This year, Todd Patrick celebrates a milestone anniversary for his renowned performing arts high school in Melbourne. Arts High School has been, as Patrick explains, giving hard working kids a “golden ticket” to career success for a decade now, thanks to Patrick’s vision and talented team.
Graduates of Arts High School leave trained proficient in dance, vocals and acting, alongside strong academic results.
“Every single year, we have year 12 students hit the top percentage in their academic subjects in Victoria, outside of performing arts,” Patrick says proudly. “So not just dance, drama or singing, which of course you would expect, but in subjects like French, Humanities, English, Geography, Math and Science, too.”
It’s been a passion project for Patrick who dreamt of a performing arts high school when he himself was a secondary student in South Australia, struggling to find his place and a chance to thrive.
“I went to a private Catholic school, and I got expelled because I was so filled with energy; all I wanted to do was sing and dance,” he explains. “My school really didn’t cater to the performing arts, and they really didn’t understand me. I think you’ve got to understand students and what their passions in life are and how you can utilise their passions to get them to school every day and make them work on every single level.”
Fortunately, for Patrick, his parents moved him to Seaview Highschool in Adelaide’s south, which was performing arts focused. “I just had the most incredible drama and dance teachers, and performing arts directors, and they really showed me that I could be good at school and that I could achieve things if I just was given that little bit more encouragement to really delve into what I loved. It then flowed off into my other subjects.”
From being expelled to leading an exciting international performing career, to enviable business success, Patrick’s career is a testament to how the right school can make all the difference for a young adolescent.
When a student is afforded an environment to thrive in their artistic gifts and interests, that energy flows into other areas and allow students to have a more successful and fulfilling overall academic experience.
“If a student doesn’t want to do English or Math in a regular school, there is no way the teachers can really get them to do it,” explains Patrick. “Whereas, if someone drops behind in their English or Math at my school, they come into my office and I’m like, ‘Hey, I’m really disappointed that I’ve given you this opportunity and you’re letting that subject slip.’ They really respect me because they know I work my ass off for them. They go home and they sort it out because if they don’t, I go, ‘Well, you’re not doing my jazz class.’ They want to be there. So, when I ask them to hold up their end of the bargain, they do.”
Many students alternatively come to the high school who are already strong academically, but who want the chance to hone their performance skills more intensely than they could with just after-hours classes around regular school hours, and/or they aim to take on performance opportunities with flexibility.
“Before I started Arts High School, I had all these parents grappling with what to do about schooling when their son or daughter booked a musical,” Patrick says. “I had students getting into Annie or Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and they needed to leave school for a while to tour, but the schools were just not on board. I had the parents saying to me, ‘Todd, you’re training them to such a point where at a young age they can work professionally, but the education system in Australia doesn’t understand it. The teachers don’t support it. How do we do this?’”
That was the catalyst for Patrick to pursue his earlier vision and open the PSA high school program 10 years ago, combing online distance education with studio based performing arts classes. All students are enrolled in Virtual School Victoria, which is a widely used program across Australia for gifted students who want to invest in supplementary education and training while completing the standard Victorian curriculum. With a conventional classroom set up at the studios, all students have at least three hours a day of academic study supervised by educators familiar with the content of all units of study and who are there to help and support the students in their subjects. The performing arts program that completes the curriculum includes training in Acting, Singing, Ballet, Contemporary, Lyrical, Jazz, Hip Hop, Musical Theatre and Conditioning. And students still experience many of the expected high school experiences like swimming carnival, sports day, school and house captains, end of year graduation, and the like, alongside performing arts opportunities like dance competitions, vocal showcase, performance showcase, Victorian Dance Festival and more.
As with all new unconventional initiatives, there were naysayers, but Patrick and his team persevered and have created a highly sought-after programme.
“It grew from necessity and passion, but it was trial and error,” Patrick unveils. “For the first few years, we had to figure out what worked and how it would develop. But sure enough, it developed and grew and we’re at full capacity now, with a waiting list!”
The school has become an incredible breeding ground for triple threat talent, which takes a lot of hard work and dedication from both the students and teachers.
“We have great dancers audition, we have great singers audition, we have great actors audition. And then we bring them in and we work on their weaknesses and we develop their strengths until they finish in year 12 and they’re a triple threat,” Patrick notes. “The year 12 graduates go into tertiary/full-time performing arts training ready, having already done years of acting classes, screen classes, mock auditions, vocal classes, ballet, hip hop, jazz, etc. It’s like the golden ticket, really. The doors open, and the world is their oyster.”
Patrick is rightly proud of Arts High School and the achievements of his many students over a decade who have become successful artists and professionals.
“I’m so proud that these kids are coming out and can just dominate in the industry,” he says. “They’re just hitting musicals left and right. I’ve got six academy graduates in Beauty and the Beast at the moment, with one of our year 11 students making his professional debut in the show. I’ve got two in Wicked. I’ve got students over in the UK and USA. They’re just everywhere achieving their dreams, goals and ambitions!”
And those who know Patrick personally know that he doesn’t stop to look back. He’s always pressing forward, working towards the next phenomenal production, project or artistic endeavour. But when forced to stop and reflect, the stoic professional gets a little choked up.
“I’m quite emotional about the fact that I really did it, and it’s really successful! I did something that was so close to my heart.”
Congratulations, Todd Patrick, and the incredible team at Patrick School of the Arts!
To find out more about PSA and Arts High School, visit www.psarts.com.au.
By Deborah Searle of Dance Informa.
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