Little Kids thinking big!
Little Kids thinking big!
The study of The Arts is a unique, expressive and creative form of communication that engages all students. The Arts promotes creative problem solving, self-expression and imagination in a range of different forms.
During visual arts sessions the students explore the art elements of line, shape, colour, texture, tone and pattern. Through the creative fields of drawing, painting, printing, collage, modelling, construction, and textiles, students develop their skills and explore the creative potential of a wide variety of visual art materials. They study Artists’ work from classical arts such as Cubism and Impressionism, to local Australian artists, considering the artists’ backgrounds, inspiration and techniques.
Each Art activity aims to develop children’s individual creative and artistic skills, while extending an understanding of materials and techniques. Students are encouraged to reflect upon their own artworks and give constructive feedback on the artworks of their peers.
The Performing Arts curriculum incorporates music, dance and drama. At Ringwood Heights, Performing Arts provides every student with the opportunity to express themselves creatively and to plan, play, create and perform. There is a focus on audience behaviour where students watch each other and give feedback regarding their performances.
The students use both tuned and untuned instruments, as well as body percussion to learn about music elements such as rhythm and beat, dynamics, volume, and tempo. They learn simple musical notation.
A variety of dance styles are taught in the program including set routines and creative movement. This develops student confidence and coordination. The elements of dance include body awareness, action, space, time and energy. In Drama, the children enjoy simple role plays and improvisations using props and costumes to create characters and tell stories.
In addition to the classroom program of Performing Arts we also offer instrumental lessons in keyboard, guitar and saxophone; and students from Year 2 upwards are welcome to join the school choir, which rehearses before school on Tuesday mornings. The choir performs at school assemblies, the annual carols evening and external concerts as opportunities arise. Previous performances have included the Oxfam concert, the Maroondah Festival and performances at Eastland Shopping Centre.
Physical Education programs at Ringwood Heights Primary School provide students with a variety of physical activities in both indoor and outdoor environments.
In addition to the shaded all-weather court; in the stadium, RHPS has a full sized basketball court which enables students to take part in active physical education in all weathers. With grounds perfect for active movement and sports, we are also able to utilise our oval during appropriate weather.
Foundation to Year 2 student sessions are based on the practise of basic motor skills. They develop control over a range of locomotor activities that require a change of speed, direction and level.
Year 3 and 4 sessions are based on the practise and use of more complex manipulative and locomotor skills such as leaping and dodging, the over-arm throw, dribbling and striking balls, cartwheeling and handstanding and the students are beginning to connect these skills to game based activities. These students participate in House Cross Country and Athletics.
Year 5 and 6 sessions are based on refining and expanding the range of skills our students have developed over the years and performing them within a game/match setting. These students participate in Interschool Sports, House Cross Country, House Athletics, Hooptime and other organised sporting programs within the school to provide exposure to a wide variety of major and minor games. Ringwood Heights Primary School is within the Warrandyte South Sport District and the students play against other schools within this district over the summer and winter months. These sports include basketball, cricket, sofcrosse, hot shots (tennis), volleybounce, AFL, soccer, softball and netball.
Students who excel in a particular sporting area are given the opportunity to take part in the individual sporting trials conducted by Sporting Schools Victoria (SSV) where they can represent the school at District, Division, Regional and State level.
RHPS run lunchtime sporting clubs, which rotate each term based on students’ interests and current school sports or activities. We make available a variety of sporting equipment during break times for students to engage in active play.
At Ringwood Heights students are learning Australian Sign Language (Auslan) which is the sign language of the Australian Deaf community. Students participate in weekly sessions and learn finger-spelling as well as a range of signs and facial expressions to allow them to communicate with each other and the deaf community.