Specialist Activities

St Mary’s provides a range of specialist activities for our students to enjoy.

Health and Physical Education (H.P.E.)

This key learning area is comprised of three strands: promoting health physical activity and personal development. Skills are developed by a Physical Education Specialist who takes all children for 60-minute weekly lessons. Health and Personal Development Education takes place within classrooms as well as through facilitated visiting specialty sessions.

Instrumental Music

Instrumental music lessons are available for Years 3-6 students in brass, woodwind and percussion. These lessons are provided through Music Corp. Private tuition in piano is also available. All lessons take place at school. For more information, see the school office staff for further information.

In music lessons students listen, perform and compose. They learn about the elements of music comprising rhythm, pitch, dynamics and expression, form and structure, timbre and texture.

Speaking Choir

The choir take part in various performance opportunities including eisteddfods.

Sport

Student interest determines sports undertaken. These are commonly netball, cross country, athletics, rugby league, futsal and basketball.

All students compete in athletics and swimming competitions.

The Arts

The Arts have the capacity to engage, inspire and enrich all students, exciting the imagination and encouraging them to reach their creative and expressive potential. Students in all year levels participate in a variety of performing arts related activities throughout the year in accordance with their age and abilities. They attend an hourly lesson every week and develop performance skills within the Arts subjects of Media, Drama and Dance.

Drama

Students learn to think, move, speak and act with confidence. In making and staging drama they learn how to be focused, innovative and resourceful, and collaborate and take on responsibilities for drama presentations. They are excited by exploring their imagination and taking risks in storytelling through role and dramatic action.

Dance

Through Dance, students represent, question and celebrate human experience, using the body as the instrument and movement as the medium for personal, social, emotional, spiritual and physical communication.

Digital Technology

In a world that is increasingly digitised and automated, it is critical that our students are challenged to use their mathematical and problem solving skills to work on digital solutions. They collect, manipulate and interpret data to assist in the implementation of digital solutions inline with sustainability factors to influence design solutions to meet present and future needs.

Languages

Weekly Spanish Syllabus for all students Prep to Year 6 provides opportunities to develop comminicative skills and an understanding of how languages work as a system. 

Media

Students create representations of the world by telling stories through communication technologies.  They plan, create and present media for specific purposes with an awareness of responsible media practice.

MJR Peer Led Sessions

During Term 2 student leaders run MJR sessions under teacher guidance. In these pastoral groups students learn social-emotional skills through short lessons, games and activities. Student leaders are given prior training which enhances their confidence and leadership skills. Each week the peer leaders also engage in preparation sessions with their classroom teacher prior to meeting with their small group. Parents are kept informed of the theme of each of these sessions, so that they can build on the concepts at home.