In creative arts, students discover a variety of art forms through a study of dance, drama, music and visual arts.
Performing arts
Our Creative and Performing Arts staff are passionate about encouraging students to be creative, innovative thinkers who are able to express themselves and the world around them through the Arts. We offer the full range of Creative Arts: Dance, Drama, Music and Visual Arts up to HSC level. We also encourage our students to engage in co-curricular experiences to extend them in their Arts experience. We strongly believe that students should be encouraged to perform and exhibit their work both within their school, local community and beyond.
Music
At PHHS our students engage in the mandatory Music component in year 7 where the focus is learning the fundamental skills for music literacy, listening, composing and performance across a range of instruments with a focus on keyboard and guitar skills. Elective Music is offered in year 9 and 10, where students are able to specialise and refine their skills. At a senior level we have students elect to engage in Music 1, Music 2 and Music Extension courses. The students have the opportunity to tailor these courses to their abilities and interests in music through various elective options in performance, composition and musicology.
Performing Arts
Performing Arts is offered to our year 8 students that is unique to Port Hacking High School and is invaluable in providing our students with a taste of two strands of Performing Arts study in either Dance, Drama or Music. The students develop skills in appreciation, composition and performance. The highlight of this course is the showcase of student performances held at the end of each semester.
Dance
We offer elective Dance from year 9 – 12. In years 9 and 10 the aim of the course is for the students to experience, understand, value and enjoy dance as an art form. The year 11 and 12 course caters for a range of abilities and interests in Dance. It offers a flexible pathway of study through the opportunity to engage in a major study selected from a variety of aspects of dance, not merely performance.
Drama
Elective Drama is offered in years 9 – 12. Drama involves students making, performing, analysing and responding to drama, drawing on human experience as a source of ideas. Students engage with the history of theatre and performance, develop skills in improvisation and group devising and use materials as they explore a range of forms, styles and contexts.
Visual arts
The mandatory component of the Visual Arts syllabus is delivered across year 7 and 8. The students experience art making using a wide variety of mediums. They are inspired by investigating a range of different artists as models, gaining an understanding about the connections between the artist and the audience through the artistic frames. We offer elective courses in Visual Arts, Visual Design and Photographic and Digital Media in year 9 and 10, as well as senior studies in Visual Arts for years 11 and 12.
Studying the creative arts, students learn to appreciate, compose, listen, make and perform. Each art form has its own unique knowledge and skills, elements or concepts as well as a capacity to inspire and enrich lives.
Students must study 100 hours of both music and visual arts during Years 7 to 10. They also have an opportunity to further develop their knowledge and skills in other art forms through elective subjects including drama, dance, photography and visual design. Students can then select from a range of courses in Years 11 to 12.