Creative and Performing Arts assists students in their lifelong learning in the drama, music and visual arts. It also assists students to participate in and contribute to cultural life, to become informed consumers of the arts and culture, to empathise with others, and to consider a range of career paths. The Creative and Performing Arts also provide opportunities for students to respect the views of various social and cultural groups, people with different religions and belief systems and people with disabilities.
Drama, music and visual arts offer students and people of all ages opportunities for personal expression, enjoyment, creative action, imagination, emotional response, aesthetic pleasure and the creation of shared meanings.
Drama
In Drama, students will develop knowledge, skills and understanding:
• in making drama collaboratively by taking on roles and creating imagined situations shaped by the elements of drama
• in performing drama by actively engaging in drama forms
• in appreciating their own dramatic works and those of others.
Music
In Music, students will develop knowledge, skills and understanding:
• in performing music of different styles and from different times and cultures by singing, playing and moving using musical concepts
• in organising sound into musical compositions using musical concepts
• in listening to and discussing their own music and that of others.
Visual Arts
In Visual Arts, students will develop knowledge, skills and understanding:
• in making artworks informed by their investigations of the world as subject matter, use of expressive forms, and consideration of the audience for their works
• in appreciating their own artworks and those of others, recognising the roles of artists, audiences and how the world can be interpreted.
Years 7 and 8
All Years 7 and 8 students complete the Mandatory Stage 4 Music and Visual Arts Course and Year 7 Drama.
Year 9
Elective study:
- Drama
- Music
- Photography & Digital Media
- Visual Arts
Year 10
Elective study:
- Accelerated Music 2 Preliminary
- Drama
- Photography & Digital Media
- Visual Arts
Year 11
Elective study:
- Accelerated Music 2 HSC
- Drama
- Visual Arts
Year 12
Elective study:
- Drama
- Music Extension
- Visual Arts
CAPA Life at Ruse - Music Ensembles
- Advanced Strings
- Chamber Orchestra
- Choir
- Intermediate Percussion Ensemble
- JRAHS Cadet Pipe Band
- Junior Jazz Band
- Junior Percussion Ensemble
- Saxophone Ensemble
- School Musical
- Senior Percussion Ensemble
- Senior Vocal Ensemble
- Stage Band
- String Ensemble
- Symphonic Band
- Wind Orchestra
- Year 7 Concert Band
2023 HSC CAPA Results
2 ENCORE Composition HSC Music Nominations
- Yutong Duan
- Paulina Lee
9 ENCORE Performance HSC Music Nominations
- Julia Chia
- Yutong Duan
- Paulina Lee
- Soren Park
- Alric Qin
- Jonathan Salim
- James Zue
- Leo Li
- Kyle Zhang
1 ARTEXPRESS HSC Visual Arts Nomination & Recipient
- Jenny Jin
2022 HSC CAPA Results
10 ENCORE Performance HSC Music Nominations
- Maximus Cai
- Judy Chen
- Leo Li
- Jasmine Loh
- Tarun Saravanan
- Antony Wang
- Maxwell Wu
- Hansel Zhang
- Kyle Zhang
- Julie Zhang
2021 HSC CAPA Results
2 ENCORE Performance HSC Music Nominations
- Andrew Kim
- Harry Lan
1 ARTEXPRESS HSC Visual Arts Nomination & Recipient
- Sophia Dang
2020 HSC CAPA Results
1 OnSTAGE Individual Project, Monologue Performance HSC Drama Nomination
- Brendan Lin
2 ENCORE Composition HSC Music Nominations
- Eva Ge
- Sathmi Ranasinghe
10 ENCORE Performance HSC Music Nominations
- Darryl Chen
- Eva Ge
- Ruoxin Hua
- David Myungchan Kim
- Samuel Lam
- Harry Lan
- Sathmi Ranasinghe
- Shravan Suriyanarayanan
- Ramon Wang
- Jerry Jiarui Wang
1 ARTEXPRESS HSC Visual Arts Nomination
- Chloe Toh
Annual CAPA Events
Band and Ensemble Concert
Classical Concert
End of Year Concert
HSC Recital Night
MAD (Music, Art and Drama Night)
Each year we showcase the works of our gifted and talented artists in a MAD Night. It is a wonderful night of creativity, innovation, possibility and opportunity for our students to celebrate their transformations as creative learners with the rest of the school.
School Musical
A whole school effort led by the CAPA Faculty, James Ruse produces a musical in April of every year and it is always a joyous time for all involved! Rehearsals begin in Term IV for our principals and then the chorus are brought in at the beginning of Term I. Teachers work in teams of two to mentor students through the Elements of Production and student leaders’ step into the roles of Student Director, Student Musical Director and Student Stage Manager to encourage ownership, agency and voice in an integral whole school event. It is a tradition we are very proud of and one that keeps evolving each time we do it!
Past Musicals include: Urinetown, Big Fish, The Addams Family, The Little Shop of Horrors, The Wizard of Oz and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum in 2023.
Year 11 Drama Production
The Year 11 Production is part of our Preliminary Course and engages the students in making, performing and critically studying! Each year, we choose a new play, short story or sometimes create our own work to showcase the rich gifts and talents of our Year 11 directors, actors and designers.