Ardtornish Primary School
Ardtornish Primary School (R-7) is located 20km north east of the Adelaide city centre, in the metropolitan region of South Australia. With an enrolment of 595 students, the school comprises students from mainly Anglo-Saxon descent but also Aboriginal, Italian, Greek, Middle Eastern, Chinese and Tongan descent.
The school prides itself on excellent parent/teacher relationships and being able to provide a safe, happy, caring, supportive and positive environment in which children develop empathy for others, responsibility and a strong desire to learn and achieve. Programs are child-centered, success orientated and children are encouraged to take risks without fear of failure. The School has many exciting extra-curricular activities available to students including aerobics, skipping, music, dance and pottery.
PROJECT COORDINATOR: Jenni Krasnoff
ARTIST: Sue Harris
PROJECT: Water Care – It’s in OUR hands
Aims:
Through the art of puppetry, the project sought to strengthen students’ environmental awareness of the importance of caring for fresh-water environments. Using Bunraku puppets and techniques, the project integrated with the School’s LOTE Japanese studies. Through working with artist puppeteer Sue Harris, the project aimed to develop students’ skills and knowledge in the art of puppetry and develop their self-esteem, confidence and team-work skills, ensuring safe and inclusive behaviors and practices at all times.
The Artist:
Artist, Sue Harris (www.sueharris.com.au), is a professional puppeteer and storyteller with a depth of local and international experience.
Her career highlights include:
- Working as a regular presenter of puppetry and storytelling on a national pre-school television program, which aired for 7 years.
- Touring with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra as presenter of their Kids Koncerts.
- Performing for over 10 years for the Adelaide Festival Centre’s Something on Saturday children’s programs.
During the project Sue worked collaboratively with staff, students and the school community, ensuring the ‘voices’ of all groups involved were heard and their ideas and skills incorporated.
The Process:
In the 2005/2006 Christmas holidays, the Japanese, Drama and Music teachers met with Sue Harris to discuss plans for the project. During Term 2, participating class teachers commenced their ‘background work’ on freshwater environments with their classes in the lead up to the project. During the preparation period, Sue performed Puppet Stuff to the whole school to give students a taste of what was to come.
The project commenced in Term 3 and participating classes visited their neighbouring fresh water environment – the Gifford Reserve, to get a feel for this environment. Sue led the students in activities to brainstorm and create their puppets and also taught them techniques for creating a stage play. The students worked with Sue to create a shadow screen and to develop their skills in manipulating the puppets (including shadow puppets) with accompanying props and music to create a performance titled ‘Water Care’.
Outcomes:
- Students learnt about Bunraku puppetry in their Japanese lessons and this enhanced activities with artist Sue Harris, as they worked to create and manipulate the puppets.
- Sue worked with students in small groups so she could relay her expert knowledge and help them to develop their puppetry skills.
- Staff were always consistent with their expectations of students so everyone could feel confident in the development of the project and work together to achieve outcomes.
- Greater collaboration between the LOTE Japanese teacher and other staff.
- Creation of a set of puppets available to be used by other classes in the future.
Highlights:
The three classes, teachers and artist have worked together to create six stunning puppets (yabby, fish, ibis, duck, frog & turtle) and many shadow puppets (micro invertebrates) as well as a play that highlights the importance of caring for our freshwater creatures and their environments. The puppets now have pride of place in the Resource Centre to be used by other classes with instructions on how to care for the puppets and suggestions for performance themes (eg. bullying, environment care).
'I learnt the importance of getting on stage at the right time… I learnt that it’s important to look after Australia’s freshwater environments… Look after the creatures and don’t put litter in the wetlands’ Students
'[With] the performance on the final day, I left the students to manage and direct, and I was there in a supporting role only. It was the students’ moment to ‘shine’ and my role as workshop facilitator had finished… Their joy at the end of the performance spoke volumes.’ Artist
‘The students were entranced by the performance and will remember the creative process and performance experience for many years to come.’ Project Coordinator
90 students were involved in this project.
