The Performing Arts Department: “ Through drama students reflect and enrich the cultural life of their schools, whanau, and communities.” The Arts are powerful forms of expression that recognise, value, contribute to the unique bicultural and multicultural character of Aotearoa New Zealand, enriching the lives of all New Zealander. Drama has its own distinct language that uses both verbal and non-verbal conventions. Through Movement, sound, and image, the arts transforms people’s creative ideas into expressive works that communicate layered meanings. Drama expresses human experience through a focus on role, action, and tension, played out in time and space. In drama education, students learn to structure these elements and to use dramatic conventions, techniques, and technologies to create imagined worlds.
As students work with drama techniques, they learn to use spoken and written language with increasing control and confidence and to communicate effectively using body language, movement, and space. As they perform, analyse, and respond to different forms of dram and theatre, they gain a deeper appreciation of their rich cultural heritage and language and new power to examine attitudes, behaviours and values.
Tuition for students indicating their interest in music is arranged on an individual basis within the number of hours allocated to the school. Students with potential are encouraged to enter Trinity College London practical and/or theory examinations, the fees of which are the students responsibility. Students who demonstrate reliability and commitment to their music are also encouraged to take NCEA music through Correspondence with support and guidance provided by Rona Halsall in consultation with the ‘Pathways’ Department.
