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.
Wakakirri 2018
Barnier Public School will be participating in the Wakakirri Festival again this year. In 2017 we had huge success as the students were led to a concert beyond all expectations. Wakakirri encourages students to learn through the creation and sharing of stories. Students can tell stories through a range of art mediums, sharing them both live and online. Established in 1992, Wakakirri is Australia's largest arts challenge for schools involving over 20,000 students in every state and territory. Barnier will be participating in the Story-Dance Live category of Wakakirri. Currently we have 63 students from Year 2 to Year 6 participating in this massive event, along with all classes participating in creative and performing arts (CAPA) activities which will help build sets, props, costumes and designs for the festival.
We are very excited about our Roald Dahl theme this year and we have already begun practising our Story-Dance item.The Wakakirri heats will be held at the Riverside Theatre. Dates and venues are to be confirmed by the Wakakirri organisation, however, it is anticipated that the heats will be in mid-August.Stay tuned for more information, photos and updates so you can follow Barnier on this exciting journey. Visit the Wakakirri website with your child to watch previous Wakakirri stories from around Australia.
Choir
The Barnier School Choir consists of students from Year 3 to 6. They are provided opportunities to perform in a variety of school functions and important events outside of the school, such as; the Anzac Day service, Reconciliation Day and Education Week at Westpoint, Blacktown. The choir also takes part in the annual Blacktown Music Festival that involves a number of schools in the Blacktown District.
Debating
Debating is a more formal way of communicating. It builds confidence and self esteem in people. If we can speak publicly and convey our ideas and thoughts coherently and passionately, we have a valuable tool that can aid us in our public, private and future lives. This year's Barnier Debating Teams, Vincimus and Audacia will be participating in two debating challenges: The Blacktown District Debating and The Premier's Debating Challenge. The Premier's Debating Challenge is open to all NSW Government schools, with the aim of developing the public speaking and reasoning skills of students from Years 5 to 12. Every debate in the challenge is a 1 hour preparation debate. Teams do not know the topic or which side of the debate they are on until 1 hour before the debate starts. Once the preparation time is up, 3 speakers from each team take turns to speak, with a 4th team advisor, helping out during preparation and during the debate So far this year we have had three students attend the "Arguing with Style" Debating Camp up in Katoomba with 110 students from 27 schools.
We also hosted the annual Western Sydney Debating Training with approximately 100 students from schools around the Western Sydney region. The Blacktown Debating Competition begins late in Term 1 and is in a ‘round robin' format and teams have time to prepare their debate from a known topic. The debate is 4 rounds of prepared debates, some of which are hosted at other schools.