Banks Street Kindy is privileged to have resident artist, Kath ‘the Art Lady’ Reilly to take the children through a dedicated arts program throughout the year – a creative journey exploring colour, line, drawing and observation. The Arts Program is an incredibly rewarding experience for children, educators and parents alike. It is a bespoke program for the children of Banks Street Kindy and consistently surprises and delights us all.
Kath shares a core theme with the children at the start of each year. In 2021, the theme is ‘Air – Taking Flight’. Previous themes have been ‘Water’, ‘All Creatures Great and Small’ and ‘Imagine If…”. The theme is developed upon week by week, sometimes in collaboration with the educators through books and games in other times during the week.
A strong focus of the arts program is to encourage the children to truly embed themselves in the natural environment and formulate a plan from what they encounter. Art is a wonderful way for children to express and articulate their thoughts, both verbally and through creation.
Each term has a specific focus (e.g. Imagination or Observation) and the children use various mediums to develop their skills and show their creative flair. The Arts Program culminates in the highlight of the Kindy year – the Annual Art Show where parents and friends view the incredible collaboration the children have been working on.
In 2020, dud to Covid limitations, we had a community art trail instead to showcase the children’s artwork. A highlight of the initiative was when the children’s artworks were displayed at Ashgrove Library and Grange Library.
Banks Street Newmarket Community Kindy 