Arts

Why Study The Arts?

Art is a representation of the soul of a society. 

At Aquinas College, ākonga (students) have the opportunity to be involved in expressing themselves through visual art, performance, and music. The special character of the College is enhanced by vibrant and dynamic works of art that reflect the centrality of faith within Aquinas College.

Arts education explores, challenges, affirms and celebrates unique artistic expressions of self, community, and culture. It embraces toi Māori, valuing the forms and practices of customary and contemporary Māori Visual Art. 

The Arts learning area comprises four disciplines: Drama, Music (Sound Arts), and Visual Arts (Painting, Photography, and Art Design). Within each, ākonga develop literacies as they build on skills, knowledge, attitudes, and understandings at each of the eight levels of the curriculum. Through Arts practices and the use of traditional and new technologies, ākonga artistic ideas are generated and refined through cycles of action and reflection. 

Learning in, through and about the Arts stimulates creative action and response by engaging and connecting thinking, imagination, senses, and feelings. By participating in the Arts, ākonga personal well-being is enhanced. As ākonga express and interpret ideas within creative, aesthetic, and technological frameworks, their confidence to take risks is increased. 

In the Arts, ākonga learn to work both independently and collaboratively to construct meanings, produce works, and respond to and value others’ contributions. They learn to use imagination to engage with unexpected outcomes and to explore multiple solutions. 

Arts education values ākonga experiences and builds on these with increasing sophistication and complexity as their knowledge and skills develop. Through the use of creative and intuitive thought and action, learners in the Arts are able to view their world from new perspectives. Through the development of the Arts literacies, ākonga, as creators, presenters, viewers, and listeners, are able to participate in, interpret, value, and enjoy the creative Arts throughout their lives. 

Over the course of Years 7–8, ākonga will learn in all of the Arts Faculty areas: Visual Arts, Drama, and Music. Years 9 –10, students will select the Arts subjects they wish to pursue - Year 9 students must select at least one (1) subject from The Arts. Ākonga in Years 11–13 may specialise in the Arts disciplines. Specialist studies enable ākonga to contribute their vision, abilities, and energies to Arts initiatives and creative industries.

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Courses in this Learning Area