Community
16 October, 2024
School of the Air defies distance to put on a winning performance
Remote students came together for an unforgettable Rock Pop Mime performance.
While the Apex Rock Pop Mime show makes long-lasting memories for hundreds of students in Mount Isa and Cloncurry each year, not many realise it is a vital classroom activity for the School of the Air.
With primary school children scattered across thousands of kilometres, finding opportunities for students to undertake group work, extended social interaction and team building can be challenging.
As a result, Mount Isa School of the Air has made Rock Pop Mime a milestone in the calendar each year, marking out the event date and building one of its quarterly Mount Isa school camps around the annual show.
The hard work of all involved proved a success for the School of the Air this year, taking out first prize in the senior primary section – the first time the school has won its category.
Grade 3 teacher Mat Whitney has taught at the School of the Air for 16 years and has overseen the school’s Rock Pop Mime performance for more than a decade.
He told North West Weekly that each year it was a challenge for the school to put on a viable entry because its classroom options and processes were so unique.
“While other schools might prepare for months, we really only have three days to try to put something together,” he said.
“We can talk a lot about the performance and the story and music with the children – but we really don’t begin to start performing it on the stage until they are all gathered in the same location.
“We have an outline, but it is hard to imagine what it is going to look like until we are all together.”
School of the Air had previously attempted to teach students the necessary dance moves over video conference calls and radio waves, however, when students eventually met up to rehearse as a group – the results were often chaotic.
A new teaching strategy was developed where teachers would focus on explaining the story to the students, playing the music to be included in the performance and giving each student a specific character to play on stage.
On Friday night, Mount Isa School of the Air told the story of Australian treasure Jessica Watson, who sailed around the world aged 16, and Nedd Brockman, a 24-year-old currently running across Australia.
Senior primary students were given the leading roles because it was their final opportunity to appear for the school at Rock Pop Mime, while younger students played more generic roles such as sunshine rays and ocean waves.
Mr Whitney said the story focused on Watson and Brockman communicating their long-distance journeys via video calls with their family – a familiar reality for all School of the Air children.
“The kids have thought about what they should be doing on stage – so when we are together, they will start to ask a lot of questions,” the teacher said.
“They start coming to us with their ideas. That’s when we really begin to put it all together.
“As teachers, we get to see how they interact with each other - there are always big gaps in how they are, their personalities are growing and changing at this age and some of the kids we might only get to see in person once a year.
“They come in and they are a foot taller compared to the last time we saw them.”
Grade 6 student Sienna Maxwell, who lives on Rockvale Station, north-east of Julia Creek, played Jessica Watson in the performance and had watched the movie about the famous young adventurer as part of her preparation.
“I have done some dancing competitions before, so I am having a lot of fun being part of this,” she said.
“It’s great to be able to work on it with my friends.”