Isabella Mistry, director of performing arts at St Columba teamed up with Dr Christine Hatton from the University of Newcastle as part of the four week residency to create The Sanctuary Project.

The project tasked students with a community project to rehabilitate wetlands in a fictional town called Castlemaine, a town very similar to Port Macquarie in size and geography.

Ms Mistry said the project was all about showing students they can learn in different ways with a drama focus.

"As the new director for performing arts I am really trying to find new ways the performing arts curriculum can be introduced to the students and delivered in a fun way," Ms Mistry said.

"When students take on a character they are more open to experimentation and less concerned with failing."

For the project itself students were tasked with rehabilitating a wetland but needed to consider the environmental, social and political consequences of their actions.

During the month long project there were a number of twists and problems that arose and the teachers played different roles adding another level to the problem.

Dr Hatton said the project was about giving students a problem to solve over a number of weeks using a range of different skill sets.

"The drama project teaches across the curriculum and allows students to actually step inside a problem and engage with it from the inside," Dr Hatton said.

"Students had to make up different names and come up with characters to fit into the roles of journalist, historian and scientist. They had $50,000 to rehabilitate the wetland and each group had a vested interest in the project.

"The students had to work in their groups as their characters as well as working collaboratively with the other students."

Alessandra Price, Eliza Rose and Colton Craig were three of the Year five students who participated and said they enjoyed the project because it was something they had never done before.

"It was a really good thing to be part of because everyone had a role to play and we had to work together," Alessandra said.

"As a journalist we had to interview people and discover different documents to help the scientists and historians."

"We had to link the historians and the scientists together and had to present to the other classes on information we uncovered so that we all had the same information," Eliza said.

They all said it was interesting to use the project to learn lots of different things.

"At times it was frustrating but it was really great to make up your own identity and work as someone else on the project rather than just learning about it," Colton said.

At the end of the month the classes presented the project to their parents and the wider school on June 13.

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