Creativity and the Arts
What is creativity? It sounds simple, but it is in fact quite complex. Creativity involves thinking and making new or different connections to generate new ideas. From the earliest years, we promote and unify the use of higher-order thinking skills, emotional engagement and motor development. Creativity at our School extends into all areas of the curriculum and is designed to engage girls in their learning and to support our WAVES priorities. We see the creative journey of our students as an adventure travelled through Mathematics and Science to History, language, leadership, service and of course, The Arts, where the most visible forms of creativity can often be found.
Creative Arts
Across the Arts, our students enjoy an enormous array of opportunities to explore and express new ideas through Music, Dance, Drama and many forms of Visual Communication and Design. Collectively, our students’ work reflects diversity, boldness and risk taking. Our BIG ART Festival held in Term 3 emphasises that being creative is as much a purposeful function as it is a value that enriches the lives of our students and community as a whole.
Visual Arts
Art simply surrounds our students as they experience a dynamic Art program as one element in the core curriculum from Prep to Year 8 and through our vibrant program of Visual Communication and Design at VCE. Students experience a range of creative arts programs in The Simpson Art Centre which has facilities for drawing, painting, print-making, textiles, ceramics and photography. We teach our students to appreciate the experience of learning, creating, designing and reflecting. Art is like an adventure travelled, rather than a destination reached. A sincere involvement in the creative process has its own reward.
Performing Arts
Theatrical Mentorship Program & Senior School Production
Mentone Girls’ Grammar runs an extraordinary Theatrical Mentorship Program open to students from Year 9 and above. Each year, applicants vie for highly sought after opportunities to work alongside inspirational and exceptional designers and technicians towards the creation of the show.
Each year, a particular element takes heightened focus through the program, depending on the opportunities which arise from the script. These have included Flight and Stunt Choreography, Digital Multimedia, Music Composition, Swordsmanship and Fight sequencing and in 2018, for our production of Roald Dahl’s ‘The Witches’, our emphasis will be on the creation of Stage Magic.
As we rotate between a musical and a straight play each year, our casts and crews learn to understand the different conventions of each theatrical style. The mentorship program enables its participants to:
- Collaborate with students from across year levels towards a highly valued and public event on the School’s calendar
- Strengthen their communication, creativity and collaboration
- Ratify the knowledge acquired within the academic curriculum in subjects such as English, Music, Theatre Studies, Drama, Business Studies, Visual Arts and Mathematics
- Establish their own networks beyond the School, these are crucial elements of our young entrepreneurs’ futures as they embrace the opportunities beyond their school years.
Junior School Performances
In our Junior School we have a range of performances each year including our music concert, dance concert and end of year Christmas Concert.
