Let's dance! Students ready to tread the boards for HSC performance exams

Dance students at Bradfield College put the finishing touches to their performances ahead of their exams with 4 boys and 19 girls doing the Dance and Drama courses at the northern Sydney senior college at St Leonards.

The college offers the HSC Dance course to students enrolled there and also to students within the Sydney Metropolitan area for whom Dance is not offered at their school.

Bradfield Senior College is a high school specialising in the creative industries offering traditional academic HSC subjects and a wide range of TAFE NSW Certificates in areas such as design, music, dance, entertainment, IT, digital media, retail and events.

Bradfield Senior College Director Meredith Melville-Jones said: “Bradfield Senior College performing arts program offers students a practical approach to the HSC while at the same time building a career in the performing arts industry. Bradfield’s record of exceptional HSC results such as first, third and fourth in HSC Dance is a testament to this approach."

“We continue to see graduates become successful performers, actors, dancers, musicians and TV presenters, and we wish all our HSC students the best of luck in their practical exams.”

Around 1,000 Dance students will perform over the coming weeks, along with almost 5,000 Drama students and nearly 6,000 Music students.

More than a third of this year’s 77,000 students are taking one of nine HSC subjects with a practical or performance component.

NSW Education Standards Authority CEO David de Carvalho said HSC courses involving a performance component allow students to develop experience and skills applicable for tertiary study and work.

“The prac exams are the pinnacle of these creative arts courses, allowing students to express their creativity and understanding of the art form and the particular genre they have chosen to work within. The creative arts are a vital aspect of a rounded education.”

“The HSC Dance course requires students to present as part of their practical exam a Core Performance Dance, Core Composition (their own choreography on another dancer) and a Major Study work.”

“Today’s inclusive list of HSC subjects and courses offers opportunities for students with diverse interests and individual strengths and ambitions to pursue their dreams and leave school with a highly valued credential respected by employers and universities here and around the world,” Mr de Carvalho said.

“We at NESA wish all students the very best for their performance exams.”

The HSC written exams will begin on Thursday 18 October, starting with English.

FACT: 2018 HSC MAJOR PROJECTS AND PERFORMANCE EXAMS

38% of students (more than 30,000) are studying at least one HSC course with a major project or performance component.

HSC subjects involving the submission of a major project or a performance exam include:

• Dance
• Design and Technology
• Drama
• English Extension 2
• Industrial Technology
• Music
• Society and Culture
• Textiles and Design
• Visual Arts

The marking of practical courses includes rigorous procedures to ensure HSC major projects are students’ own work. NESA procedures for ensuing HSC major projects are students’ own work include:

• schools certify that each HSC project submitted has been completed by the student, or properly attributed. Zero marks may be awarded where it cannot be established that the project is a student’s own work
• students receive a copy of the HSC Rules and Procedures and must agree to abide by these when they sign their Confirmation of Entry form
• students must complete the All My Own Work program about the principles and practices of good scholarship and penalties for cheating.