Message from Michele Marquet, Head of Junior School

Dear Parents and Carers,

A great education is not just about focusing on academics or physical development; it is about nurturing the whole child. That nurturing comes through engaging in a broad variety of subjects and activities that contribute to a child’s overall development. This understanding underpins our School’s emphasis on breadth of learning, where weekly opportunities to engage in the Arts with highly skilled specialist teachers are on offer for every student.

It is so important to instil a love of the Arts from a young age and to encourage participation in the breadth of these experiences before the more self-conscious teenage years. By doing so, we open up another channel to help our young people to understand themselves and others, a safe place to explore a range of emotions and allow them to make sense of the world. At some points in our development, words are not easily accessible or even the best mode for communicating the emotions we are feeling. The Arts provide avenues where depth of feeling, sometimes beyond words, can be communicated powerfully and effectively, both for the creator and the audience.

Genuine and repeated experiences across the Arts enhance creativity and imagination. Participation in the Arts encourage children to think outside the box and express themselves creatively, utilising their imagination to bring their ideas to life. The Arts play a crucial role in early and later education by providing children with unique opportunities to explore, experience and create, and come to understand human experience through different lenses. Different students will often come to prefer a particular subject under the broad umbrella of ‘the Arts’, developing a genuine passion for Music, Art or Drama.

Last week, 26 of our students from Years 5 and 6 attended our now annual JS Art Immersion at beautiful Bundanon. Having submitted a portfolio of work, the students were selected to attend and participate in art making experiences within an inspiring landscape. These young students are passionate visual artists who love this form of expression.

The Bundanon educators, together with our own Cranbrook Teachers, Ann Arora, Rebecca Armstrong, Heather Brodie and Christina Koika-Cellini, offered our students extraordinary opportunities to explore a series of challenges to develop their art skills and conceptual understanding.

Artists respond to what they observe and live, and our young artists were no different. Inspired by the glorious manmade and natural environment found at Bundanon, influenced by what they saw and felt; taught by talented experts how to look afresh and use new techniques; and given time, that most precious of gifts, they passionately created artworks of extraordinary quality.

There is no better way to appreciate the true value of their experience than through viewing their own creations.

National Simultaneous Storytime
Yesterday, like so many schools around Australia, we celebrated National Simultaneous Storytime. Thank you to our wonderful iCentre team, Megan Light and Liz De Wit, for all their work preparing for the day. This year’s picture book was The Truck Cat by Deborah Frenkel and Danny Snell. Students and staff were encouraged to wear some cat ears (and even a tail!) for our shared readings, in support of this wonderful initiative, which added to the fun!

We hope everyone enjoys a wonderful and productive week.

Kind wishes,

Michele Marquet
Head of Junior School