Newtown High School of the Performing Arts

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Newtown High School of the Performing Arts (NHSPA) is a state government school located in Newtown, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the leading Performing and Visual Arts schools in Australia. All the students that attend the school are able to study Drama, Music, Dance and Visual Arts and are required to study them as part of the school’s curriculum for the first year of secondary school. The school participates in concerts, performances and workshops both on and off school grounds in all types of Performing and Visual Arts as well as Video, Technical, Costume and Design.

The school is run by the New South Wales Department of Education and Training.

Contents 1 History 2 Campus 3 Students 4 Faculty 5 Extracurricular activities 6 Curriculum 7 Notable alumni 8 See also 9 External links

[edit] History

The school was founded in 1990 as the first state selective high school for performing arts in New South Wales. NHPSA was formed from the merger of the nearby Petersham Girls High School and Newtown Boys High School on the latter's King Street site. Newtown's foundation principal was Robin Amm, formerly the principal at Petersham Girls.

The school remains open and accessible to the local population, however a larger percentage of propective students from outside the local acceptance boundaries could audition to obtain a place at the school.

[edit] Campus

The campus is located on King Street, Newtown and bounded by Newman and Whitehorse Streets. The campus has a large paved playground and a grass oval. The various faculties within the school are located in different areas ranging from A to F Blocks and the gymnasium located near the school oval. The school also has an operational theatre, known as the Studio Theatre, that it uses for its biannual Showcase concerts and other productions. The school also manages the adjacent St Georges Hall which is used for larger productions and school activities.

[edit] Students

The student body is estimated to be in excess of 800 students. This equates to roughly 120 students per school year and 150 students in each of the final two years (Year 11 and 12). A significant proportion of the student body is now recruited through a selective and highly competitive audition process, although local families (at present) retain the right to send their children there. Students can audition to gain entry to the school from Years 7 to 11 and make up roughly 75% of the school's student population.

The selection process for the school has been very successful, although there is concern among local parents that there is increasing pressure from non-resident families to make the school 100% selective, thus forcing local parents to send their children to other neighbouring high schools if their children cannot pass the rigorous audition process.

[edit] Faculty

The faculties in the school include:

• English
• Mathematics
• Science
• Human Society and its Environment
• Design and Technology
• Visual Arts
• Drama
• Music
• Dance
• Personal Development, Health and Physical Education
• French

[edit] Extracurricular activities

The most notable extracurricular activies available to the students of the high school are the ensembles and companies in the Music, Drama and Dance departments. These form to prepare short performances to be included in the following "Showcase" concerts, staged in the Studio Theatre.

[edit] Curriculum

The school focuses primarily on drama, dance, music and visual arts. In addition, students can obtain experience in the technical side of the performing arts including technical theatre, video, costuming and design.

[edit] Notable alumni

• Nicholas Brown - (graduated 1997) played the role of Sachin in the Network Ten drama series The Cooks
• Nathan Foley - (1997) is part of the cast of Hi-5
• Abe Forsythe - (1999) played the role of Cam Todd in the Seven Network drama series Always Greener
• Rose Jackson - (2002) is a former president of the University of Sydney Students' Representative Council and is the current president of the National Union of Students
• Emma Lung - (1999) featured in the films Peaches, The House of Wax and 48 Shades, as well as the television series The Cooks
• Elana Stone - (1998) is a jazz singer and bandleader. Her album In the Garden of Wild Things was released in 2005
• Jessica Tovey - (2005) secured the part of Belle Taylor in the Seven Network soap opera Home and Away.

[edit] See also

• List of Government schools in New South Wales
• List of creative and performing arts high schools in New South Wales

[edit] External links

• Newtown High School of the Performing Arts website
• NSW Department of Education and Training: Newtown High School of the Performing Arts