Play On!

from 2023 Winter 'Play the Game' magazine

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On 14 and 15 June, the production ‘Play On’ was presented at the Christ’s College Auditorium, performed by every student in the school and almost every staff member.

Each Year 8 class was assigned two decades, with the Year 7 classes to help back up the Year 8 boys. The overarching frame of the production was looking at Medbury through the eyes of boys who have been here throughout the decades. This year’s production has been the most momentous production in Medbury’s history, with the aim of making the School’s Centenary celebration awesome.

Behind the scenes, it was an exhausting and lengthy process; it started AGES ago, in Term 3 of 2022.

Alessio Barlozzi-Knothe (Deputy Head of Drama) and I (Hugo Bush) were cast with ten Year 7’s as the main characters: the Time Travellers! Our team had Thursday options to rehearse, so we needed to work hard and fast and practise heaps at home. This year, 2023, we have had even more practices, so we had to make sacrifices. But we managed to figure it out along the way and as we got closer to the production, we found that the jigsaw pieces were coming together.

Like an iceberg, the show looked amazing on top, but it was an absolute mess behind the scenes. To make this show really pop, we had to layer it with props organising, costume making, rehearsals, sound effects and script writing.

Oscar Lucioni (Head of Props) was a massive help with all the props; he suffered through meetings and lunchtimes just to help us. Many thanks to the behind-the-scenes team; Mrs Keleghan had to make and fit over 400 costumes and props! Mr Durant with all the organisation, and Jeffery Bergin and Harrison Ballantyne were busy every lunch, morning tea and before school finding and making props, labelling them and moving them.

A month before the show, all the Time Travellers were going absolutely crazy from stress due to trying to remember all their lines. We didn’t get heaps of breaks on Thursday afternoon practices that were two hours long. We would have to be bribed with chocolate from Mr Wilson. And the silly fun we had jumping up and down, off the ground trying to speed run our lines at 1000 miles per hour. It feels like now, after it’s finished, it’s a relief, and even though there were a few mistakes here and there, it managed to come together. And seeing all the boys’ excitement on stage made me burst with joy.

Hugo Bush, 8B, Head of Drama

Mana Kapa Haka Workshops with Selwyn House

The Mana Kapa Haka workshops are held for a combined group from Medbury School and Selwyn House School. The two schools work together to have fun and embrace the culture of Kapa Haka.

Both schools have Kapa Haka practices separately every week but have a workshop together every last weekend of each holidays either at Selwyn House or at Medbury. The workshops usually last from 10.00am to 4.30pm. The Mana Kapa Haka group is brought together to experience, learn about, embrace and perform this culture. The Kapa Haka teacher, Maaka Kahukuranui, teaches both schools in their own time, and organises all the weekend workshops that happen, with the help of some staff from both Medbury and Selwyn House. The Mana Kapa Haka group have great friendships with each other, and this is a way for your son to get more involved with New Zealand culture and have a good group of friends.

Samuel Moggie, 8R

Musical discovery

The Junior and Lower Middle School Music Showcases held in Term 1 demonstrated how music is taught in the Junior and Lower Middle School using Kodály inspired teaching.

This approach is based on the work of Hungarian educator Zoltan Kodály who believed that musical instruction should reflect the way that children learn naturally. Through singing games, fun and play, the child discovers the musical elements as they are presented sequentially and can enter the world of music through the creative development of the ear and the eye.

Loren Easterbrook has been training in this approach since 2015 and has completed levels in both Primary and Secondary teaching.

On the following page, William Fleetwood shares his experiences of the Lower Middle School Music Showcase with us.

A p ril Holland, Director of Music

Junior and Lower Middle School Music Showcases

On Tuesday morning we had a music showcase with 3S, 3E, 4B, and 4P involved. A number of parents came to support us. During the show, the Year 4’s joined together to sing a ‘Hello’ song and the Year 3’s, the ‘Bow Wow Wow’ song. 4B did the ‘Hi Lo Chickalo’ song, 4P, ‘Double Double’, 3S, ‘Cherry Tree’ and 3E, ‘Mix a Pancake’. I think we all enjoyed it and we had lots of fun. The audience was very well behaved, they were as silent as a mouse!

Some boys also played an individual piece on their instruments. The boys were Jayden Ban, Ryan Che, Leon Tian, Siran Wang and Alex Radecki. At the end of the show Miss Sutherland thanked Ms Easterbrook and Miss Holland for their hard work and time as well as all the Lower Middle School teachers. The parents went out to have some food, tea and coffee. The food was so good they devoured it in seconds! They were talking to each other and eating and having lots of fun with friends and other parents.