The Hunter School of the Performing Arts (abbreviated as HSPA) is a government-funded co-educational selective and specialist

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Works * ...

and

secondary Secondary may refer to: Science and nature * Secondary emission, of particles ** Secondary electrons, electrons generated as ionization products * The secondary winding, or the electrical or electronic circuit connected to the secondary winding i ...

day school which offers a comprehensive curriculum with a

performing arts The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which are the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. Perform ...

specialty, located in , in the

Hunter Region The Hunter Region, also commonly known as the Hunter Valley, is a region of New South Wales, Australia, extending from approximately to north of Sydney. It contains the Hunter River and its tributaries with highland areas to the north and so ...

of New South Wales, Australia. Established in 1923, the school enrolled 1,150 students in 2018, from Year 3 to

Year 12 Year 12 is an educational year group in schools in many countries including England and Wales, Northern Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. It is sometimes the twelfth year of compulsory education, or alternatively a year of post-compulsory educa ...

, of whom four percent identified as Indigenous Australians and eight percent were from a language background other than English. The school is operated by the NSW Department of Education; the principal is now Tracey Breese as of Term 2 2021. The school is unique in terms of public selective schools to cater to both primary and secondary school students. Enrolment is by audition online and/or on-site.

History

The school has undergone many name changes since its establishment in July 1923. As a technical school * 1923–1926: Newcastle Junior Technical and Domestic Science School * 1927–1931: Broadmeadow Junior Technical School * 1932–1960: Newcastle Central Technical School As a general high school * 1961–1965: Broadmeadow Boys High School * 1966–1975: Broadmeadow Boys School * 1976–1992: Broadmeadow High School (co-educational) As a performing arts school * 1993–1997: The Broadmeadow School of Performing Arts * 1998–present: Hunter School of the Performing Arts A notable moment in this school's recent history was the June 2007 Hunter Region and Central Coast storms. The Hunter School of the Performing Arts was one of the most severely affected schools in the area. The school suffered a large amount of damage; the entire bottom level was washed away and the school's library was severely affected. The March 2021 eastern Australia floods in New South Wales also affected HSPA by the closure of the school's Hunter Theatre. Due to the downstairs floor featuring an orchestra pit, storage room and boys and girls dressing rooms being flooded and waterlogged which caused a costly amount of collateral electrical damage. The theatre is now partially functional, open to the school and external clients.

Motto and colours

The original motto was "Advance", which changed after the school became a boys' school in 1932 to ''Faber est suae quisque fortunae''. The motto was changed in 1999 to its English form, "Each of us is responsible for our own destiny". "Performing at Our Best" is the motto most commonly used today, taken from the school's vision statement. The original colours of the school were those of the 35th Battalion ("Newcastle's Own Regiment") of World War I, green and brown. In later years it changed to green and white. In 1999, students were given a survey in a bid for them to choose their own school colours; they chose jade, purple and black. To keep a link with the Newcastle colours, the new logo (of the mask, dancer and bass clef) has been incorporated into a shield which also has a ribbon of brown and a ribbon of green. Following the change in the school colours, a new

school uniform A school uniform is a uniform worn by students primarily for a school or otherwise an educational institution.They are common in primary and secondary schools in various countries. An example of a uniform would be requiring button-down shir ...

was introduced in 2000, with options ranging from formal to casual, including performance and sporting wear. In 2001, the school's marching band uniform changed to reflect this as well, formerly being green and gold, and now has a uniform consisting of black, purple and jade.

Music

The school is home to a number of musical ensembles. Two

concert band A concert band, also called a wind band, wind ensemble, wind symphony, wind orchestra, symphonic band, the symphonic winds, or symphonic wind ensemble, is a performing ensemble consisting of members of the woodwind, brass, and percussion famil ...

s, three choirs and a "senior vocal ensemble",

string orchestra A string orchestra is an orchestra consisting solely of a string section made up of the bowed strings used in Western Classical music. The instruments of such an orchestra are most often the following: the violin, which is divided into first ...

, two stage bands, a marching show band and percussion ensemble are well known within the school and community and frequently perform at festivals, parades, ceremonies and competitions. Additionally, the school holds a musical every year between the three performing arts and the HSPA Theatre Crew led by Theatre Manager Jim Bowman and the TAS staff. Alternating leads between the primary and secondary sections of the school, these musicals are performed in the theatre built on school grounds in 2007: the Hunter Theatre.

Dance

There are many dance opportunities within the school. Groups participate in a wide range of activities, including ''Star Struck'', Schools Spectacular, Hunter Schools Dance Festival and State Dance Festival. There is also a range of dance ensembles, such as hip hop and ballet, and these are audition only. The dance production class gives students an opportunity to do project based learning (PBL) along with designing projects that the students want.

Notable alumni

Genevieve Clay-Smith Genevieve Clay-Smith (born 1988) is an Australian writer and director. She is an advocate of inclusive filmmaking. Clay-Smith's career as a writer and a film director began in 2009 when her film, starring a man with Down syndrome, won Austral ...

film director and writer *

Isabelle Cornish Isabelle Cornish (born 22 July 1994) is an Australian actress. She is known for her television roles, particularly in ''Puberty Blues'' and '' Home and Away'', and Crystal in the 2017 American television series ''Inhumans''. Personal life She ...

actress and model *

Charli Robinson Sharlene Marie Zeta Robinson (born 8 March 1981), known professionally as Charli Robinson previously as Charli Delaney, is an Australian television and radio presenter, most famously known as an original member of children's musical group Hi-5 ...

singer, actress and radio presenter, Hi-5 *

Michelle Lim Davidson Michelle Lim Davidson (born 23 July 1987) is an Australian actress. She got her break in television starring on the skit show '' Ben Elton Live from Planet Earth'' in 2011. From 2012 she was a presenter on '' Play School'', a long running Austr ...

actress * Mathew HelmOlympic diver * Ivy Latimeractress * Rhys Nicholsoncomedian and 2009 Grand Finalist in

Raw Comedy Raw Comedy is an Australian annual competition for emerging stand-up comedians held by Melbourne International Comedy Festival. It was established in 1996 and is supported by national youth radio station Triple J. In 2011, there were 1,100 conte ...

competition * Short Stack pop punk/ indie band (Shaun Diviney, lead vocalist and guitarist; Andy Clemmensen, bassist and back-up vocalist; Bradie Webb, drummer) *

Geraldine Viswanathan Geraldine Viswanathan ( ; born 20 June 1995) is an Australian actress. She gained attention in the role of Kayla in the 2018 film '' Blockers'', for which Refinery29 referred to her as "the film's breakout star". Viswanathan starred in the 2019 ...

actress * Tanya Hennessydigital content creator, comedian, writer and television presenter

References

External links

*
The Hunter Theatre
{{Public high schools in New South Wales, state=autocollapse Creative and performing arts high schools in New South Wales Educational institutions established in 1923 1923 establishments in Australia Public high schools in New South Wales Public primary schools in New South Wales Education in Newcastle, New South Wales