Science Week this week!
14 August 2017
Enjoy all those experiments and observations - and shows!
Find news tagged: General News
14 August 2017
Enjoy all those experiments and observations - and shows!
Find news tagged: General News
8 August 2017
Sir John Monash led the victorious Australian forces in this battle 99 years ago and it proved the turning point of WW1.
More Than Opera will honour Monash in a massed choral work, composed by Artistic Director, David Kram, at Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne, on Saturday 9 September. Details here
Find news tagged: General News
3 August 2017
This week marks One Hundred Days since the Prep/Yr 1 intake started their first year of school. Many schools are now celebrating this milestone. Good idea! Why not book one of our shows now, for next year?
Find news tagged: General News
3 August 2017
Image above: Dream Puppets from their primary school production of The Tempest
Congrats to the Dream Puppets Company who participated in the Nanchong Puppetry Festival this year in June. They so impressed that they have been invited back to China in December for the 5th Quanzhou Puppetry Festival.
This is a small incursion company (2 people, Richard Hart and Julia Davis) who perform in schools but whose work is of a great standard. It's marvellous to see their work being recognised and lauded. They are based in Victoria, but will be performing in Sydney in the September school holidays.
Image below - Dream Puppets at the Nanchong festival. Puppet Companies from around the world were welcomed as competing troupes and were judged on their presentations.
Image below: The Opening Ceremony in Nanchong
Dream Puppets are currently touring two shows for Primary students. Dreamer in the Deep (image below) and The Tempest.
Find news tagged: General News
31 July 2017
There are some great shows kicking off the second half of the year. Here are a few
Image: Coma Land
Find news tagged: General News
30 July 2017
Good on everyone who participated
Find news tagged: General News
25 July 2017
Fingers crossed there'll be some great shows for schools audiences.
Find news tagged: General News
24 July 2017
Many teachers will recall the incredible work of Melbourne's visual theatre company, Handspan Theatre. Much of the company’s repertoire during its 25 year history (1977 – 2002) was for young audiences – predominantly presented in schools.
Now you can revisit their repertoire in a website that archives their shows with commentary and occasional anecdotes of their time.
The website was created and developed by Helen Rickards and Maeve Vella. Check it out here
Image; Four life-size paper figures unfold in the opening scene of Four Little Girls,
Athenaeum Theatre, Melbourne, 1988. ★ Photograph © David Simmonds 1988
Find news tagged: General News
23 July 2017
Tourism for people with a social conscience can not only result in the tourists being exploited, but have a far-reaching negative effect on local communities.
A new type of tourism, called Orphanage Tourism, has become so popular in poorer countries, that orphanages are often filled with children who have parents. Globally, up to 8 million children live in institutions, but over 80% of these children have parents or family. They are in the orphanages because of the "demand" from the tourists.
Before heading off to "volunteer" or donate, check the bona fides of the institutions you're assisting. After all, children are not a tourist attraction.
Read more here
Find news tagged: General News
21 July 2017
What is considered safe parenting now is so different to say, that in the 1970's, where children were able to roam about and left to their own devices.
Now, playing at home, inside, is standard for 8 -12 year olds and the distance they are allowed from home has shrunk 90% since the 1970's. (read more)
Parents worry more now. The "helicopter" parent hovers, ready to fly in and solve, help or protect. The "lawnmower" parent is ahead of the child, smoothing the way, predicting problems.
All this attention from parents isn't actually helping children, as teachers are aware. Always providing stimulation dulls creativity and imagination, the hovering parent can create anxiety in the child. Risk taking is part of development.
50 years ago, Donald Woods, a paediatrician and psychoanalyst introduced "good enough parenting" as a way to develop secure, independent children. Perhaps he was onto something..
Read more here
Find news tagged: General News
18 July 2017
It is a truth universally acknowledged.... that we still love Jane Austen
Today is the anniversary of Jane Austen's death, at the age of 41, in 1817. Her books, and their TV and film adaptations, remain immensely popular because people still feel connected to her characters and stories.
The settings may be the glamorous Regency period, but the passions and flaws of her characters and their situations have timeless appeal.
Some favourite Austen quotes:
Read more about why her works still resonate here
Find news tagged: General News