Specialist learning areas

The Performing Arts area in the grange hall (rooms 6 and 7) is where all classes have lessons in Drama, Music and Dance. We have a big space where we can move, dance and work in groups. We have a piano, a drum kit, an interactive white board and a whole host of percussion instruments.

All students in Year 6 have the opportunity to be in our Festival choir to learn the repertoire of songs for the Primary School’s Festival of Music concert series. This event is held in September at the Festival Theatre. Our students perform on one of these nights and join hundreds of students and an orchestra to present an outstanding evening of entertainment.

Girls in Year 4 and 5 have their own singing group and as well as singing at assemblies and mini concerts, they have performed to groups within the community. They have a wide repertoire of songs and are a very enthusiastic group of talented singers!

The Boys from CLG are well known in the community for their enthusiasm and their hot pink polo shirts! Boys from Years 4-6 can join this lunch time group and their repertoire of songs, both past and present are especially suited to their funky sound and presence!

Our Junior Singers are in Years 2 and 3 and they are always a big hit with parents and community groups because of their obvious love of performing. In the past few years they have performed at Carols by the Creek and local retirement villages and senior citizens groups.

Every two years, the students at CLG present an evening at the Adelaide Town Hall ….. Lighting Up The Arts. Students from Year 3-6 present a fantastic 90 minute concert of song and dance. It is an opportunity for all classes, singing groups, the rock band, percussion ensembles and outstanding soloists to showcase their talent.

In alternate years, students in Reception, Year 1 and 2, present a musical for Grandparents and others at our Special Persons Day. Their wonderful singing and acting always delights our invited guests.

Visual Arts at Colonel Light Gardens (CLG) Primary School is taught to all students across the years and encompasses all of the different art skills and modalities. Students experiment with and create using, drawing techniques, painting, sculpture, fabrics, modelling, printmaking, digital arts and design.

The arts curriculum at CLG is designed with a two-year focus, incorporating a yearly rotation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Artists and Art History as the artists/art movements of inspiration to guide our learning.

Students have the opportunity to share their art works with parents and the school community through our bi-annual South Australian Living Artists (SALA) exhibition. Our graduating senior students also exhibit at the end of their primary years at the Cumberland Park Community Centre as part of their graduation process.

Students have the opportunity to work with artists in our community through our Artist in Residence program. Artists include Michelle Lee (abstract expressionism), Leah Grant (street artist who also created a mural on our school canteen) and Aboriginal and Torres Strait artist, Elizabeth Close. Students also attend exhibitions at the Art Gallery of South Australia when the exhibitions support our learning within the arts space.

The art room is a place of success and creativity and extra curricula activities are guided by our Senior Arts Captains. Students have the opportunity to participate in our boys and girls art groups during Gozen where we create artworks to beautify our school, promote wellbeing practices or connect with our community through art.

Each year the students of CLG create Art Trading Cards that are shared across the school and when students follow our school values of Care, Respect and Safety they receive a trading card form the teachers or our school leadership team, to trade with their peers. This allows students across the school to connect and communicate with art as their shared dialogue.

Creativity is our shared language.

Michelle Bawden
2021 Ministers Visual Arts Education Award for Public Primary School.

“When my daughter was about seven years old, she asked me one day what I did at work. I told her I worked at the college- that my job was to teach people how to draw. She stared back at me, incredulous, and said, “You mean they forget?”” – Howard Ikemoto

Technologies at Colonel Light Gardens (CLG) Primary School is taught to all students from Reception to Year 6. It incorporates Design and Digital Technologies with the curriculum being covered over a 2-year cycle.

Students will develop important life skills as they work collaboratively and individually to progress through the design thinking process to produce solutions for problems and understand how to transfer their knowledge and skills to new situations.

All students have access to age-appropriate robotics equipment where they enjoy learning about building, programming, and coding while developing their computational thinking, teamwork, and problem-solving skills.

• Bee Bots teach our youngest students about directions, counting, sequencing and planning.
• Lego We Do Robotics enhances curiosity and science skills with the introduction of motors and sensors in their programming and solutions.
• Lego Spike Prime and Mindstorm EV3 are used with upper primary students to build and program robots to complete complex tasks.
• Scratch Jnr and Scratch programs are incorporated through all year levels to teach students coding skills while creating digital stories, games and animations.
• Micro: bit pocket-sized computers introduce students to how software and hardware work together and are utilised for a variety of mini programming projects.

Robotics Club is available for year five and six students who have the opportunity to participate in the Australia-wide annual Robocup Competition.

Technologies at CLG helps students to become innovative creators of digital and non-digital solutions, effective users of digital systems, and critical consumers of information conveyed by digital systems.

At Colonel Light Gardens Primary School we believe that young people who are physically active and readily challenged in an enjoyable and safe sporting environment perform better academically. A Physical Education (PE) Specialist teacher conducts skill sessions with each class, each week. The sessions cater for the full range of abilities and are designed to be inclusive and have all students experience their own personal development. This is achieved through participation in team games and sports; students learning skills to deal with success and failure and to develop the ability to interact within various social environments.

Students will participate in a wide range of activities including athletics, basketball, orienteering, lacrosse, rugby, soccer, hockey, cricket, netball, tennis, swimming, T-ball, softball and the list is constantly changing and adapting to allow the students to test and develop their skills in as many areas as possible.

In the Junior Primary years, the practical component of PE emphasis basic sports skills, physical fitness and teamwork. It also focuses on the development of personal awareness, communication, interpersonal relationships and physically active lifestyles.

Participation in SAPSASA carnivals and competitions is encouraged and often recommended to students who show natural ability in any sport SAPSASA offers.