The Arts
Learning the Arts unlocks the mind to be adaptive, imaginative, inventive and creative. Being creative allows students to develop meaningful thought processes and illustrate the world through various lens. Mentone Girls’ Grammar School is an award-winning Arts department that demonstrates victory through harmony. As part of our WAVES program, students from Early Learning to Year 12 develop a heightened sense of creativity and critical thinking abilities that enhance soft skills of discipline, resilience and confidence through methods of exploring outside their comfort zone. We aim to empower our girls to be bold in the Arts and create pathways for themselves that may not yet exist. In the junior years, Arts is an integral part of the IB Primary Years programme that allows for inquiry into passion and communication. Part of our Arts curriculum involves showcasing exceptional talent through the BIG ART festival. The whole community delights in a night of visual display and performances throughout the school where outstanding students are presented with awards and prizes.
Visual Arts Curriculum
Visual Communication and Design focuses on the holistic experience of human expression and purpose, empowering our students to be skilful in creation, bold in their perspectives of the world and adaptive in nature. Visual Arts is a dynamic part of the curriculum from Prep to Year 8 and acts as a pursuit in the senior years, enhancing their ability to be curious while also developing an outstanding portfolio for their future endeavours beyond school. Mentone Girls’ offers an elite learning centre dedicated to the Visual Arts, including a world-class digital technology facility. Our hallways are glossed with exceptional student-driven work in photography, illustration, sculptures and digital content, which inspire other students to be courageous in their own work. Visual Communication and Design is taught by leading industry experts who have a strong understanding of the professional landscape in all formats of the Arts, enabling our girls to feel nurtured and supported in an environment they can thrive in during their education and beyond. We have a proud connection to the Arts industry with many flourishing students achieving artistic endeavours in their careers.
Performing Arts Curriculum
The Performing Arts is the perfect setting to unleash the attitudes of self-confidence, expression, discipline and passion. Mentone Girls’ Grammar School celebrates a hard-working and explorative performing arts program, offering elite dance, music and drama to all ages. Many students pursuing the performing arts at Mentone Girls’ go into the industry as dancers, musicians, actresses and creatives beyond school.
Mentone Girls’ is a proud provider of VCE Dance on campus and also offers co-curricular dance for the whole school, working towards national competitions and an end-of-year showcase. Dance is offered as a curriculum subject and co-curricular activity, which are taught by a team of qualified professionals who have an insight into the industry as dancers and choreographers.
As well a dance, Music is a thriving area of the school, which enables students to engage with harmony, melody, texture and form. All students can learn any instrument from both Western and Eastern cultures as private tuition, taught by a team of world-renowned musicians. There are boundless opportunities to showcase musical talent including music soirees, orchestral programs, ensembles, choirs, jazz bands, solo performances, music camp, interstate festivals, competitions and many more. In addition, students are fortunate to experience audio engineering programs on campus using the latest technology and collect industry exposure in a recording studio.
Mentone Girls’ also offers curriculum in Drama and Theatre Studies. The drama department is not only about the actor, but also about the creatives behind the scenes. Mentone Girls’ offers a space for students to develop an artistry for backstage management, stage direction, lighting, audio engineering, makeup and hair, costuming and dramaturgy. The biggest drama event of the year is the school production where Mentone Girls’ has been recognised for its excellence with multiple Music Theatre Guild Awards Victoria. Students can audition for the school production as performers or assist as creative crew members. As part of the dynamic curriculum, there are many showcases and in-house performances throughout the year across all senior years, spanning from Greek theatre to post modernism.
