The Importance of the Visual Arts

Art is a crucial piece of the curriculum that is often taught both as a standalone subject, as well as being embedded in all of the other subject areas, such as language arts, science, and social studies. Art gives our students an opportunity to explore the curriculum in different ways, as well as providing an alternate way to demonstrate learning.

Quest Theatre & Winter Celebration

Last year we welcomed Quest Theatre industry professionals with experience teaching children drama and performance skills to prepare our Winter Celebration. Students learned skills through a residency week that focused on virtues that were chosen by our students in their classrooms. Each classroom selected a theme that was evident in their portion of the production which was showcased during the Winter Concert last December.

Teachers worked with the Quest Theatre Residency to:

• share the joy of the creative process with young people
• set each child’s imagination on fire
• bring unity to each classroom and the school by working together to create something unique
• build individual self-esteem and self-discovery
• transform a child’s knowledge of a story into emotion, movement, sounds, colours, textures and scents (forms of art)
• and to develop creativity and physical skills

Play Now

For five days over a two week span last January, students at Braeside took part in a dance residency with an organization called Play Now. This was an opportunity for students to learn some new kinesthetic skills, as well as have fun with something different. Thanks to School Council for supporting us in providing these opportunities for our students.

That Artist Woman

Last March, "That Artist Woman" spent a three week residency at Braeside School working on artistic projects with all of our students. The resident expert spent time working with teachers in advance to determine how best to mesh artistic projects with the academic work taking place in the classroom. All of our amazing student work was then put on display in the Learning Commons for March interviews. 

Our students have had very positive things to say about the experience...

“It was really fun. The skills I have been learning have been amazing!”
“I love it! I have learned a lot from this experience that will improve my drawing skills.”
“We had so much fun. I learned that if you use different materials you can make great art.”

A big thanks for the support of School Council to make this possible.