Arts

Te toi whakakairo, ka ihiihi, ka wehiwehi, ka aweawe, tea o katoa

                                          Artistic excellence makes the world sit up in wonder

        The New Zealand Curriculum

 

The arts learning area comprises of four disciplines: dance, drama, music – sound arts, and visual arts. Within each, students develop literacies as they build on skills, knowledge, attitudes, and understandings. Through arts practices and the use of traditional and new technologies, students develop and extend their artistic ideas.
  
Dance and Drama

Theatre and drama studies connect individuals to the society they live in and open up the opportunity to explore social and political worlds in other times and places.
 
The Lynfield College Drama programme incorporates both practical and theoretical studies. Students develop individual performance skills based on acting techniques required in a range of contexts. They learn to present and interpret live performances. Students work with established scripts as well as devising their own theatre pieces. The history of theatre and various theatre forms are also explored. Aspects of theatre technology, including costume, lighting, sound, set design and makeup are incorporated into performance work at all levels where appropriate.
 
At present Dance is incorporated into the Drama programme at Years 9, 10 and 11. Students can opt to take the Drama and Dance stream to further develop their physical skills and enhance appreciation of this cultural, artistic and creative art form.
 
Extra curricula opportunities in Drama include involvement in the school production which brings together actors, dancers, singers and technical crew. There is an established improv club that meets twice a week and the school participates in the Theatresports Youth Programme which gives students the opportunity to compete with teams from other schools.
  
Music

Music education provides students with opportunities for self expression and to contribute to the cultural life of their school and wider community.
 
Literacy in music involves the development of knowledge of the terms and symbols used to notate music.  Students also develop skills needed to be active listeners, enhancing their understanding of the world as they hear music from diverse musical contexts.
 
Junior and senior course work focuses on developing significant skills on one or more instruments and performing as both a soloist and member of a group.  Also theory knowledge, aural skills and creating compositions.
 
Extra curricular activities available are numerous and cater for students of all levels.  Less experienced students can join the concert band, orchestra, choir and stage band (jazz/rock group).  More experience students can audition for the Big Band and Jazz bands.
 
Both the Concert Band and Orchestra have won over 5 awards each at the KBB Music Festival (Auckland largest secondary school competition).  In 2010 the Big Band won Most Outstanding Performance by a Jazz Band.
 
Visual Arts

Through engaging in the visual arts, students learn how to discern, participate in, and celebrate their own and others peoples’ visual worlds. Across local and global communities, art making technologies and multi-disciplinary practices are constantly evolving; at Lynfield College we pride ourselves on developing visual arts courses that are current, relevant and valuable to our students now, and for their future.
 
As part of their coursework visual arts students learn about, and undertake practical work in, a range of media including painting, printmaking, crafting, digital media design, photography and sculpture. At all year levels, theoretical investigations inform students’ practical work.
 
Extra curricular opportunities abound for our students: the annual Arts at the Bay visual arts exhibition (held at Lopdell House, Titirangi in 2010) provides students with the opportunity to showcase their art to the local community, and senior students mentor visiting primary sector students during workshops run by acclaimed New Zealand artists. Students are able to enter a range of competitions; in 2010 Jessica McQuoid won Best Photograph in the Waitakere City Trust Art Competition. At Year 10 students may join the Photography Club.