Visual Arts
At St. Catherine of Siena we offer an exciting Visual Arts program that involves making and responding to artworks and drawing on the world as a source of ideas.
Students are encouraged to engage with and develop knowledge of visual arts, skills, techniques and processes, and use materials as they explore a range of forms, styles and contexts.
They learn to reflect critically on their own experiences and responses to the work of artists, craftspeople and designers and to develop their own arts’ knowledge. They learn to express and communicate experiences through and about visual arts. As students’ progress through the levels of Visual Arts, their knowledge, understanding and practice as artists and viewers increases through exposure to a breadth of artists, craftspeople and designers. They discover new ways of representing and expressing their ideas and imagination. Student artwork is celebrated within the school in the form of regularly displayed artworks, large-scale projects and our bi-annual Art Show.
Performing Arts
Performing Arts at St Catherine of Siena aims to provide opportunities for all children to express themselves creatively and with confidence. Performing Arts encourages teamwork, creative expression, and communication.
The programme of study comprises Music, Dance, Drama and Performance.
MUSIC
In Music students begin by learning the building blocks of music such as dynamics, pitch, beat and rhythm. They study the interrelated skills of Performing, Composing, Listening and Appraising. Students explore a variety of instruments including keyboard, percussion, and ukulele. They use these to create accompaniments for songs, chants, and rhymes as well as creating their own music. Students develop a love for singing as a class and learn both traditional and popular songs appropriate to their age and development.
DRAMA & PERFORMANCE
Students explore Drama through picture storybooks, improvisation, and dramatic play. They explore different ways to use voice, facial expressions, movement, and space to imagine and improvise characters and situations.They play games to develop their confidence and willingness to perform.
DANCE
In Dance students respond to choreographed dance sequences and have the opportunity to make their own choreographed and improvised dance sequences. They also learn choreographed songs for performance opportunities.
We have developed an extremely well resourced Performing Arts program and create many opportunities for students to perform. We offer the opportunity for all students to participate and have the confidence to take to the stage.
Physical Education
The Physical Education program at St Catherine of Siena aims to develop movement skills, concepts and strategies that enable students to participate in physical activities with competence and confidence. The knowledge, understandings, and skills students learn through the development of their movement skills encourage ongoing participation in sporting and physical activities across their lifespan and in turn lead to positive health outcomes.
Students participate in weekly Physical Education lessons with our expert specialist teachers and have opportunities to develop and practice fitness, movement and sporting skills through active games and skills sessions. Our facilities, including ovals, synthetic soccer pitch and running track and our COLA (covered outdoor learning area) provide for a wide variety of PE experiences in all weather conditions.
The Physical Education program also allows students opportunities to take part in extra-curricular sporting and physical activities. Some of these include:
- Annual Athletics and Cross Country Carnivals
- District, Divisional, Regional and State Competitions in a range of individual and team sports
- Jump Rope for Heart
- Bike Education
- Swimming Program
STEM
Our Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) specialist subject offers a weekly opportunity for students to develop their skills and knowledge of these vital disciplines and capabilities.
In STEM lessons, our students explore Science concepts related to Physical Science, Earth and Space Sciences and Chemical Science through hands-on experiments and investigations.
Working with technologies and developing systems thinking and coding skills are a feature of STEM each year. Right from Prep, students are engaged in programming robots and writing code algorithms to solve different design challenges.
We also focus on engaging with design challenges; generating ideas, selecting and connecting different materials, applying knowledge of physical science and materials, testing and modifying to create products and solutions.
STEM not only develops skills and knowledge in Science, Design and Technology, but also provides explicit opportunities to develop students’ thinking and collaboration capabilities.
