At St. Edmund's elementary, our philosophy is commitment to excellence in Catholicity and in all areas that promote the development of the whole child.
To bring out this potential, students should have diverse opportunities to grow their talents, beyond just the academic aspect. One area that should be developed is creativity and expression, which requires a range of fine arts opportunities. At St. Edmund's, our fine arts program consists of speech arts, music, and art.
Speech arts develops their presentation skills. A student selects a passage from a book, a poem, or a Bible reading, which they practise at school and at home. After a few weeks of practice, the students perform at the annual speech arts festival at a local elementary school. They are given feedback from an adjudicator, as well as a certificate. Sometimes, we'll have an especially creative student write and present their own poem. Last year, we had a memorable performance when a Grade 3 student wrote a poem about her first powwow (a First Nations celebration).
We also have art club available to all students from Grade 1 onwards. Typically, we group students in art club by grade. Each group focuses on a project that they work on over several after-school sessions. Last year, our older group did abstract painting. Towards the end of the school year, we display all the art club projects, as well as classroom artwork, in our annual art show.
Our music program permits students to further develop their artistic expression. All students have music class, as well as the opportunity to join the choir (junior or senior). Senior choir is divided into two seasons: winter choir and spring choir. Our winter choir has various community performances around Christmas, such as at seniors' residences.
