Thurston Community College

Performing Arts Curriculum

Hello and welcome to the Performing Arts Department at Thurston Community College, where all staff are committed to creating a challenging, meaningful and inspiring learning environment while preparing students for their future careers.

Arts education is not a luxury, it is a necessity. It's really the air many of these kids breathe. It’s how we get kids excited about getting up and going to school in the morning. It’s how we get them to take ownership of their future

 (Key research findings from Imagine Nations - Cultural Learning Alliance Report 2017)

The Performing Arts Department plays an exciting and leading role in providing dynamic focus for the educational experience of our students throughout Key Stage 3 and beyond, where we;

  • Help to intensify the culture of attainment and encourage students to aspire to be the best they can be on a day to day basis.
  • Provide a wide range of experiences, exciting and challenging learning environment, inclusive for all, in every classroom.
  • Deliver lessons that promote an appetite for learning, ambition for the future and a passion for a successful life ahead. Arts and culture are not an add-on, or a nice to have, but are part of the fabric of our society; young people have a right to experience the best, and to be given the opportunity to make their own contribution to the continual reshaping of our civilisation. We must celebrate our successes, build best practice, and learn from each other; in challenging times of education, it is up to us to be the champions of young people’s hopes, talent and ideas.

"We do not need magic to transform our world; we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already; we have the power to imagine better" (JK Rowling) 

Our Vision and Statement of Intent

‘Ethic of Excellence’

“Excellence is the result of caring more than others think is wise, risking more than others think is safe, dreaming more than others think is practical, and expecting more than others think is possible” (Ron Berger)

We believe that engaging with Performing Arts is essential to human experience. Almost as soon as motor skills are developed, children communicate through artistic expression. The Performing Arts challenge us with different points of view, compels us to empathise with others’ and provides us the opportunity to develop vital skills required in all other walks of life.

Performing Arts at Thurston Community College cultivates ambitious, curious, independent, resilient and purposeful learners. 

Our vision is to create, cultivate and captivate.

We provide fulsome and enriching experiences to all students on a day to day basis that encourage students to push their own boundaries by unlocking and fulfilling their deepest potential. 

Peripatetic Music Lessons

The Performing Arts Department has, maintains and seeks to expand our links with local peripatetic music teachers. These connections mean that we currently offer lessons in:

  • Vocals
  • Piano
  • Brass
  • Woodwind
  • Guitar (and Ukulele and Bass Guitar)
  • Drums

Extra Curricular 

We offer an inspiring plethora of lunchtime and afterschool extracurricular opportunities across all of the Performing Arts Disciplines which both consolidates and extends the learning of our current curriculum. Examples include Orchestra, Voice Squad, Transitions Dance Company, Tech Crew and Theatre Company to name a few; whilst also providing experiences such as trips to see live theatre, careers based seminars and our annual whole College production.

Links to Further Information