Arts Faculty

Dance

Junior Dance: Students are given the opportunity to embrace differences and celebrate similarities in different cultures and through their own identities. Students are taken around the world through a series of dance sequences from different corners of the world, exposing them to new techniques. They will also learn about their identity, culture, and whakapapa, using these as stimuli to produce a dance sequence through improvisation and choreographic tasks. 

Senior Dance: This course is designed for students of all backgrounds and experiences. Students will learn performance techniques and choreography skills working as an ensemble, in pairs, and as soloists. Students will learn to analyze dance performances critically and produce their own interpretations of dance performances. This course enhances students’ creativity, confidence, coordination, fitness, and teamwork.

For more detailed information, please see our option booklets below: 

View the Level 1 Options Booklet here 

View the Level 2 and 3 Options Booklet here

Drama

This course is designed to develop competent Drama students. Students will undertake a course of study that will enable them to engage and enjoy drama in all its varieties, understand, respond to, and use relevant acting techniques and production skills.

Confidence, analytical competency, teamwork, problem-solving. We develop resilience through risk-taking to empower our students and give them a voice.

John Paul College is nationally recognized for Shakespeare, and we have had 16 students represent New Zealand on the Globe stage.  

Senior students can partake in a full production yearly, with expert technical and directional input.

Drama is a recognized university-approved subject with numerous pathways.

View the Level 1 Options Booklet here 

View the Level 2 and 3 Options Booklet here

Music

Junior Music: Our Junior Music courses are designed to give students an introduction to the main facets of the subject. They will learn basic music theory and notation, develop their skills as a composer, spend time learning instruments (piano/keyboard, guitar), and study music in context. The junior course is designed to give students a taste of what is on offer in the senior school and develop the building blocks needed to continue to NCEA Levels 1, 2, and 3.

Senior Music: These courses are designed for students who are competent performers. Students will learn performance skills both individually and in a group. They will learn to compose and create original music. Aural skills will be further developed, and an in-depth study of New Zealand music by various composers and genres will further develop students’ musical knowledge. All music students SHOULD take instrumental/vocal lessons. These can be taken privately or through the school.

View the Level 1 Options Booklet here 

View the Level 2 and 3 Options Booklet here

Visual Art

Our vision is to provide a stimulating environment that fosters creativity and allows our students to develop their individuality. A passionate interest in learning how artists and designers work is encouraged at all levels to provide inspiration and strengthen learning experiences.

Junior Art : Our Year 7-10 Art programs are centered on developing skills, understanding, and appreciation for artworks, artists, and art-making processes. Through studying and making artwork, students respond to and make sense of themselves, their whanau, their community, society, and the world in a unique way.
Our junior courses include: Drawing, Painting, Printmaking, Digital manipulation

Senior Art : Our senior art students learn various skills across two or more disciplines featured below at Level 1. Our young creatives thrive, especially where they are prepared to investigate established traditions, practice techniques, experiment, take risks, think outside the box, and persevere to hone their skills. We offer specialized Design, Painting, Photography, and Printmaking options from Level 2 onwards.
We are immensely proud of the work produced across the Visual Art Department, with students consistently performing well above national averages and achieving Scholarship grades across all disciplines when they are in the final year of their art studies.
Our senior disciplines include: Design, Painting, Photography, Printmaking

View the Level 1 Options Booklet here 

View the Level 2 and 3 Options Booklet here

Careers

Junior Careers: Juniors in the school can explore career options, understand the world of work, know themselves and the world around them. 

Senior Careers: Students can access career counseling, career education, events like the Rotorua Careers Expo, scholarship assistance, applications and CVs, Gateway work experience, and the Futures Academy programme. 

Year 12 & 13 Careers classes prepare students to be work-ready. This is an industry-focused approach rather than an academic one. Other providers, such as Health & Safety, will offer industry-based courses throughout the year. 

Careers also offers star courses, which include Adventure-based Learning (ABL), Hospitality, and Tourism.

Senior Futures Academy

Futures Academy offers Year 11 – 13 students hands-on, work-relevant programmes providing a strengthened pathway to apprenticeships, employment or further trades training. The Trades and Technology Programmes are based on partnerships between Schools, Tertiary Institutions, and Industry Training Organizations. Students combine study at a Futures Academy with studies towards their National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) and a nationally transferable tertiary qualification at Level 1, 2, or 3.

Senior Gateway

The Gateway Programme enables students to explore an occupation of interest to them. Students gain work experience and industry-related NCEA credits through the Gateway programme and strengthen pathways to further education, training or employment. Students usually go out into workplaces one day a week for eight weeks. 

For more information, please refer to the options booklets below:

View the Level 1 Options Booklet here 

View the Level 2 and 3 Options Booklet here

English/Languages

EOTC- Education Outside The Classroom

Health and Physical Education

Humanities/Social Studies

Learning Support

Mathematics

Religious Education

Science

Technology

Education Outside the Classroom (EOTC) is the name given to all events/activities that occur outside the classroom, both on and off the school site.

• Our school believes in using a range of environments and experiences to enhance our student’s learning. We have ready access to the beaches, rivers, mountains, and the bush in our area and beyond.
• We are also close to various built environments in our community. These areas are rich learning environments for our students both in and out of school. Our school values providing students with opportunities, and to enable these, they need to learn how to be safe.