9 November 2022

The arts will be on show at St Paul’s School, Bentleigh, with the return of the school’s arts festival this week.

The school has a student art team in Year 6 who, along with a team of dedicated teachers, have been working to create a special festival for their family community. Borrowing from the 2022 Book Week theme, ‘Dreaming with eyes open’, much of the artwork makes connections between the shortlisted books, as well as the individual artists who have been studied by the students this year.

‘We’ve been doing learning assemblies in each class and we had our fete recently, but this is our big chance to welcome back the arts to our community after a couple of years’, said Principal Catherine Tammesild. ‘There’s a pathway through the school for our parents to experience the journey of the art displayed and every student will have four or five pieces of art available to view. We’re so proud of our students and everything they’ve achieved this year in the arts.’

Some of the art installations are also interactive and immersive, including a weaving station, a dress-up photo booth and an Alice in Wonderland-themed glow experience inspired by THE LUME Melbourne. It’s not just the visual arts being showcased, with every class performing in the amphitheatre as well as individual students busking for the crowd. ‘I’m even performing a piano duet with one of our Year 3 students’, said Catherine.