The Lion King is an iconic Disney movie and last week we were very proud to witness two performances of The Lion King Jr by our Ormiston students in their first major school production.
After months of preparation, the performances were outstanding, from the acting and singing through to the costumes, props and lighting. It was hard to believe at times that we were watching such young performers. One of the great strengths of the size of our School is that all students can be included in this type of major event, giving some students opportunities that they might not have chosen when these programs are optional or restricted to specific year levels. It was evident that so many enjoyed their involvement.
The key messages of The Lion King story around the themes of overcoming obstacles, accepting responsibility, embracing your identity, forgiveness, growth and looking forward are particularly relevant in society today. They also resonated with experiences and learnings that came out of student reflections.
When I asked the classroom teachers (from Foundation to Year 6) what their students learnt and enjoyed from being involved in the production, similar themes were articulated, including:
In a holistic education, there are many learning opportunities for our students to develop important skills, capabilities and mindsets that they will be able to draw upon throughout their education and beyond school. However, a large production such as this brings many together and enables rich growth in students.
Whole school productions would not be possible without a large team of staff working tirelessly behind the scenes. This production was driven by Claire Colthup, one of our secondary teachers who was the Director and Choreographer. She was supported by the Production Management Team including Nancy Robottom, Emma Hinchliffe and Keira Lyons (stage management). Kim Perkins managed the lighting, and John Efthimiadis from our Maintenance Department assisted with set construction.
I would also like to acknowledge the following Music staff who were vocal tutors and members of the music team: Renee Heron, Nichole Adams, Tim Mallis, Emily Urlich, Stephen Coutts, Davina McClure, Julia Piggin, Rohan Mack and Kate Savige.
In addition to the Ormiston classroom and specialist teachers who supported the students throughout this project and created some of the costumes, we also had a team of parents who assisted in the making of animal costumes. Thank you to Amy Chua, Sonal Gupta, Eng Ronzani and May Kee – your support was greatly appreciated.
Many families will also know that we have a very strong Performing Arts program in the Secondary School. It is important for all students to have the opportunity to be involved in productions. The last three Secondary School productions have had two casts to enable this. Secondary students also have the opportunity to perform in our extensive House program on multiple occasions across the year.
In reflecting on their involvement in The Lion King Jr, many of our Ormiston students recognised the value of hard work and effort when working on something with purpose.
From one of our Foundation students who said “I have learned that when you practice a lot, you get to do a show and you will be very good at it”, through to a Year 3 student’s comment of “being confident is harder than it seems and I have worked hard to get to this point with confidence” to a Year 5 student who stated “with new opportunities there is a chance to develop your bravery and other skills.” Our final piece of wisdom to share with you sits with one of our Foundation students who said “don’t listen to bad guys like Scar!”
Congratulations to all of our Ormiston students and our staff on a wonderful production of The Lion King Jr and we look forward to your next production in 2026 in our newly refurbished Barbara Sutton Hall!
With best wishes,
Debbie Dunwoody
