Our Integrated Arts vision is of engagement through curiosity and development of creativity and communication by integrating arts practices. Learning through a combination of Dance, Drama, Media or Visual Arts means that our young people have room to negotiate, develop and connect with their learning while meeting curriculum requirements (For further information on Arts Curriculum please visit https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/the-arts/ ). Minds are open for creativity and we often engage in reflective practice as our students develop many skills. Students get to ask “what if?" and we use a combination of Arts activities from across strands to grow our skills and understanding. In our Integrated Arts Unit on reading emotions in the arts student's explored facial expressions (drama) and cartoon and portraiture (visual arts) they also moved to music (dance) and listened to songs from advertisements (media) and responded to those songs through drawings. These are just some ways in which we integrate the arts strands to explore who we are and how to understand the world around us, making and responding to the art we make and the art that comes from others around us.
Our lunchtime Arts Club also looks at developing specific skills that have been asked of by students (drawing, shading etc.). Students have also begun asking how we can use art to voice concerns, make social comments or connect with the community and we have begun projects like making art out of rubbish and are planning an Arts and Gardening club joint venture.
All of this whilst also building a social and emotional skill repertoire is why the Arts are so valuable and a special part of our student's education. Our Mayfield State School community welcomed and celebrated our student's creativity and artistic voices at the first ever Arts Week in 2020 and we look forward to repeating the event in term 4 2021!