2015 has been a fantastic year for Juniors and the standard is very high. There were two Year 10 classes and 3 Year 9s and it has been exciting to watch these students develop their skills.

Year 9 worked on developing their knowledge of Drama conventions through responses to poetry and also learned about physical Drama. They also explored clowning and mime.

The Year 10s used the Suffragette Movement, and the Black Civil Rights Movement as the inspiration for creating scenes and exploring Drama conventions in Term 1.

Term 2 they worked in groups to develop a Shakespeare scene and presented their work to friends and family in a mini Shakespeare Festival adjudicated by Shannon Colbert, the Fortune Theatre Educator. There were some outstanding performances and some interesting concepts explored. Cuba Rust won outstanding actor and her group with Connor Vosh and Niamh Tripp won outstanding group for their scene from Othello. Best Design Concept was won by Aidan Clemments, Stella Cooper, Joseph Dewhirst and Kalju Rohtmets for The Taming of the Shrew.

An exciting new innovation in Term 3 was performing a devised Drama at Toitu in many different locations around the museum. The students spent two hours at the museum to get inspiration and decide on a site. They then wrote and rehearsed their script at school. A final rehearsal on site was followed by performances to family and friends. The students took the challenge seriously; many making extra visits to their sites. A wide variety of scenes resulted, from a 60s spy spoof in front of the old computers to a touching drama in the ship cabin highlighting the difficulties facing the families coming to a new land. The Tiger Tea bus was an inspiration for time travel, and the 1914 tram a background showing the effects on war on New Zealand families. It was a very successful night and the students should be very proud of their creativity and dedication – their parents certainly were given a great night’s entertainment.

Currently all classes are working on our Junior Show - A Crisis at Christmas. With all the Drama classes involved this is a huge undertaking. We are also privileged to be working with Mr Dodd and the Music department’s Junior Band. Over the first week in December, around 900 primary children will see the show and we also have an evening performance for family and friends. A light-hearted Christmas show featuring Santa, Rudolph, elves, secret agents, Sherlock Holmes and Watson and many other characters, it is a fun way to finish our year entertaining local primary schools. Thanks go to our wardrobe Prefect Jamie Moore for her help costuming the show – a task not for the fainthearted.