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It’s back to school time which usually means the calendar year is already filling up with weekend sport tournaments, birthday parties and least a couple of school performances or ceremonies. One of the biggest challenges when organising school events is that all state school terms start and end on the same date, or at least only a few days apart. And with four school terms a year that generally means that the annual cross-country race, athletics carnival, swimming carnival and end of year performances by default end up being around the same time!
So how do you get ahead of the school planning and coordinating? Get in as early as possible of course! That’s easier said than done sometimes. Especially as you might reserve your preferred dates, then find the public pool is already booked, or the senior year has a conflicting event. Either way, those who don’t plan ahead get left behind, so it helps to have a rough idea of your dates, that have some flexibility if possible.
For many schools, there is a range of occasions that usually require stage hire. Here are the most common school stage hire uses we see at Hire a Stage.
From drama performances to the school band or dance group – most school students will have to give some type of staged concert performance during the school year. And like most good performances, there’s usually someone or a few people who are behind the scenes making it all happen. In this case, usually teachers! So what are the stages usually hired for school concerts? More often than not, school concert stages will need to hold a minimum of one, and up to a maximum of 40 kids at a time. For this reason, we usually recommend larger stages so you don’t have to try and coordinate prop changes midway through a show.
For drama and band performances, some form of microphone and sound equipment also needs to be considered. Most dance performances will make use of the room or auditorium sound and require the stage hire only.
Hire a Stage’s 5m x 4m stage is best suited for bands of up to 8 to 12 people, and performances with up to 20 people standing. The stage sizes then become customisable depending on your needs. Starting at 30cm, the height can be increased by 10cm increments, up to 100cm tall. The width and/or depth of the stage then goes up by a metre to our 6m x 4m option, which can hold up to 14 band members with instruments and 24 standing performers.
The larger stages are between 8m x 4m and 10m x 4m, which proportionally start to hold up to 45 standing performers and is usually hired for school choir groups or end of year performances that have props and features. The largest stage hire usually hired by bigger schools for performances is 10m x 6m. This can hold up to 60 standing performers and is most popular for end of year events.
Naturally, one of the first questions asked when hiring school performance stages is whether the stage is non-slip, and if there are stairs for the younger children who are not able to reach climbing up. Hire a Stage provides the best quality non-slip topped stages, that is finished in a matt black colour. Steps with a railing are always available, as well as skirting to trim the stage edges. Our team will come to your school or venue to install the stage you require, and are available to deliver in Sydney suburbs and the greater Sydney region.
Graduation ceremonies are no longer just for university students. At Hire a Stage we’ve seen graduation ceremonies become increasingly popular over the last few years, celebrating the end of an era and beginning of a new chapter. Whether it’s pre-school children about to embark on kindergarten, year six kids who are ready to transition into high-school, or high-school students, now becoming young adults and ready to start tertiary study or work. Whichever the occasion, graduation ceremonies are a particularly momentous occasion, making the stage hire very important!
Fortunately at Hire a Stage, having witnessed nearly every type of graduation ceremony – ceremony stages are our forte! The first thing to clarify is whether your graduation awardees will be staying on stage after receiving their award, or proceeding to continue off stage. Naturally, this will then determine the size of the stage you need, depending on how many people you plan to hold at any time.
For example, our 4m x 2m stage is best suited for 6 people standing at a time, whereas the 6m x 3m stage is suitable for up to 16 standing people. We can custom build your award ceremony stage to any size that you require, to hold the number of people planned for. At Hire a Stage, we also have lecterns and microphones available which are usually needed for most award ceremonies.
Simply check out our website or get in touch and we can help assist your custom needs based on the awards ceremony you’re planning.
Whilst it’s natural that the kids are first to come to mind when you think about school stage hire, most schools host several information evenings throughout the year that require a suitable presentation stage. For presentation stages, it needs to be tall enough so that the presenter is fully visible and audible to the audience, and usually there are presentation slides that also need to be visible with a TV screen or wall to project on. When giving a stage presentation, a lectern is extremely convenient and useful to give the audience a point of focus, and for the speaker to have their notes available but not visible.
Presentation stages are usually 3m deep, however, if you require more surface area, we can easily arrange this and custom build a stage to your size. Watch this video on how we build custom presentation stages at Hire a Stage.
With most traditional school events being at similar times of the year between different schools, of course, it is recommended that you hire as soon as you know your event dates! However, Hire a Stage is the biggest staging hire supplier in the greater Sydney region, and we know that planning ahead isn’t always possible. Whether you have a last-minute or future staging hire need, get in touch and our friendly team would be more than happy to assist.
