By Olivia Condous
Students at a local Melton school will soon be learning how to juggle, hula-hoop and walk on stilts thanks to government funding to help Victorian kids to get creative.
The Community and Learning Melton (CaLM) school was one of the successful applicants for the Creative Learning Partnerships Victorian government program, which provided the school with $35,000 in funding to join with Dream Big Circus Inc through Creative Victoria.
CaLM is a flexible learning options program created to support high school students who have disengaged from traditional schooling pathways due to learning difficulties, challenging behaviour, attendance issues or social, mental and emotional issues.
The circus arts organisation will provide a learning program for students called ‘Circus Plus’, designed to explore themes of belonging, celebration and identity by combining circus, music, dance, video, projection, photography and street art.
CaLM assistant principal David Reid said the school had witnessed significant improvement in student confidence and self-esteem when participating in the creative arts program previously.
“We’ve identified in the past that it can help to improve our engagement and attendance at school, when they know that these programs are operating, there’s a better chance of them coming through the school gates,” Mr Reid said.
From June 9, the students will participate in a wide range of activities as part of the program, including plate-spinning, juggling and stilt-walking.
“Even some of our most disengaged students in the past got right into it, so it is quite unique and the students in the past have really responded to it,” Mr Reid said.
The Circus Plus project will aim to encourage students to develop a love of creative self-expression while improving their literacy and numeracy skills, culminating in a showcase at the end of the year.
“We’re really looking forward to seeing how the project goes and evolves over the course of the next couple of terms.”
