Our Year 11 Drama students finished their academic year on a high note by bringing the magic of theatre and literature to our local community through an exciting Primary Outreach Project with Māori Hill Primary School.
This initiative was a fantastic opportunity for our Year 11 drama students to connect with younger learners, promote the performing arts, and boost literacy in a creative, engaging way.
The project saw the drama students select two beloved junior picture books from our own school library—the hilarious classic "Wonky Donkey" and the witty favourite "I Want My Hat Back"—to transform into live, dramatic performances. The final week of 2025 classes for these senior students was made extra special as two separate new entrant classes from Māori Hill walked down to John McGlashan College to attend their show.
The Year 11 boys handled many aspects of the production themselves: they developed the performance scripts from the picture books, sourced and organised props and costumes, designed the colourful projected slide backgrounds on Canva, and, of course, delivered the entertaining performances.
The positive impact on both the young audience and our student performers was clear. The Year 11 boys had this to say about their experience:
Cohen highlighted the teamwork: "I particularly enjoyed the collaborative aspect of it. Working together I felt really brought the Year 11 Drama team together in these very last moments of class we get to share with each other."
Cam noted the fun and ease of the performance: "The performance was relatively stress-free as it's pretty easy to entertain Year Ones compared to performing in front of people your age or older. It was also nice seeing the kids laugh at the performance when it was more slapstick."
Jake, Nelson, and Reuben all commented on the joy of the audience: "I enjoyed the audience, they were laughing and made the performance easier to accomplish," said Jake. Nelson enjoyed "having a fresh audience and seeing their reactions. A lot of laughter." Reuben agreed, praising "Having an engaged audience who laughed very easily. Gave us lots of reactions to work with and was a nice change of pace."
This successful project underscored the power of drama to not only develop performance and organisational skills but also to advocate for reading and build strong connections within our wider school community. Well done to the Year 11 Drama class for their fantastic work!
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