Primary Focus

Much has been said and written about Early Child Development and the importance of the first years.

As teachers and parents we're often reminded of the great responsibility afforded us to do the best we can to ensure our students and children get the best start in their education journey.

Studies show the first 8 years  life are critical to the child's holistic growth. The emotional, social and physical development of young children has a direct effect on their overall development and on the adult they will become. 

At Helen O' Grady we don't see this a daunting task or great challenge to shy away from. We see this as an opportunity to make a life-changing impact on the young ones who carry our future.

Our primary school programme gives students the start they need for this all-round development. We are thrilled to part of every child's journey!

EXPRESS YOURSELF

In today’s world it’s so hard for kids to just be themselves.

Pressure comes from a number of avenues – friends, 

teachers, TV, family and unknowingly children are being told who to be to fit in. 

At Helen O’ Grady, along with our parents we strive to create 

an environment where students feel safe to be who they are and express themselves freely.

Children who don’t get the opportunity to express 

themselves often grow up not knowing their own potential.

 Teaching kids how to express themselves needs to happen as

 early in life as possible—before the peer-pressure at school and from the media really kick in.

Learning how to express themselves can build their self-confidence, help them develop smart, independent thinking and nurture their creativity.

Drama gives children and youth a healthy way to express emotions like sadness, anger, aggression, happiness and excitement.

The Kuils River Upper Primary group show their great range of emotions and expressions

Every child is unique and together we can look for ways to foster the artistic expression that’s already within them.

Teaching children how to express themselves is one of the most important life skills you can give them. When children feel comfortable expressing who they are, they can make their dreams come true!

RING RING!!!

A great addition to our curriculum this term is our telephone snippets.

These short activities focus on students’ vocal delivery. As the short play is performed as if conducting a telephone conversation it is crucial for students to put to practice all the elements taught during speech. Without being able to rely on facial expressions and gestures the voice is tested to new extents.

With a range of fun and interesting scenarios students get to play around with improv and ad-lib as this remains a key element in all our activities. The snippets deal with simple, everyday situations and give students some skills in dealing with these real-life scenarios.

 

De Tyger UP students dialing in on the action

They also practising opening, building and closing a narrative.

What a fun way to bring the lesson to a close.

Switch Drama On!

In this world taken over by technology and gadgets one might wonder why we bother with developing the creativity, confidence and communication skills of our children.

Some may even say face to face interaction is “dying out” and think a worse fate awaits theater.

At Helen O’ Grady we do our best to stay relevant, “with it” and connected to the times. That said, we believe our principles and core values are timeless.

Connection, stories, expression are things people long for. A wise man said, “No man is an island”. We may be able to survive on our own but boy what a boring time that’ll be.

Imagination and dreams are what drives us. Having something to strive for and reach for helps us get through our every day.

Reflections shape us and teach us.

Without these things, where would we be? Who would we be?

Well, all of these things are brought to you by DRAMA. Drama gives students the space to play, explore, discover, reflect and express. Drama is a gift and a safe place to go to grow.

Drama: the best invention yet ;)

Dynamically Verbal

If you do a search to see the meaning or definition of Verbal Dynamics you will often stumble upon the phrase: “The Words Come Alive!”

And how true! At least in the case of our Upper Primary Group’s Parent Day Verbal Dynamics

Every year teachers are excited to guide their students on this journey of verbal adventure.

While learning and rehearsing the verbal dynamics presentation students learn more about pace, volume, delivery details and other speech performance practices.

Pace plays a role in how speech is received and understood. You can change the meaning of a line or sentence simply by playing around with the speech. It’s so important to get the pace just right!

Volume control is another important aspect of any verbal showcase. Knowing when to drop into a stage whisper and combining it with projected exclamations gives the piece colour, shades and nuances.

Other practices include pronunciation, gestures and pitch. Every week the class will practise these and others as we bring together the features of a fun, interesting and lively verbal dynamics piece.

We hope you’ll be there to see the final product.

Speak to your teacher and keep your eyes on this page for your Parent Day dates.

TWO Cheers for TERM II

Term two got off to an incredible start. 

It’s an exciting time for students, teachers and parents as we gear up for our annual Parent Days.

Returning students were excited to share stories of their Easter breaks and new students were happy to get stuck into the dramatic world of Helen O’ Grady. Old and new students alike were over the moon to learn about new curriculum features for the term. And teachers? We’re just so thrilled to be part of each student’s development journey.

Our Kindy groups will this term get to explore space and be part of a circus troupe.

Lower Primary students get the opportunity to create their own plays using Helen O’ Grady scene starters. Our Upper Primary stars will try their hands at script work while the Youth get to explore and enjoy all sorts of theatre development activities.

We can’t wait to get into full swing and we can’t wait to show our parents. 

Be sure to read our start of term newsletter and keep your eyes glued to this page and our Facebook page to be sure you don’t miss out.

Speak For Yourself

The speech elements of the Helen O’Grady curriculum prepares students for so many tasks and challenges presented throughout their school career.

Together we explore ways students can enhance their speech delivery, enunciation and eloquence. We also teach them new ways to express themselves using their voices.

Hebron Christian Academy LP students performing a poem: The Lion

Our speech curriculum covers projection, articulation, tone and resonance exercises. These are taught using fun speech lines accompanied by energetic actions, expressions and sometimes we’ll throw in an accent too.

De Tyger's LP students showing their verbal skills

Speech is a critical part of communication and expression. The lessons learnt during our drama programme will benefit our students well into their careers and life.

Make a Dramatic Difference at School

Helen O’ Grady offers drama classes at a number of studios across the Northern Suburbs of Cape Town as well as the Winelands areas.

We also offer drama as an after school programme at a number of schools.
While some may question the merits of a drama programme at a school with an already full extra-curricular programme, we offer these answers:

Drama at school stimulates CREATIVITY IN PROBLEM SOLVING
Drama activities can CHALLENGE STUDENTS' PERCEPTIONS about their world and about themselves.
Dramatic exploration as seen in our lessons can provide students with an outlet for EMOTIONS, THOUGHTS and DREAMS, that they might not otherwise have a platform to EXPRESS.
With our improvisations students can BECOME ANOTHER, explore a new role, try out and experiment with various personal choices and solutions to very real problems- or problems faced by characters in literature or historical figures.

De Tyger's Primary Group doing an Improv

Of course, at the core of Helen O’ Grady is COMMUNICATION, CONFIDENCE and CREATIVITY.

In this way drama REINFORCES the rest of the school curriculum giving students the all-round development they need. 

It's Great To Be Back!

We got off to an immense start this week with new classes, regular classes, familiar faces and new smiles.

We're Back!

This week we shook off our holiday dust and got right down to business. 

Kindy classes started a new theme which teaches us about our bodies and how to use them at school, at home and on stage.

The Lower Primary group got to put together an improv using some holiday inspiration while the Upper Primary got stuck into new speech techniques. In movement both groups got to explore rhythm patterns proving to be loads of fun all-round! And don’t forget the Youth Theatre groups. These students upped their cool factors and started learning about building character collages.

So far it’s been a fun, learning, inspiring, dramatic week. A great start to the term and the new year.

If you missed out, don’t worry, there’s still time to get to a studio near you and enrol.

Monday:

Bellville                               Collective Arts Theatre                  CP 3:30-4:30 and YT 4:30-5:30

Stellenbosch                      Christchurch                                       CP 4-5 and YT 5-6

Tuesday:

Kenridge                              Kenridge Scouts Hall                       K 2-3, LP 3-4, UP 4-5

Paarl                                      Old Mill Theatre                               LP 3-4, UP 4-5, YT 5-6

Wednesday:

Durbanville                         All Saints Church                               LP 3-4, UP 4-5, YT 5-6

Somerset West                   HH Dutch Reformed Church        CP 3:30-4:30, YT 4:30-5:30

Thursday:

Kuils River                           Van Riebeeck Hall                            LP 3-4, UP 4-5, YT 5-6

DRAMA: A UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE

Helen O' Grady, around the world has shown that drama creates the opportunity for students to develop their communication skills. 

We know that drama allows students to learn to communicate effectively. We have also found and experienced that drama is a great tool for students to learn and practice communicating in their second language.

As drama is taught in an active and interesting way students are exposed to words, expressions and discussions that they may not experience during a language lesson.

Adlibbing is a central part of our curriculum. Adlibbing, or informal language, asks that students create their own lines, sentences and conversations. This part of the lesson is an effective tool for language development, especially with younger students and students who use English as their second language.

Lower and Upper Primary students at the Paarl studio reveling in the Improv exercises.

The benefits of drama are endless.

Take a look at our website to find out more about how drama is key in developing Confidence, Creativity and Communication.