Northlakes students turn school gym into Northwave music festival

A school gym on the Central Coast became a live music venue when seven Northlakes High School students built their own festival from the ground up.

Northwave was organised by the Year 12 students as the final assessment for their VET Entertainment Industry Studies course, with the group handling bookings, marketing, lighting, sponsorships and fundraising.

The festival drew more than 300 people into a makeshift mosh pit inside the school gymnasium.

Six young local bands played on the night, with the bill leaning heavily towards rock and metal.

Student organiser Brock Rhodes said the group wanted to do something different from previous classes, which had staged a disco and a haunted house.

The students raised money through local business sponsorships and a community barbecue before staging the event.

Teacher Nathan Murray said the school and staff were hands-off once the students had approval from the principal and had worked through the equipment they needed.

One performer was local musician Cameron Barnett, who performs as Jinjo. He said the event gave heavier local bands a platform and could help open the door for more heavy music events in the region.

Organiser Blake King, 17, said the event had not set out to become a rockfest, but teenagers wanted live music they could move to. He said the closest large all-ages rock festival for local teenagers was in Sydney, almost two hours away.

The students are set to gain a Certificate III in Live Production and Technical Services.

Northlakes High School has offered the VET Entertainment Industry Studies course for three years. Mr Murray said the students had also worked on musical events, the annual talent show and a film festival during the year.

After Northwave, Mr Murray said future classes were likely to want to go bigger.