After the state’s students had their wings clipped for much of 2020 and 2021 due to COVID, the latest Spectacular Schools production – Learning to Fly – has just made a perfect landing.

The video shows that learning can occur anywhere: on the school oval, on the beach or even alongside some much-loved animals.

Set against the iconic background of Taronga Park Zoo and the Coffs Harbour jetty as well as numerous school halls and ovals, Learning to Fly features more than 300 students from 28 secondary schools across NSW.

Singing, dancing and connecting are key touchstones in the joyous shoot, the excitement palpable after another year of restrictions.

With a focus on rural and remote schools, students from Coffs Harbour Senior College were delighted to be featured on their home turf and in Sydney.

Coffs Harbour’s Casey Alexander, was one of the six featured artists.

“I absolutely loved my involvement in this project because I had the pleasure of spending hours with the most talented, kind and generous human beings, both students and staff,” Casey said.

“After so much isolation, it was so amazing to come together again and perform in this way.

“The program brought kids together from all over the state and what really made it special was that, through rehearsals and performance, we got to know ourselves more and be ourselves, no matter where we were from.”

While the visuals are certainly spectacular in Learning to Fly, there’s also a much broader message about growth mindset: that individual talent can be developed through hard work, good strategies and support.

It’s something that should resonate throughout the community after some tough times during COVID.

Learning to Fly will be featured on the Channel 7 Spectacular Schools Inspired broadcast on Sunday, 12 June (12-1pm, 7 Two) and then repeated on Saturday, 18 June (12.30-1.30pm, 7 Flix).

It is the penultimate Spectacular Schools production with the Schools Spectacular set to return to the big stage at Qudos Bank Arena on November 25 and 26.

The Spectacular Schools Inspired initiative is proudly supported by Telstra, NSW Teachers Federation, School Bytes, Teachers Health, RØDE and teenBreathe.