Arts Faculty

Victoria oversees both the curricular and extracurricular Performing Arts programmes at St Peter’s. She works to ensure that comprehensive academic programmes are provided for students across Music, Dance and Drama, and that a wide range of extracurricular activities are available for students to grow and practice their craft. In her 12 years at St Peter’s, Victoria has introduced the academic dance programme, senior drama programme, and was part of the establishment of the International Baccalaureate arts programme.

A Suzuki violinist from age seven, Victoria has an extensive background as a performer on the national stage as a violinist and fiddle player with the likes of Dame Malvina Major and the Hamilton County Bluegrass Band. Victoria’s passion is musical theatre, and she is often found with baton in hand as musical director with Hamilton Operatic Society, working with Richard O’Brien and other New Zealand theatre professionals. Recently, Victoria has also been a teaching fellow for the University of Waikato in their Teacher Education Programme, and at Wintec as a performance coach.

Victoria holds a Bachelor of Arts (Music), a Bachelor of Education, and a Diploma of Teaching (Secondary) from Waikato University.

Michael has been a teacher at St Peter’s since 2010. He is passionate about the integration of Music Technology with traditional music making mediums in the classroom and the opportunities this creates for students.

As a percussionist and drummer, Michael has performed in a wide range of groups, from orchestras through to rock bands. Alongside his classroom teaching, he has been involved in the creation of co-curricular groups such as Petra Uke (ukulele ensemble), Impact (senior percussion ensemble), and has grown the Prep Rock Band programme to encourage opportunities for younger students. In the past ten years he has been more involved in Musical Theatre for Hamilton Operatic Society and various other local groups.

He has a Bachelor of Media Arts in Commercial Music with Honours from WINTEC and a Graduate Diploma in Secondary Teaching from The University of Waikato.

Jenna joined the St Peter’s Performing Arts team as Head of Dance in 2013. She started her teaching career in Wanganui as Teacher in Charge of Dance before heading overseas to the UK for three years to teach both Primary and Secondary. She has now been teaching dance for eight years. She is a passionate and energetic teacher who is continually driven by the talent and excitement that her students demonstrate.

Growing up in the Waikato, Jenna started studying dance at an early age. Her dancing experience has included Contemporary and Jazz both in New Zealand and abroad. Outside of St Peter’s Jenna is a keen sports enthusiast. She plays netball for a local Cambridge club and continues to actively involve herself in her high school passion of middle distance running.

Jenna is a graduate of Massey University with a Bachelor in Education – B.Ed (SecTchg) Physical Education and Health.

Renate’s varied theatre background sees her deliver a full and passionate programme to drama students with an emphasis on both onstage and backstage/technical components. With extensive drama and theatre networks throughout New Zealand, St Peter’s students gain full benefit from Renate’s enthusiastic teaching and knowledge.

Renate has many accomplishments to her name. When studying at Waikato University she was a Sir Edmund Hillary Scholar for Theatre and also President of the university’s theatre club, Upstage. In 2006 she won a Waikato Blues Award for Services to the Creative and Performing Arts. Renate has a passion for creative writing – particularly playwriting, and has had several pieces of her work published. Renate won a considerable grant to have her multi-media play The Ticket performed by Hillary Scholars at the University of Waikato, which she also designed, produced and directed. Renate has performed and worked with various theatre groups in the Waikato including performing at the Summer Garden’s festival as Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and working as David Sidwell’s Second Assistant for Hamilton Operatic productions of Avenue Q and Mamma Mia. Her most recent accomplishment is her appointment as the Waikato Regional Representative for the Shakespeare Globe Centre New Zealand, which means St Peter’s will be hosting the Sheilah Winn Competition for Waikato in 2017.

After completing the I.B Diploma in Switzerland, Renate O’Sullivan returned to New Zealand to complete her Bachelor of Arts (Theatre Major) and then a Graduate Diploma in Secondary Teaching at the University of Waikato.

Marg is a longstanding member of the St Peter’s staff who has worked for the past eight years in the Music and Performing Arts Faculty (PFA) as Coordinator. She is extremely passionate about performing arts and does an incredible job of providing support for academic staff, itinerant teachers, students and families. In this role she works closely with Victoria and the other Faculty members to coordinate major performance events. Marg is the first port of call for many performing arts families and interested community members at St Peter’s.

Marg is an active member of the Cambridge Squash club and supports the local Cambridge Repertory.

St Peter’s is fortunate to have a highly trained and experienced group of musicians teaching in the itinerant music programme. One on one lessons are delivered each week by tutors specializing in a vast range of instruments - from classical voice to electric guitar to banjo, and more. Our tutors are known regionally, nationally, and in some cases internationally for their performance skills and teaching ability, with many of them holding national accolades and titles.