital part of life at Browns Bay School. Our Arts teaching space ‘Soundspace’, provides a spacious and purpose equipped environment for the regular arts teaching sessions every child here at Browns Bay experiences.
This is definitely the noisy part of the school – you cannot help but hear us if you are anywhere near!
So, what’s happening this year in the performing arts ?
Junior children in Year 1 and 2 will be moving to the beat, learning to recognise and record simple rhythmic patterns, making their own simple dance routines and moving creatively to music, playing tuned and untuned percussion instruments and singing everything they can! Drama work for junior children includes use of simple drama techniques and exploration of simple conventions such as role play and freeze frame images.
Year 3 and 4 children begin to read music as they come to grips with the recorder in the middle school years. They will constantly transfer these music reading skills to other instruments and play in many different situations. Singing and dancing build on the foundations gained in the junior school and drama moves into further exploration of facial expression, gesture, movement etc.
Year 5 and 6 students move into the strings with ukulele in Year 5 and then onto guitar in Year 6 for those who are keen. Students have the option of working on their preferred instrument, be it keyboard, percussion or recorder as well.
Singing in Year 5 and 6 becomes more sophisticated with group performances, harmonies, rounds or canons and lots of opportunities for performance. Students have the opportunity to sing, move and play listening to and exploring many different styles of music.
Drama explores elements, techniques and conventions. Students begin to learn social dance steps and routines and begin to choreograph their own routines.
The arts of Maori and the Pacific have a special place with exploration of the music, drama and dance from our part of the world.
Performance is promoted everywhere! Students perform in every arts session, at school assemblies, at community music festivals, Bruce Mason musical events, school shows, Christmas events etc …
Many students also take advantage of the music education classes offered by itinerant teachers who are in the school several times a week teaching piano, keyboard, flute and guitar to students of all ages.
To see and learn more about our music and dance performances, please visit the Arts photo gallery
Visual Art
Visual art is everywhere at Browns Bay School. Students explore the processes of drawing, painting, design and graphics, collage, construction, printmaking, sculpture and fabric and fibre within a detailed two year visual art plan, encouraging students to build upon past learning experiences when they revisit a process previously explored.
Art works make ever changing displays around individual classrooms and throughout the school with care taken to mount and frame students’ work to maximum effect.
Enthusing children about the arts is my huge passion in life! My name is Karen Warren karenw@brownsbay.school.nz, and I have called Browns Bay School my professional home since 1996.