Year 8 House Swap Program 

Year 8 House Swap Program

As part of the High Potential and Gifted Education program at Kogarah High School, in Term 2, students in 8K participated in the House Swap program run by the Sydney Opera House.

This program began with an excursion to the Sydney Opera House, with students from 8K attending a shadow puppet performance of A Bucket of Beetles by Papermoon Puppet Theatre, an Indonesian performing arts group. Students were then treated to an exclusive backstage tour of the Sydney Opera House, including sneak peaks at rehearsals for the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Bangarra’s show Illume.

Then, in weeks 8-9, 8K participated in a two-week long workshop with Sydney Opera House artists Stephanie Palade and Emily McKnight, who worked with students to take over the demountable in the main quad, transforming it from a classroom to an interactive art museum. Students worked together to develop interactive art installations that explored concepts like place and identity, and experimented with artistic elements like scale, lighting, sound and sculpture.

Students were excited to showcase their House Swap program to parents, teachers and Sydney Opera House staff, as well as friends and peers at lunchtime. Guests who participated in the interactive art installation were very impressed by what 8K were able to accomplish in such a short time.