Weekly News Term 3|Week 8

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Kia ora koutou
Ngā Manu ō Hira Tapu ready for Polyfest
Our senior benchmark examinations have begun and will continue into next week. It is a great opportunity for the girls to test their understanding and show the learning they have been doing this year.

Arts Building Opening

We hope you have received your email invitation to the opening of our new Arts building at 2.00pm on 27th September and we thank those of you who have already RSVP’d.
We would be grateful if you could RSVP to principal@shcs.school.nz by Monday 23rd September.

St Hilda’s Blues

A Blue at St Hilda’s Collegiate School is awarded in recognition of students who have shown excellence and/or outstanding achievement in the cultural, sporting, academic or service arena’s at St Hilda’s Collegiate School.

The Blues evening will be held on Friday 18 October 2019. Awards presentation commences at 7:00pm.

Thank you to those who have applied. Successful applicants will receive notification at the end of September.

Junior Academic Programme

The Junior Academic Programme for 2020 has been released online. Links to view this are on both the Parent Portal and the Student Homepage. This site provides an overview of the subjects studied from Year 7 through to Year 10. At Year 10, students undertake two optional subjects of their choice alongside their compulsory subjects.

The Junior Academic Programme can also be viewed here: https://sites.google.com/shcs.school.nz/2020-junior-academic-programme/home 

Updated Reporting Timeline

We have adjusted the reporting timeline to accommodate the changes made to the junior reports at the end of Term 2. Year 7 – 10 students will receive an interim report in Week 8 and this will be followed by Junior Learning Conversations which will be held in Week 10. We are aware that it is not always possible for parents to attend these due to travelling distance and the timing of Learning Conversations so we are investigating the possible use of technology to assist with this.

Learning Conversations for Year 9 and 10 will take place on Tuesday 24 September from 6:00pm – 9:00pm and Thursday 26 September from 6:00pm – 9:00pm. Booking details will be sent out next Tuesday by email.

Learning Conversations for Year 7 and 8 will take place on Wednesday 25 September. Mrs Carla Joint (dean of Year 7 and 8) will provide details around these next week.

Durban Girls’ College Exchange

In 2017 we started our exchange programme with Durban Girls’ College in South Africa. We are now beginning the process for the 2020.

This exchange is open to girls who will be in Year 11 in 2020 (presently in Year 10)

The exchange student(s) from Durban will come to St Hilda’s for 6 weeks in March /April 2020. She will be in Year 11 and she will be timetabled into our school programme in the same way the Perth Exchange student is. The St Hilda’s student(s) would travel in exchange for 6 weeks in July/August  to Durban Girls’ College. Further information and application forms for this exchange will be available early next week.

The following link will give you more information on Durban Girls’ College:

http://www.dgc.co.za

Return of all 2018 Sporting and Prize Giving Cups and Trophies 

In preparation for the 2019 Awards and Prize Giving evenings, we urgently require the return of all cups and trophies presented in 2018 before the end of Term 3.
Thank you for your prompt attention to this.  These may be left at the school’s main reception area.

Measles update from Public Health

Frequently asked questions for parents and schools 

Do I need to be worried about catching measles?

Measles is highly contagious and easily spread.

Most people in the community are protected from measles because they are fully vaccinated or have already had measles.

What does fully vaccinated mean?

Fully vaccinated means having had the right number of vaccines for your age. For anyone 15 months – 4 years old, this means one MMR vaccine. For anyone older than 4 years old this means two MMR vaccines.

Why isn’t everyone fully vaccinated?

Some people in the community can’t be vaccinated because of allergy or immune conditions. Medical treatments such as chemotherapy can alter someone’s immunity and make them vulnerable to getting measles even if they are fully vaccinated. Babies younger than 1 year old are too young.

Another group of people born between 1970 and 1990 might not realise they are not fully vaccinated. They might have only received one measles vaccine (such as MMR) as a child or might not have access to their immunisation records.

Others choose not to vaccinate.

What if I don’t know my immunisation history?

If you are unsure of your vaccination status you should consider yourself unvaccinated. You should talk to your GP about getting your shots, there is no harm in having extra MMRs.

What should I do if I (or my child) have had contact with a measles case?

If you are fully vaccinated then you are protected and can’t pass measles on to others.

What does isolation involve?

Measles has a long incubation period. If you have been exposed to measles or are showing symptoms and you are not vaccinated, you need to be isolated for 14 days. That means you need to stay home and avoid being in any public places.

Should I vaccinate my child early?

The MMR vaccination schedule for children outside of Auckland is unchanged. Children who have had the right number of vaccines for their age are considered to be fully vaccinated:

  • One vaccine at 15 months old
  • One vaccine at 4 years old

Advice for those travelling overseas or to Auckland is kept up to date on the Ministry of Health’s website: https://www.health.govt.nz/your-health/conditions-and-treatments/diseases-and-illnesses/measles/2019-measles-outbreak-information

Were the current measles cases already vaccinated?

All current Queenstown measles cases (15) are either unvaccinated or uncertain of their vaccination status. Some of those cases are not able to be vaccinated due to allergy or health conditions.

When is someone with measles contagious?

A person with measles is infectious from 5 days before and until 5 days after the rash appears (about 10 days in total). During this time the infected person needs to stay away from other people; children need to be kept home from school and adults from work, do not invite other children or visitors to your house.

I’m pregnant or have a weak immune system – am I at risk?

Pregnant women who haven’t been vaccinated, and anyone with a weakened immune system, are at greater risk of measles complications. They or their caregiver should ask their doctor or lead maternity carer for advice.

What do I if I think I might have measles?

If you suspect you have measles, phone your GP or Healthline free on 0800 611 116 for advice. Because measles is so infectious (easily passed on to other people), ring first rather than just turning up at your doctor’s clinic.

Where can I find the best advice about measles vaccination?

The Immunisation Advisory Centre’s latest advice on MMR vaccination during the 2019 measles outbreak:

https://www.immune.org.nz/sites/default/files/resources/Written%20Resources/AdministrationMMRQA20190904V01aFinal.pdf

For more information relating to measles, please refer to the Ministry of Health’s website:
https://www.health.govt.nz/your-health/conditions-and-treatments/diseases-and-illnesses/measles

Guidance

Girlguiding UK’s Girls’ Attitudes Survey 2019 has highlighted the issue of exam stress in girls. Please read the attached article to explore their findings further.

Download (PDF, 252KB)

Chapel Matters

Kia Ora! We are just coming to the end of te wiki o te reo Maori – Maori language week. While the Seniors have been doing exams, the juniors had a chapel on this topic. Mr Ellwood took us through te karakia o te Atua – the Lord’s Prayer – and taught us about the meaning of some of the key words. We then practised saying the prayer together. The theme for this week is “kia kaha te reo Maori” which means “strengthen” Maori Language, or “Let’s make the Maori Language strong.” One of my goals with regard to strengthening my use of te reo Maori is to learn this karakia off-by-heart since it is often said in Anglican church services or at special events. You might also like to strengthen your use of te reo Maori by having a look at the prayer, perhaps for the first time, or refreshing your understanding of the key words, or by practising saying it aloud, or by learning it off-by-heart too! Here is a useful website for doing that:  Lord’s Prayer in Te Reo

Tolcarne News

Last Friday, Josie and Nicki took the junior girls to the Dunedin ice stadium for Friday Disco Night.  Under colourful lights and popular music, the girls slipped into the new ice skates and stepped out onto the ice.  Not a common activity in New Zealand, many found it a challenge to navigate the ice.  We had some sore ankles, feet and a few topples to wet the knees and backsides, but all in all, the activity was a fun Friday night out!
On Monday night our Tribes played to ‘ice breaker games’ – pass the orange under the chin and blow the pingpong ball down the table with disposable straws.  Lots of laughter and double chins as the orange was passed down the line and the pingpong ball was blown off the tables. Falkland won to orange passing competition and Highgate won the ping pong travel game and Falkland came in again wining the pingpong round robin game.
This week the juniors have been starting dinner with grace in Te Reo as part of Maori Language week. Our senior girls have begun studying and are sitting their benchmark exams, this continues over the weekend and early into next week.

Health Consultation 2019

Thank you to those who completed the 2019 health consultation survey, we greatly appreciate your feedback.
All parents and caregivers are now invited to attend an open discussion on the evening of Monday 16th September, 6.30 pm – 7.30pm where we will have the opportunity to further discuss the makeup of our health programme.
If you would like to attend, please RSVP to admin@shcs.school.nz by Wednesday 11 September.

Hannah Coutts
Teacher of Physical Education and Health

Activities this week

Well done to Ngā Manu ō Hira Tapu who performed at Polyfest on Wednesday night.

Royal New zealand Ballet Workshop
Chloe, the educator from the Royal NZ Ballet take a few Dance workshops on Monday. Years 7-11 took a workshop on Monday lunchtime & Years 12-13 were tutored within their P4 class.
The Contemporary dance they learnt was based on Women’s Suffrage.
15 students were then treated to the actual RNZB performance on Wednesday night – “Bold Moves” where definitive dances from three different decades were shown.
     
Physical Education Class – Gymnastics
The Year 7 Science class has recently been studying ROCKS; their formation and composition among other things, so we were delighted that Liana Sui-Wood’s grandfather allowed Liana to bring some of his precious collection into class. These made for fascinating observations and we even looked at the amazing crystal compositions under the microscope. Thanks so much Ted for your kindness and I sense we have some budding young geologists emerging from this group if Bella and Alex’s enthusiasm is anything to go by.
Year 10 students participating in the Get to Go Challenge
  

Achievements

Our hockey girls had a great week in Timaru competing in the Audrey Timlin Tournament. They played so well as a team resulting in them being 3rd overall at tournament.
We were unlucky to not make the final after losing to Craighead in the semi’s by one goal but the girls showed thier sportsmanship and determination beating James Hargest to be 3rd overall
Rugby – our year 9 and 10’s competed in the Highlanders Region Tournament on Friday in Mosgiel, In real wintery conditions. Playing four games and winning them all to make the semi finals where they bet Otago Girls’ high School  30 – 5 to then play Central Otago in the final.
In the final the girls played so well in the muddy wet conditions with some fantastic tries winning this 17 – 0
Hockey 1st XI

Careers

Transition Expo Day Event – Discover opportunities for life after school. Click here for further details.

Transition Expo Evening Forum – Click here for further details

MoneyHub, a guide to scholarships
As many of our Year 13 students begin their applications for tertiary study and look for ways to fund their future studies – MoneyHub, a consumer finance website, has published a guide to hundreds of scholarships for any student planning to start university in 2020.

Volunteers Required – PFA

Parents and senior students over 16 years of age.
The PFA has been given an opportunity to fundraise at this year’s Fleetwood Mac concert on September 21 at Forsyth Barr Stadium.
This involves working in one of the hospitality areas for approximately 8 hours and attending a 90min induction meeting in the week prior to the concert,
The PFA raises funds for the school community for the benefit of all students.

It’s actually a lot of fun and if you are interested in receiving more information please contact Ali Copeman on pfa@shcs.school.nz

Weekly News Term 3|Week 7

Weekly News
Dear Parents and Caregivers,

Winter tournament week has been busy for a number of our sporting codes and we have had some great performances. The latest results we have can be found under Achievements.

Benchmark Examinations begin next week – 12th September – 18th September.
Your daughter will need to attend examinations at the day and time given on the timetable they have. When she does not have an examination this time is for study, which can be done at home/hostel. The girls are welcome to come into school to study but will need to be aware the normal junior school programme will continue. Girls are not required to wear uniform during Examination Week.

These examinations provide an indicator of your daughter’s progress.  They may also have to be used to gain information for derived grades should your daughter not be able to sit an examination(s) in November. For this reason, they will be held under NZQA conditions. Further details about these have been emailed home.

Return of all 2018 Sporting and Prize Giving Cups and Trophies 

In preparation for the 2019 Awards and Prize Giving evenings, we urgently require the return of all cups and trophies presented in 2018 before the end of Term 3.
Thank you for your prompt attention to this.  These may be left at the school’s main reception area.

Arts Building Opening

We hope you have received your email invitation to the opening of our new Arts building at 2.00pm on 27th September and we thank those of you who have already RSVP’d.

We would be grateful if you could RSVP to principal@shcs.school.nz by Monday 23rd September.

St Hilda’s Blues

A Blue at St Hilda’s Collegiate School is awarded in recognition of students who have shown excellence and/or outstanding achievement in the cultural, sporting, academic or service arena’s at St Hilda’s Collegiate School.

The Blues evening will be held on Friday 18 October 2019. Awards presentation commences at 7:00pm.

The application forms for students to apply for Cultural, Service, Academic and Sport Blues are now available. Forms can be accessed via the student homepage: Blues Application Forms or via the Parent Portal : Blues Application Forms and Criteria.  Applications must be made by the student using their St Hilda’s email.

Applications close at 5.00pm on Friday 13 September. Some dance genres have competitions and examinations later so we ask that students put in an initial application before the deadline, noting that results are pending. The site will reopen on 20 September until 23 September for updates to these applications.

Successful applicants will receive notification at the end of September.

Junior Academic Programme

The Junior Academic Programme for 2020 has been released online this week. Links to view this are on both the Parent Portal and the Student Homepage. This site provides an overview of the subjects studied from Year 7 through to Year 10. At Year 10, students undertake two optional subjects of their choice alongside their compulsory subjects.

The Junior Academic Programme can also be viewed here: https://sites.google.com/shcs.school.nz/2020-junior-academic-programme/home

Measles update from Public Health

St Hilda’s has been advised that since 22nd August, five people have been confirmed with measles in the Southern region and the disease is now likely to be spreading in the wider community.

The number of cases may seem relatively small in comparison with the population, but one person with measles can infect many others.

PHS advises that immunisation is the best protection against measles.

Immunisation is safe, effective and free.

Measles is serious and highly infectious viral disease that causes fever, cough, sore red eyes and a rash. It can make people very sick. People with measles can be infectious even before they start feeling unwell. While almost all people will make a complete recovery, it can lead to hospitalisation and in rare cases, death.

Parents/guardians need to find out whether their children are protected against measles.

Regarding your child’s immunisation status:

  • If your child has not received their measles immunisation (MMR vaccine) as per the Immunisation Schedule (1st MMR at 15 months and 2nd MMR at four years), call your GP as soon as possible. Arrange a time to immunise your child as it is never too late.
  • Infants and children who are not travelling to Auckland or overseas to a country with a measles outbreak are recommended to get their MMR vaccinations as per the Immunisation Schedule at 15 months and 4 years.
  • Infants aged 6 to 11 months who are travelling to Auckland or overseas to a country with a measles outbreak, can have their first MMR vaccination (MMR0) after consulting with their GP, however they will still need to have the MMR vaccinations at 15 months and four years as per the Immunisation Schedule.
  • Infants aged 12 to 14 months who are travelling to Auckland or overseas to a country with a measles outbreak, should receive all four 15 month vaccinations (MMR, varicella, Hib and PCV10) at least two weeks before travelling to allow immunity against measles to develop.
  • If your child has received only one measles immunisation (i.e. one MMR vaccination), call your GP as soon as possible to see if you need to arrange a time to immunise your child with their second MMR. Two measles immunisations provide better protection than one.
  • If your child has received two measles immunisations, or they have definitely had doctor-diagnosed measles infection in the past, they are considered protected. Over 99% of people who are fully immunised are protected from measles.
  • If you are not sure of your child’s immunisation records, look in your child’s plunket book or check with your GP.
  • If your child is not immune or you choose not to immunise your child, they are not protected from measles. If they come into contact with someone with measles, they will likely have to be excluded from school or ECEC for up to 14 days.

 Signs of measles

It usually takes 10 to 14 days for someone who has caught measles to start showing symptoms.

If your child develops a high fever, runny nose, cough, sore red eyes, or a rash see a doctor (call ahead to alert your doctor about the possibility of measles before visiting and take this letter along).

If your child has a weakened immune system (e.g. if they have an inherited immune problem or are receiving chemotherapy for cancer), please contact your doctor to discuss further.

If this occurs: Call your GP or Healthline (0800 611 116) as soon as possible for advice. Your GP will advise the safest time for your child to return to school. If your GP suspects measles, they will arrange for testing and Public Health South will be in contact to offer support and any follow up regarding contact tracing.

For more information about measles, contact Healthline on 0800 611 116 or visit https://www.health.govt.nz/your-health/conditions-and-treatments/diseases-and-illnesses/measles

Measles Information for parents and students

What are the symptoms? The signs of measles are a cough, high fever, runny nose and sore red eyes. A few days later, a rash begins on the head and spreads across the body.

How do I know if I’m immune to measles? To know that you are 99% immune to measles one or more of the following should apply to you:

  1. You have had two measles vaccines (MMR). You need to check your vaccination records in your Well Child (Plunket book) or your family doctor may have records. Please show your principal your vaccination record.
  2. OR you have been diagnosed with measles in the past, or have a blood test proving measles immunity
  3. OR you were born before 1969 as you are likely to have had measles as a child.

You are almost certainly protected from measles if one of the above applies and will not need to be isolated if you come into contact with someone with measles.

I’ve only had one MMR – do I have to get another vaccination? To ensure you are 99% protected against measles, it is important to have a second MMR as this vaccine also protects against mumps and rubella. Whilst one MMR does offer 95% of people immunity, it still provides gaps in our community coverage against measles, which puts vulnerable people like new born babies and people with compromised immune systems (e.g. having cancer treatment) at high risk.

Why do I (or my child) have to stay at home in isolation? If you are developing measles, staying home stops it spreading to others and making them unwell.

What does isolation mean?  It means staying home away from others. Do not go to work, school, group or social activities, sports, or public places like movie theatres, shopping malls, supermarkets and other food markets. Do not use public transport or visit friends or family. Avoid being in the same room as people who are not immune to measles.

What if I or my child feel worse or have symptoms, and need to go to a doctor again? If you need to see a doctor, phone the medical centre or after-hours clinic before going there and tell them you (or your child) may have measles. When you arrive, you must be isolated and not sit in the waiting room.

My child hasn’t been in the same classroom as a measles case. Are they still at risk? If your child has been in the same class, room or space as the person with measles while they were infectious, then your child will have been exposed. If your child is not in the same class, even though they may have been in the same classroom afterwards or in the same hall or playground, the risk is much lower. The school is not asking you to keep your child at home, but do watch for symptoms, particularly if they are not vaccinated. We also ask you to check that they are vaccinated.

I don’t have any proof that I have been vaccinated– what do I do? If you have been exposed to measles but are younger than 50 years, and if your doctor cannot confirm you have been vaccinated or had measles, you will need to stay home for the isolation period. Please get vaccinated when you are out of isolation.

If my child has been exposed to measles, do I have to tell others? You do not need to tell anyone else that your child may be developing measles and is in isolation, unless your child is confirmed as having the virus. Only then will you need to inform the school, and then any family and social contacts.

I’m pregnant or have a weak immune system – am I at risk? Pregnant women who haven’t been vaccinated, and anyone with a weakened immune system, are at greater risk of measles complications. They or their caregiver should ask their doctor or lead maternity carer for advice.

Chapel Matters

We were set a challenge last term by Anglican Family Care to raise funds to purchase a Reborn Baby Doll for their Play Therapy Service – in the end, we raised $550.00! They are very grateful for the support of everyone at St Hilda’s for making this dream come true! Kirsten and others from AFC brought the doll into chapel recently and we were able to hold it and see first-hand just how “real” it actually is! AFC have also invited us to name the Reborn Doll to formalise our gift and students have already suggested a lot of names! It will be interesting to see what one is chosen!

This is what AFC say about play therapy and the need for this doll:
“Play Therapy is a therapeutic approach where the child, through the therapeutic relationship and within the context of play can safely begin to explore complex issues within their lives, such as trauma, grief, separation and emotional regulation.  Anglican Family Care have been offering this service for over four years and over this time Play Therapist Kirsten, has been carefully collecting pre-loved toys and props, many have been donated and some purchased from second-hand shops.  There was one key resource missing from the playroom a Reborn Baby Doll.  As opposed to an ordinary doll, a Reborn Doll has characteristics that resemble a real baby, they’re weighted like a baby and assist both the child and adult to work through any attachment, relationship and trauma.”

Donna and Kirsten from AFC, Dr Townsley then: Kristin Schipper, Amelia Newlands, Lucia Grimmond, Anika Smith, Rosie Dykes, Amelia Leaper, Bridget Malcolm, Lucie Holtz

Nemo Asawaborisuttikul, Chaplain Dr Gillian Townsley, Lucie Holtz, Lily Knox,
Georgia Copeman

Guidance

Recently we were asked the question about where to find good quality information to begin the discussion between you as parents and your daughters about pornography.

The Light Project is an excellent New Zealand website which tackles this issue. In the words of the Light Project experts, “The last 5 years has seen the growth of a whole new porn landscape for young people. New in terms of how much porn is out there, how easy it is to access, how frequently young people watch it and the type of porn that has become ‘normal’. Porn has now become a primary sex educator for young people, influencing youth sexual culture in new and unprecedented ways – however, many whānau, teachers and health professionals working with youth don’t feel equipped to respond. So, we decided to connect with our communities and start the porn conversation here in New Zealand. We’re still researching and learning, so this website is a work-in-progress – but we thought it was time to start talking.” Click here to explore the Light Project resources.

Updated Reporting Timeline

We have adjusted the reporting timeline to accommodate the changes made to the junior reports at the end of Term 2. Year 7 – 10 students will receive an interim report in Week 8 and this will be followed by Junior Learning Conversations which will be held in Week 10. We are aware that it is not always possible for parents to attend these due to travelling distance and the timing of Learning Conversations so we are investigating the possible use of technology to assist with this.

Assessment Guidelines

With a number of classes completing assignments students sometimes find it hard to know the guidelines for the authenticity of their work and I thought it would be good to share with parents the general rules around plagiarism that we follow.


Plagiarism is the act of representing the work — words, thoughts, ideas, research, art — of other people as your own. ANY time you incorporate information into your project, assessment or research report that is NOT your own idea, thoughts, or research, you need to indicate, with in-text citations and a formal bibliography, where you found that information.

There are only a few instances in which you probably do not need to cite your sources.  You do not need to cite your sources if you are writing your own words, ideas, or original research.  You also do not need to cite information that is considered common knowledge, such as:

·       facts that are found in many sources (example: Marie Antoinette was guillotined in  1793.)
·       things that are easily observed (example: Many people talk on cell phones while driving.)
·       common sayings (example: Every man has his price.)

If you ever have ANY questions, be on the safe side and ask your teacher.

Health Consultation 2019

Thank you to those who completed the 2019 health consultation survey, we greatly appreciate your feedback.
All parents and caregivers are now invited to attend an open discussion on the evening of Monday 16th September, 6.30 pm – 7.30pm where we will have the opportunity to further discuss the makeup of our health programme.
If you would like to attend, please RSVP to admin@shcs.school.nz by Wednesday 11 September.

Hannah Coutts
Teacher of Physical Education and Health

Activities this week

Planting for the future
Our Enviro group took the opportunity to contribute to the future of both the school and environment by planting around the new Performing and Visual Arts building today. Phase Two of planting will follow in the near future as we prepare for the opening of our new facilities later this term.

Achievements

Otago Daily Times Class Act

Tamara Mason and Olivia Hall are our Class Act recipients for 2019. On Thursday 5th September the recipients, parents and school principals attended the ceremony where the Prime Minister presented the awards

Tournament of Minds
Last Saturday the St Hilda’s Tournament of Minds team competed against a number of Dunedin and Christchurch teams in the Tournament of Minds competition.  St Hilda’s competed strongly and came away with a win in the secondary section.

The team of 7 was made up of Ameliè Warlow, Sophia Le, Eliabel Legrand, Imogen Irvine, Anna Fulton, Charlotte Cardno and Holly Hessen.  

The team had to compete in two sections.  The first section was the Long Term Challenge and the second section was the Spontaneous Challenge.  The Long Term Challenge is where the team has six weeks to solve an open-ended and demanding challenge.  They have to be creative and take risks and experiment with different ideas and solutions. They also have to demonstrate strong teamwork skills to work together to solve the Challenge.  This solution is then performed on competition day.

The team has to also compete a Spontaneous Challenge.  This involves being given a situation and having six minutes to work together to come up with creative responses.  The judges look for how well the teamwork together as a team, the thinking skills and processes used, and the creativity of ideas.

For the Long Term Challenge, the team had to rewrite the Wizard of Oz as if it was set in the South Island.  They had to consider things such as where the Yellow Brick Road would start and end and who their characters would be.  They had to choose hurdles for their characters and how they would overcome them. They also had to choose an overarching concept such as resilience and determination.  As well as writing their own script the team had to include at least two creative backdrops showing the story, design and make detailed costumes and props and compose at least two original songs that were relevant to the story.  

A massive undertaking and a well-deserved result for this team of students.

Winners for the Arts division of T.O.M 2019 – From the back left, Amélie Warlow (Y9), Imogen Irvine (Y9), Charlotte Cardno (Y7) Sophia Le (Y9), Eliabel Legrand (Y9), Anna Fulton (Y8) & Holly Hesson (Y8)

 

Winter Tournament
Our rugby girls had three wins today. Great attitude by the girls in cold and wet conditions
Our Senior A netball team played Christchurch Girls in the final. A close game that saw Chch take the win 29-27! A fantastic result for the girls and will now head back to Nelson in a month for Nationals
Our Hockey girls are playing today for 3rd place.
Rugby

The following girls have been named in the Otago U18 Rugby team, Ella Fry, Georgie Jessop, Anna Harcus, Grace Beattie, Libby Drummond, Danielle Ferguson, Zoe Whyte.

Mia Urquhart has also been named in the South Island Maori U17 team.
Analee Toro has had more great results placing 3rd Points Score at Wanaka Gun Club Collegiate Shoot and 1st Single Rise at Alexandra Clay Target Club Collegiate Shoot.
Congratulations Analee.

Tolcarne News

The hostel students and staff have enjoyed a long weekend at home thanks to the teacher only day on Monday.  These mid term breaks are a time for everyone to catch up on sleep, enjoy some slow time and re-energise for the remainder of Term 3 which is always busy, especially for our seniors who embark on Benchmark exams next week.
We have had a quieter week in the hostel this week with many girls away at tournament week and it is pleasing to see how well they are going.
This week our second round of Flexi Prep begins on Thursday night with the girls learning new skills – cooking, hat knitting, bees wax wrap making, Digi Imovie, Acroyoga and music jamming.

 

CAREERS

Transition Expo Day Event – Discover opportunities for life after school. Click here for further details.

Transition Expo Evening Forum – Click here for further details

MoneyHub, a guide to scholarships
As many of our Year 13 students begin their applications for tertiary study and look for ways to fund their future studies – MoneyHub, a consumer finance website, has published a guide to hundreds of scholarships for any student planning to start university in 2020.

Volunteers Required – PFA

Parents and senior students over 16 years of age.
The PFA has been given an opportunity to fundraise at this year’s Fleetwood Mac concert on September 21 at Forsyth Barr Stadium.
This involves working in one of the hospitality areas for approximately 8 hours and attending a 90min induction meeting in the week prior to the concert,
The PFA raises funds for the school community for the benefit of all students.

It’s actually a lot of fun and if you are interested in receiving more information please contact Ali Copeman on pfa@shcs.school.nz

Weekly News Term 3|Week 6

Weekly News
Dear Parents and Caregivers,
Art Auction Gala
What a night! Huge thanks to all who came and supported this event. The Chapel was transformed and 170 guests enjoyed a lovely evening.
There are a lot of people to thank with an event of this nature – thank you to our Premier Sponsors, Fresh Choice Roslyn, for providing the beverages for this event – your generosity means that we raise more funds for St Hilda’s, which is a great result for our school. A big thank-you to Old Girls Lara Liew, our inspiring and entertaining guest speaker, and Sophie Morris, our top-class performer, for travelling to be part of this night – great to have you both back at St Hilda’s for this event celebrating the arts.
A huge thanks to Ali Copeman and the PFA for their assistance with running the show (they never stopped all night), and to ‘young’ Old Girls Paris Sinclair, Anna Dixon and Katie Jones for all their help (washing all the dishes, cutlery and glasses for 170 guests in one tiny canteen sink is no mean feat)!
Our fabulous auctioneers, Noel Jenkins and Mark Miller, from Edinburgh Realty, deserve a huge thank-you for running the art auction so smoothly – with 24 artworks up for auction this was no easy task, but we sold almost all of the works which is a fantastic result. Thanks to Michelle Chalklin-Sinclair from The Artist’s Room and Richelle Byers from Gallery De Novo for assisting with the artists and displays, and James Sutherland, our HOD Art, for hanging the works so beautifully.
To our sponsors: Mitchell Daysh, Gallaway Cook Allan, Race Douglas Burke, Mosgiel New World, Marsh’s Honey, Dwelling Architectural Design, Otago Painting Solutions, Nanking Palace Restaurant, Mercy Healthcare and Anderson Lloyd – we thank you for your generosity and support.
Thanks to all of our silent auction donors too – your wonderful prizes were hotly contested!
Overall we have raised approximately $34,000 from this event – a great result.
Amanda Burke

St Hilda’s Careers Evening

It was fantastic to see so many attend the careers’ evening. The guest speaker – Annabel Blaikie – gave us an interesting overview of what employers are looking for. The panels gave a range of perspectives and insights into the different vocational areas. Many thanks to the panelists for generously giving of their time and sharing their career journeys.

Reminder – injury or illness

Just a reminder to parents to please inform the school if injury or illness prevents your daughter from taking part in her timetabled classes. We expect that any removal from class or class activities will pre-empt the removal of the student from co-curricular activities for the same reasons. It is frustrating when students prioritise co-curricular activities and commitments ahead of their academic programme and class expectations, thus signalling, possibly unintentionally, that their classwork is not of the same value. Staff put a lot of time and effort into preparing work and class programmes and have the right to expect the same commitment from their students.

Thank you for your support of your daughter’s learning.

Return of all 2018 Sporting and Prize Giving Cups and Trophies 

In preparation for the 2019 Awards and Prize Giving evenings, we urgently require the return of all cups and trophies presented in 2018 before the end of Term 3.
Thank you for your prompt attention to this.  These may be left at the school’s main reception area.

Year 11 – 13 Subject Selection

A reminder that subject choices for 2020 are due by 2 September 2019.
Please find below links to resources you and your daughter may find helpful in the decision making process.

St Hilda’s Collegiate 2020 Senior Academic Programme (also linked at the bottom of the student homepage)

Check out the information in the ‘Need to Know’ section as well as subject specific pages.
https://sites.google.com/shcs.school.nz/st-hildas-collegiate-senior-ac/home

Understanding NCEA
https://www.nzqa.govt.nz/assets/About-us/Publications/Brochures/A-Guide-to-NCEA-ENGLISH-March-2018.pdf

Careers Online Resources (also linked at the bottom of the student homepage
https://sites.google.com/shcs.school.nz/careersonline/home

Career Central (also linked at the bottom of the student homepage)

Good luck to our winter sports teams who are competing in finals this weekend and to our Rugby team who are facing Christchurch Girls’ High School for a chance to advance to the National top four schools’ competition.

Blazers

We are modifying the material of our blazers from the current fabric which is 90% wool 10% nylon, to a more robust, harder wearing mix of 55% wool and 45% polyester. We have taken this opportunity to also update the styling of the blazer.
We recognise that there will need to be a transition period while we phase the current blazers out and the new blazers in. If your daughter has one of our current blazers she will be able to continue wearing it until she either finishes St Hilda’s or needs it replaced due to growth or wear and tear.
H and J Smith will be supplying our new blazers and these will be in store early January 2020 ready for the new school year.

Staff Only Day – reminder

You should have received an email reminding you of our Teacher only day this Monday 2nd September. As a staff, we have been looking at how we plan our programmes to best meet the needs of all students.  Departments will be focussing on specific strategies for this on Monday 2nd September.

Arts Building Opening

We hope you have received your email invitation to the opening of our new Arts building at 2.00pm on 27th September and we thank those of you who have already RSVP’d.
We would be grateful if you could RSVP to principal@shcs.school.nz by Monday 23rd September.

St Hilda’s Blues

A Blue at St Hilda’s Collegiate School is awarded in recognition of students who have shown excellence and/or outstanding achievement in the cultural, sporting, academic or service arena’s at St Hilda’s Collegiate School.

The Blues evening will be held on Friday 18 October 2019. Awards presentation commences at 7:00pm.

The application forms for students to apply for Cultural, Service, Academic and Sport Blues are now available. Forms can be accessed via the student homepage: Blues Application Forms or via the Parent Portal : Blues Application Forms and Criteria.  Applications must be made by the student using their St Hilda’s email.

Applications close at 5.00pm on Friday 13 September. Some dance genres have competitions and examinations later so we ask that students put in an initial application before the deadline, noting that results are pending. The site will reopen on 20 September until 23 September for updates to these applications.

Successful applicants will receive notification at the end of September.

Junior Academic Programme

The Junior Academic Programme for 2020 has been released online this week. Links to view this are on both the Parent Portal and the Student Homepage. This site provides an overview of the subjects studied from Year 7 through to Year 10. At Year 10, students undertake two optional subjects of their choice alongside their compulsory subjects.

The Junior Academic Programme can also be viewed here: https://sites.google.com/shcs.school.nz/2020-junior-academic-programme/home

Guidance

The lead up to examinations can see an increase in stress and anxiety for senior students. Click here for some practical ways in which parents can help their teenagers study for exams.

Updated Reporting Timeline

We have adjusted the reporting timeline to accommodate the changes made to the junior reports at the end of Term 2. Year 7 – 10 students will receive an interim report in Week 8 and this will be followed by Junior Learning Conversations which will be held in Week 10. We are aware that it is not always possible for parents to attend these due to travelling distance and the timing of Learning Conversations so we are investigating the possible use of technology to assist with this.

Benchmark Examinations

Benchmark Examinations will be held in Week 8 / 9 – 12th September – 18th September. These will be held under NZQA conditions. Further details about these have been emailed home.

Assessment Guidelines

With a number of classes completing assignments students sometimes find it hard to know the guidelines for the authenticity of their work and I thought it would be good to share with parents the general rules around plagiarism that we follow.


Plagiarism is the act of representing the work — words, thoughts, ideas, research, art — of other people as your own. ANY time you incorporate information into your project, assessment or research report that is NOT your own idea, thoughts, or research, you need to indicate, with in-text citations and a formal bibliography, where you found that information.

There are only a few instances in which you probably do not need to cite your sources.  You do not need to cite your sources if you are writing your own words, ideas, or original research.  You also do not need to cite information that is considered common knowledge, such as:

·       facts that are found in many sources (example: Marie Antoinette was guillotined in  1793.)
·       things that are easily observed (example: Many people talk on cell phones while driving.)
·       common sayings (example: Every man has his price.)

If you ever have ANY questions, be on the safe side and ask your teacher.

Activities this week –

Last Wednesday afternoon, Sings Hilda invited choirs attending the Big Sing Finale to an afternoon tea and concert held here at St Hilda’s Chapel. Euphony from Kristin School, and Saints Alive from St Cuthbert’s College gave performances of some of their repertoire alongside a performance from Sings Hilda.

All choirs joined together for a massed item, a choral arrangement of Ka Waiata ki a Maria.

This was a wonderful chance to meet and mingle with other choirs and to support each other’s performances. Best of luck to Euphony and Saints Alive for the Big Sing Finale performances.

 

Achievements

Celebrate Design Awards
On Friday the 23rd of August the Otago Polytechnic Celebrate Design Awards were held.
St Hilda’s had 7 entries entered in the Textiles section.

Summer Phillips had a successful evening gaining Highly Commended Award.

 

Bandquest
Last Friday St Hilda’s was represented by 2 bands at the Bandquest competition held at the Taieri College Performing Arts Centre. The Bandquest competition provides a platform for Year 7 and 8 students to perform music in a supportive and encouraging competition format.

We had 11 students enter across Year 7 and 8 in 2 bands called Blue Flame and Sparrows. Blue Flame consists of Chelsea Sinclair (voice), Tia Mawhinney (voice), Sofia Johnston (guitar), Lashaan Ashton (keyboard), Chloe Woodhouse (bass), and Ella Hucklebridge (drums). They performed “Jolene” by Dolly Parton, and “Nothing Breaks Like a Heart” by Miley Cyrus.

Sparrows consists of Emily Wright (voice), Amelia Leaper (voice), Kyla Ashton (guitar), Katie Moore (keyboard), and Izzy Taylor (drums). They performed “Without You” by Marcus & Martinus, and “It’s Time” by Imagine Dragons.


Sparrows

Blue Flame

Congratulations to Sofia Johnston who won the “Killer Guitarist” award for displaying the best guitar skills amongst all 15 bands.

Both bands performed at a high level and have been going from strength to strength in their confidence on stage. They should be very proud of themselves and it is clear, that these students have a lot of potential for the coming years.

Cross Country
This afternoon, Katie Moore (Year 8) represented St Hilda’s at the Otago Primary Schools’ Cross Country Championships, held on the Kaikorai Valley College sports grounds.  Katie was very pleased with her 2.4km run, in a strong field of athletes.

Dunedin Performing Arts and Competitions Society/Newszats Aparima Solo Singing Awards
Congratulations to Sarah Lee who got a 2nd in the Dunedin Performing Arts and  Competitions Society instrumental competition last weekend.
Sarah also got 3rd place in the Newzats Aparima solo singing award held by The Otago branch of NEWZATS(NZ Association of Teachers of Singing).
Here’s the newspaper about the singing competition:
It was Sarah’s first-time to enter these two competitions, and she was really surprised and satisfied with what she achieved.


GrowingNZ Technology Innovation Challenge
This week, twelve Year 10 students were part of the ‘The GrowingNZ Technology Innovation Challenge’. The aim of this challenge is to promote cross-curricular, project-based learning and help students to see potential career opportunities within the primary industries sector. 

The students were challenged to apply their science, technology, and business knowledge along with teamwork and problem-solving skills to develop a prototype solution to a real-world problem being faced by industries across New Zealand. The students were mentored on the day by industry experts representing GrowingNZ, DairyNZ, Beef + Lamb NZ, NZ Wool and Young Enterprise. 

St Hilda’s students were rewarded for their teamwork and the creative concepts developed as part of the challenge, with the following students winning awards:

Best Teamwork: Anna Hutchens, Molly Whitaker, Cassandra Martin, Courtney Lloyd
Best Concept: Kate McEwan, Lily Knox, Hannah Hardiman, Ella Hodgson

https://www.odt.co.nz/business/local-business/primary-sector-challenges-put-pupils

Julie McMahon and Judith Turner

Stars on Stage
The Regent Theatre was buzzing with youthful energy on Monday night as St Hilda’s Year 7 and 8 students took to the stage for Stars on Stage.

The Year 10 Performing Arts class auditioned, choreographed, scripted and produced an item called ‘Steal the show’ which revealed how cheating is not the way to win. Watching from the audience, Year 10 students were so proud of how their younger peers danced brilliantly and told the story with flair.
Year 7 and 8 students would like to say a big ‘thank you’ to the Year 10 Performing Arts students for enabling them to have such a great experience stage being a star!

 


Hip Hop


Line Dancers


Drama Group


Ballet/Contemporary

Upcoming Events

Tournament of Minds
Best of luck to our students who are competing in the Tournament of Minds in Christchurch this weekend. Tournament of Minds is a problem-solving programme for teams of students from both primary and secondary years. Tournament’s aim is to enhance the potential of our youth by developing diverse skills, enterprise, time management, and the discipline to work collaboratively within a challenging and competitive environment.

Winter Tournament
Good luck to all our students who are competing in the 2019 Winter Tournament this weekend and next week. You can follow our teams by clicking here.

Tolcarne News

The Tolcarne Social was a very successful night. Both the girls and the boys thoroughly enjoyed having a dance on a Thursday night. The theme was Old School and everyone looked the part!

On Sunday 25th August a group of Year 10 girls came out on the harbour with Port to Port Cruise and Wildlife Tours. It was a beautiful morning out on the harbour with the sun shining and the harbour calm. We saw a seal lazing in the sun and a few different birds, it was a nice relaxing morning.

CAREERS

Transition Expo Day Event – Discover opportunities for life after school. Click here for further details.

Transition Expo Evening Forum – Click here for further details

MoneyHub, a guide to scholarships
As many of our Year 13 students begin their applications for tertiary study and look for ways to fund their future studies – MoneyHub, a consumer finance website, has published a guide to hundreds of scholarships for any student planning to start university in 2020.

Volunteers Required – PFA

Parents and senior students over 16 years of age.
The PFA has been given an opportunity to fundraise at this year’s Fleetwood Mac concert on September 21 at Forsyth Barr Stadium.
This involves working in one of the hospitality areas for approximately 8 hours and attending a 90min induction meeting in the week prior to the concert,
The PFA raises funds for the school community for the benefit of all students.

It’s actually a lot of fun and if you are interested in receiving more information please contact Ali Copeman on pfa@shcs.school.nz

Weekly News – Term 3|Week 5

Weekly News
Dear Parents and Caregivers,

Art Auction Gala

A couple of tickets have become available for the Art Auction on Saturday 24th August if you are interested, please contact Amanda Burke.

We have a catalogue of 25+ works by sought-after artists up for auction. Click here to view the catalogue.

Upcoming Events

St Hilda’s Careers Evening

We look forward to seeing you on Tuesday night for our Careers Evening. It will be a great opportunity to explore a number of different career pathways. 6:30pm start in the Chapel.

Year 11 – 13 Subject Selection
A reminder that subject choices for 2020 are due by 2 September 2019. While this date may feel some time away it can take time to explore the resources available.
Please find below links to resources you and your daughter may find helpful in the decision making process.

St Hilda’s Collegiate 2020 Senior Academic Programme (also linked at the bottom of the student homepage)

Check out the information in the ‘Need to Know’ section as well as subject specific pages.
https://sites.google.com/shcs.school.nz/st-hildas-collegiate-senior-ac/home

Understanding NCEA
https://www.nzqa.govt.nz/assets/About-us/Publications/Brochures/A-Guide-to-NCEA-ENGLISH-March-2018.pdf

Careers Online Resources (also linked at the bottom of the student homepage
https://sites.google.com/shcs.school.nz/careersonline/home

Career Central (also linked at the bottom of the student homepage)

Careers Evening on Tuesday 27 August will start at 6:30 pm in the Chapel

Feeling musically inclined this month?
  • Friday 23rd August – Bandquest. Taieri College Performing Arts Centre. 6:30pm. $10 (kids under 6 free). Good luck to our two bands who are competing.
The Year 7 and 8 students, with the direction of the Year 10 Performing Arts class, have been very busy this week putting the finishing touches on their Stars on Stage performance for Monday night – 26 August.
Good luck to our winter sports teams who are competing in finals this weekend and to our Rugby team who are facing Christchurch Girls’ high School for a chance to advance to the National top four schools’ competition.

Staff Only Day

Teacher only day – Monday 2nd September

As a staff we have been looking how we plan our programmes to best meet the needs of all students.  Departments will be focussing on specific strategies for this on Monday 2nd September.

St Hilda’s Blues

A Blue at St Hilda’s Collegiate School is awarded in recognition of students who have shown excellence and/or outstanding achievement in the cultural, sporting, academic or service arena’s at St Hilda’s Collegiate School.

The Blues evening will be held on Friday 18 October 2019. Awards presentation commences at 7:00pm.

The application forms for students to apply for Cultural, Service, Academic and Sport Blues are now available. Forms can be accessed via the student homepage: Blues Application Forms or via the Parent portal : Blues Application Forms and Criteria.  Applications must be made by the student using their St Hilda’s email.
Applications close at 5.00pm on Friday 13 September. Some dance genres have competitions and examinations later so we ask that students put in an initial application before the deadline, noting that results are pending. The site will reopen on 20 September until 23 September for updates to these applications.

Successful applicants will receive notification at the end of September.

BOT Student Representative

This is a chance to make a difference by standing to be the student representative on the Board of Trustees. Meg Anderson, our current student representative, outlined the role for students at assembly  – nominations close on Friday 13 September.

Guidance

Tuesday evening was a very informative and valuable insight into the methodology of Restorative Practice. Thank you to all the parents and caregivers who attended this seminar.

Updated Reporting Timeline

We have adjusted the reporting timeline to accommodate the changes made to the junior reports at the end of Term 2. Year 7 – 10 students will receive an interim report in Week 8 and this will be followed by Junior Learning Conversations which will be held in Week 10. We are aware that it is not always possible for parents to attend these due to travelling distance and the timing of Learning Conversations so we are investigating the possible use of technology to assist with this.

Benchmark Examinations

Benchmark Examinations will be held in Week 8 / 9 – 12th September – 18th September. These will be held under NZQA conditions. Further details about these will be emailed home.

Assessment Guidelines

With a number of classes completing assignments students sometimes find it hard to know the guidelines for authenticity of their work and I thought it would be good to share with parents the general rules around plagiarism that we follow.


Plagiarism is the act of representing the work — words, thoughts, ideas, research, art — of other people as your own. ANY time you incorporate information into your project, assessment or research report that is NOT your own idea, thoughts, or research, you need to indicate, with in-text citations and a formal bibliography, where you found that information.

There are only a few instances in which you probably do not need to cite your sources.  You do not need to cite your sources if you are writing your own words, ideas, or original research.  You also do not need to cite information that is considered common knowledge, such as:

·       facts that are found in many sources (example: Marie Antoinette was guillotined in  1793.)
·       things that are easily observed (example: Many people talk on cell phones while driving.)
·       common sayings (example: Every man has his price.)

If you ever have ANY questions, be on the safe side and ask your teacher.

Canteen

The canteen will no longer be offering an IOU facility as there are a number payments outstanding which will need to be paid next week.

Activities this week –

Inter-Schools’ Junior Classical Association Quiz Night 
St Hilda’s entered this competition this year – for the first time in nine years! We had two teams and competed against twenty other teams from various Intermediate and High schools around Dunedin. The students had lots of fun and enjoyed the jellybeans and coming up with quirky team names! “Psyched Out” and “The Sirens” will sure to be back next year after such a fun time!

L to R – Emily Dean, Stella Bowles, Rosa Smith, Katie Wilson, Amelie Warlow, Sophia Le, Eliabel Legrand, Ruby Goodchild

 

International Outdoor Education trip to Longbeach

Fun and Marshmallows on Longbeach!

Datacom PS
On Tuesday 13 August, the Datacom PS Digital team hosted 14 Year 11 Digital technology students from St Hilda’s Collegiate School in Dunedin at the Wellington Exploratory.

This is the second year that the Digital team have hosted St Hildas and the focus of this trip was HCI (Human-computer interaction) and usability which feeds into the girls external assessment late this year.

Our approach to the session was to spend some time outlining the services Datacom offer as well as showcasing some of the roles at Datacom, which then led into the exercise we had partially prepared with the school prior to their arrival.

We asked the students to review their school’s website from two different viewpoints; the business objectives and the user objectives (parent/student) and consider what was good with the site and what wasn’t. We asked for pain points and wish lists if they had an unlimited budget.

We wanted to showcase the processes we use (and the roles within the process) with a client to workshop the problems they face before considering a solution.

Our resident User Experience Web Designer Julian van der Krogt, took the girls through creating personas and developing the wireframes with the client. We wanted them to understand the reason why this is an important part of the process for understanding the client’s needs.

The girls spent some time creating some very colourful personas (some with very complex back stories) and developing their wireframes before working through potential solutions to the pain points they had previously suggested.

PS Digital team Product Owner (Amy Chadwick) and Project Manager (Rebecca Dixon) threw in some real-life issues that can hamper a project’s delivery and with the assistance of PS Digital Developer Jono Cooper, the girls put forth examples of how they could mitigate and manage the curveballs.

Nearing the conclusion of the session, the groups presented their personas, wireframes and solutions to the wider group impressing their Digital tech teacher Julie McMahon so much that the girls are now presenting their ideas to the school’s senior leadership team around a website revamp.

To finish the morning and to send the girls away on a real high; we demonstrated some of the other capabilities in the PS DIgital team with a VR experience.

Julie McMahon
HOD Technology

Achievements

Duathlon

Zara Geddes finished 1st in her U14 girls’ section at the recent Duathlon event.

Hockey
What an amazing night of finals hockey on Monday.  All our teams finished strongly and we had a large number of supporters down there cheering us on.

Congratulations to our First X1 who took out the final vs Columba. Full-time score saw a 2 all draw, so the game went to a shoot out.  We came out on top 4-3!
St Hilda’s Year 10 also took the win in their section vs Columba 3rd X1 2-0.

All our other teams also did well taking out 2nd/3rd  & 4th place overall.

Riley MacDonald has recently been selected to represent NZ in a mounted games team.  She will be competing in the upcoming Nations tournament to be held in Canterbury in October.

Netball

St Hilda’s Senior B took on Kavanagh Senior A to win their A1 final.  A good result for the team to then get promoted into the Premier C section next year. Our Senior As had a tough game against South Pacific Titans and finished in 4th position. A good result though in the highest grade in Dunedin Netball.  Good luck to all other teams in finals this weekend.

Otago Secondary Schools  Art Awards Exhibition.
Congratulations to Poppy Smith who is the Supreme Scholarship award winner with her stunning photograph titled ‘The Everyman’.

Sings Hilda
Last Thursday to Sunday, Sings Hilda were singing up a storm in Timaru as part of The Big Sing Cadenza competition. Cadenza is a new initiative of the choral federation to recognise the performances of quality choirs around the country who were just short of making the Big Sing Finale. This was a great opportunity for Sings Hilda to be part of celebrating choral music with other like-minded choirs.

There were workshops led by professional choral singers and a well-attended Gala Concert where each choir performed a song from their repertoire as well as three combined songs with all the choirs on stage performing at the same time.

We are very pleased that Sings Hilda came away with a Merit award. This is due to the choir members consistent effort and Mr Ben Madden’s expert choral directorship.

Swimming
Congratulations to the following swimmers who qualified for and competed in the South Island Swimming Championships amid stiff competition:  Anna Hutchens, Natalie Hutchens, Andie McGrouther, Meg McLaughlan, Laura Milne, Jess Scott and Molly Whittaker.
Special mention goes to:
Jess – 1st in 50m Fly, 2nd in 100m & 200m Fly, 3rd in 200 & 400IM.
Jess broke the South Island Champs and Otago record for the 17 years girls 100m Fly.
Natalie– 1st in 100m Back, finalist in 50 Free, 50 Fly, 100IM and 200m Back.
Meg– 2nd in 200m Breast, finalist in 100m Breast and 400IM.
Molly– finalist in 200m Breast.

Tolcarne News

On Friday we had games night at the Dunedin Bowls Stadium with JMC, we had a great turn out with 23 Year 9,10 and 12 students. They played in a mini tournament with darts, bowls, pool and mini golf they also got supper at the end of the night.

It was a great way to spend a Friday night.

Art Auction Gala

A couple of tickets have become available for the Art Auction on Saturday if you are interested, please contact Amanda Burke.

We have a catalogue of 25+ works by sought-after artists up for auction. Click here to view the catalogue.

Please contact aburke@shcs.school.nz for all enquiries – we need your help to make this event a huge success for St Hilda’s.

We are very grateful to all of our sponsors for supporting the upcoming Art Auction Gala on August 24th. Thank-you for sponsoring this event and ensuring our fundraiser is a success.

CAREERS

Transition Expo Day Event – Discover opportunities for life after school. Click here for further details.

Transition Expo Evening Forum – Click here for further details

Free seminar for parents
Parents and caregivers of secondary school students (Years 9-13) are invited to a free ‘Parents as Career Educators’ seminar on 28 August.

The seminar will provide parents with tips and advice to guide their teenagers through the various career and study options available to them in the modern world.

MoneyHub, a guide to scholarships
As many of our Year 13 students begin their applications for tertiary study and look for ways to fund their future studies – MoneyHub, a consumer finance website, has published a guide to hundreds of scholarships for any student planning to start university in 2020.

Volunteers Required – PFA

Parents and senior students over 16 years of age.
The PFA has been given an opportunity to fundraise at this year’s Fleetwood Mac concert on September 21 at Forsyth Barr Stadium.
This involves working in one of the hospitality areas for approximately 8 hours and attending a 90min induction meeting in the week prior to the concert,
The PFA raises funds for the school community for the benefit of all students.

It’s actually a lot of fun and if you are interested in receiving more information please contact Ali Copeman on pfa@shcs.school.nz

Weekly News Term 3|Week 4

Weekly News
Dear Parents and Caregivers,

Thursday evening saw the PFA Quiz night occur in the Chapel. 

With 20 tables of competitors, 9 rounds of questions and a logo challenge, the evening was hotly contested with the winning team being Simple Minds. The raffle boxes which were put together by each Whanaungatanga group were amazing. They covered a wide variety of themes and looked stunning. Thank you to all who donated or helped in putting them together. The raffle sold out very quickly. The first winning ticket holder chose the box from Whanaungatanga group 22. They will get a pizza lunch in recognition of being the first hamper chosen.

This event was a fundraiser for the school’s Sports and Cultural fund. The fund can be applied to by parents, to request support for travel costs when competing or representing their school in national or international endeavours in their sports or cultural field. One application per year – per child – can be made. The following link will take you to the Sports and Cultural fund application: Sports and Cultural Fund Application

Thank you to the PFA for organising such a fun evening in aid of such a good cause. 

Thank you from the PFA

Many thanks to all the teams who made last night’s PFA quiz such a fun night.
A big thank you to Mr Rosenberg for being such an exceptional quiz master.
To the skilled and creative Whānaungatanga groups, your hampers were exceptional – thank you.

Ali Copeman
PFA president

Guidance – reminder

The Parent seminar about Restorative Practice on Tuesday 20 August will take place at 6.30 pm in the Chapel.

We encourage you all to attend to learn more about Restorative Practice and what it will look like in action.

CAREERS

SAVE THE DATE – St Hilda’s Careers Evening

Year 11 – 13 Subject Selection
A reminder that subject choices for 2020 are due by 2 September 2019. While this date may feel some time away it can take time to explore the resources available.
Please find below links to resources you and your daughter may find helpful in the decision making process.

St Hilda’s Collegiate 2020 Senior Academic Programme (also linked at the bottom of the student homepage)

Check out the information in the ‘Need to Know’ section as well as subject specific pages.
https://sites.google.com/shcs.school.nz/st-hildas-collegiate-senior-ac/home

Understanding NCEA
https://www.nzqa.govt.nz/assets/About-us/Publications/Brochures/A-Guide-to-NCEA-ENGLISH-March-2018.pdf

Careers Online Resources (also linked at the bottom of the student homepage
https://sites.google.com/shcs.school.nz/careersonline/home

Career Central (also linked at the bottom of the student homepage)

Activities this week –

Year 11 Software Engineering Field Trip to Wellington
The Year 11 Digital Technologies students spent a day in Wellington this week learning about how apps and software are designed, developed and tested.  We were hosted by two of New Zealand’s largest tech companies, Datacom and Trade Me. The students had sessions with their development teams and were not only able to learn real-world skills but also able to see the large variety of diverse roles within software companies and the innovative working environments (including virtual reality and slides!). 

We also visited the offices of IT Professionals, which is New Zealand’s body for software and IT Professionals.  We had an interesting presentation from their Deputy Chief Executive of Operations about all the different career opportunities within the IT field and came home with some excellent goody bags provided by ITP.

 

Otago Secondary Schools Music Festival
This past Tuesday the Dunedin Town Hall was bustling with high school music students from all across Dunedin and the wider Otago area to come together for the annual Otago Secondary Schools Music Festival. St Hilda’s was represented by 40 instrumentalist and singers being part of the combined items. Their efforts during the day’s practice led to quality sounding music-making and a successful evening concert.

 

Elizabeth Eckford  ‘Little Rock Nine’ Presentation
Year 11 History students, along with hundreds of other History students from around Otago, attended a presentation by Elizabeth Eckford, one of the nine African American students who attended Central High in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957 and was subjected to racism, bullying, and prejudice.

Elizabeth became famous because of a photo taken at the time, of her being harassed and abused by white protestors, even though she was one of the nine African American students enrolled.

Elizabeth talked of her experiences at the time and how this has impacted on her life. Dr Eurydice Stanley, a former US army lieutenant-colonel, also talked about prejudices and harassment that still continues in the USA today.

This was valuable for the students, hearing first hand experiences from someone who was part of the fight for Black Civil Rights, a topic studied in Year 11 History.  Dr Stanley added a current perspective about civil rights in the USA.

By Will Counts, then photographer for the Arkansas Democrat newspaper – http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAPcounts.htm, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1298317

 

Creative Poetry with David Eggleton
All Year 9 had the opportunity to work with Dunedin poet, David Eggleton, on Monday afternoon.  This provided an insight into how to create and enjoy poetry. He shared a wide range of poetry, both his own and other well-known poets as he pulled apart the essence of what it is to write poetry.  

The students came away with a stronger sense of poetry as a musical form of writing to be shared aloud, and that the rhythm of a poem is like a heartbeat, without this the poem dies.  He emphasised that you read a poem with your eyes. A good poem makes you want to hear it again and again, like a good song.

With this in mind, each of the Year 9 Integrated Studies classes worked on their own poems thinking about the theme of the environment.

Here are some eco-poems completed so far:

One plastic bag floating along the ocean shore
One turtle’s life is on the line

Two straws drifting with the ripples in the shallows
Two salmon lives are in danger

Three metres of netting getting dragged along with the current
Three seals trapped slowly being strangled to death

Four bottle caps rolling with the wind across the sand
Four seagulls tummies full but still dying of hunger

Five… stop and think!
Five minutes is all it takes to sort and recycle your rubbish

Anya Clark

 

I can hear you softening the noise
Calming the commotion of the community
But

If I were deaf the tingle of my fingers and the numbness
In my toes would caution me of your presence

And I would feel your soft touch brushing
On my tongue spreading the taste of winter
If I were blind

The something bittersweet about your scent
Immersing me in memories

The steady nothingness I hear
The soothing silence knowing you are near

But if I should not hear smell or feel or see
You

You would still
Pepper me with ice
Caress me with your cold
Freeze me be

Rosa Smith

 

The sun streaming through your fingers,
Like sand running through an hourglass,
Leaving dappled golden patches dispersed on my skin.

Slowly your exterior begins to change,
Luscious green, golden yellow, fiery red,
Your own rainbow.

Finally, the wind elegantly passes by,
Shaking you and stripping away all you knew before leaving lifeless, brown corpses scattered along the ground at your feet.

Winter is here,
A chilling coat of frost covers your roots.
And with cold comes dark.

The unforgivable shadows creeping across the ground,
The creatures of the night surrounding you,
The unintelligible sounds are something of a dream,
Or something of a nightmare.

But piercing through the gloom comes the eery, pale light of our pearlescent friend,
Making shadows of the canopy in the now glistening snow.
Keeping you safe, like a nightlight, or a lighthouse,
Guiding you home.

Ameliè  Warlow

 

Year 7&8 Maths
This week, the Year 7&8 girls enjoyed the opportunity to put their recent Maths learning into practice.  In order to work out the quantities of ingredients for their chocolate chip muffin recipe, they had to use their knowledge of fractions and solve equations.  Batches of yummy chocolate chip muffins were the results of their new Maths skills.

Updated Reporting Timeline

We have adjusted the reporting timeline to accommodate the changes made to the junior reports at the end of Term 2. Year 7 – 10 students will receive an interim report in Week 8 and this will be followed by Junior Learning Conversations which will be held in Week 10. We are aware that it is not always possible for parents to attend these due to travelling distance and the timing of Learning Conversations so we are investigating the possible use of technology to assist with this.

Benchmark Examinations

Benchmark Examinations will be held in Week 8 / 9. These will be held under NZQA conditions. Further details about these will be emailed home.

Reminders

Uniform
Just a reminder that girls are required to have hair ties, scrunchies and ribbon that matches the uniform – Blue or St Hilda’s tartan.

Jewellery: Earrings should be studs in gold or silver and no more than two each ear, no rings and no bracelets.

We really appreciate your support with this.

Visiting School
For health and safety reasons all visitors/parents coming into school need to sign in at the main office.

Achievements

Rugby
On Monday, our First XV Rugby team headed to Invercargill to compete against Southland Girls.  Backed by a strong support crowd, our girls took the game out with an emphatic win 43-24.  This is a wonderful achievement and now the team head to Christchurch to compete in the Highlanders vs Crusaders, South Island Final.  If the girls get up in this match, then they will head into a NZ top four.

Special mention to Danielle Ferguson who scored 4 tries on Monday, what a game!

Clay Target
Analee Toro has had some more great results at her collegiate shoot in Balfour

1st, Single Barrel
1st, Single Rise
3rd, Point Score

Congratulations Analee!


Netball
Our Year 7&8 Future Fern netballers completed their season yesterday.  Our Year 8B team had a great win against Tahuna Intermediate to finish first.  This is the second year in a row for this team.  Our 7b had a tough final and finished runners up, but a great effort for their first year playing 7aside.  Well done to our other teams as well for playing wonderful netball all season.

8B

Tolcarne News

Tolcarne Year 9s tried out Acroyoga as part of the ‘Courage’ theme in Koru this week. They all embraced the challenge and experimented with different poses called interesting names: bird, high flying whale and cathedral.

Art Auction Gala

The Art Auction Gala is sold out and we have a catalogue of 25+ works by sought-after artists up for auction. Click here to view the catalogue.

Please contact aburke@shcs.school.nz for all enquiries – we need your help to make this event a huge success for St Hilda’s.

We are very grateful to all of our sponsors for supporting the upcoming Art Auction Gala on August 24th. Thank-you for sponsoring this event and ensuring our fundraiser is a success.

Upcoming Events

The Parent seminar about Restorative Practice on Tuesday 20 August will take place at 6.30 pm in the Chapel.

Careers Evening on Tuesday 27 August will start at 6:30 pm in the Chapel

Feeling musically inclined this month? Somehow found yourself in Timaru on a weekend? Here are music events you could attend in August with some incredibly dedicated students performing.
  • Saturday 17th August – Sings Hilda Cadenza Gala concert. Theatre Royal Timaru 7:00pm. $20 https://nmw.co.nz/book-now?view=event&itid=194
  • Friday 23rd August – Bandquest. Taieri College Performing Arts Centre. 6:30pm. $10 (kids under 6 free).

 

Exhibition
Come along and support our students who are exhibiting their work at the Otago Secondary Schools  Art Awards Exhibition.

Name of Student: Riley Miller (Year 12)
Title of artwork: The Mask
Medium: Acrylic on Paper

Name of Student: Maxi Dippie (Year 13)
Title of artwork: Cat With a Pearl Earring
Medium: Acrylic on Paper

Name of Student: Sophie Conner (Year 13)
Title of artwork: Going Home
Medium: Mixed Media

Name of Student: Ana Rathbone (Year 13)
Title of artwork: #doinitforthelikes
Medium: Acrylic on paper

Name of Student: Stephanie Post (Year 130
Title of artwork: Entschuldigen Sie, bitte
Medium: Watercolour on Paper

Name of Student: Poppy Smith (Year 13)
Title of artwork: The Everyman
Medium: Photograph

Name of Student: Anna Englebrecht (Year 12)
Title of artwork: Untitled
Medium: Photograph

Name of Student: Briar Grounds (Year 13)
Title of artwork: Science Classroom
Medium: Photograph

Name of Student: Eve Scott (Year 13)
Title of artwork: Untitled
Medium: Photograph

Name of Student: Sophie Conner (Year 13)
Title of artwork: Blue Light (Rakiura Studio Series)
Medium: Photograph

Name of Student: Milly Elworthy (Year 13)
Title of artwork: Untitled
Medium: Photograph

Name of Student: Georgia Broadley (Year 12)
Title of artwork: Otago Landscape
Medium: Acrylic on card

CAREERS

Transition Expo Day Event – Discover opportunities for life after school. Click here for further details.

Transition Expo Evening Forum – Click here for further details

Free seminar for parents
Parents and caregivers of secondary school students (Years 9-13) are invited to a free ‘Parents as Career Educators’ seminar on 28 August.

The seminar will provide parents with tips and advice to guide their teenagers through the various career and study options available to them in the modern world.

MoneyHub, a guide to scholarships
As many of our Year 13 students begin their applications for tertiary study and look for ways to fund their future studies – MoneyHub, a consumer finance website, has published a guide to hundreds of scholarships for any student planning to start university in 2020.

Volunteers Required – PFA

Parents and senior students over 16 years of age.
The PFA has been given an opportunity to fundraise at this year’s Fleetwood Mac concert on September 21 at Forsyth Barr Stadium.
This involves working in one of the hospitality areas for approximately 8 hours and attending a 90min induction meeting in the week prior to the concert,
The PFA raises funds for the school community for the benefit of all students.

It’s actually a lot of fun and if you are interested in receiving more information please contact Ali Copeman on pfa@shcs.school.nz

 

 

Weekly News Term 3|Week 3

Weekly News
Dear Parents and Caregivers,
The annual winter Quadrangular tournament, which was hosted by Craighead on Monday and Tuesday, was very successful, with some great competition, tight games and competitive debates. St Hilda’s was placed second overall which was a great result.
On Wednesday the new Creative Arts building was open for students and staff to walk through. It was a great chance to see what these new spaces look like. It was very exciting to see inside after watching the outside of the building take shape these past months. The building is going very well and we will keep you updated on progress.
The Year 11 winter dance is being held tonight and the upper quad and Whitby are looking great. I am sure the girls and their partners will have a lovely evening.

 

Snow Day and Late Start Procedures

With our first taste of winter this week it is a good time to give a reminder on Snow Day and Late Start Procedures.

In the case of a school closure or late start due to weather conditions the system is now coordinated for all 12 secondary schools.  It will be broadcast on Radio Dunedin 106.7FM, 95.4 FM, 1305AM and other Media Works stations by 7:00 am.

We will email parents by 7:00 am (whenever possible) and a notification will also be published on the Parent Portal and school Facebook page.

Should conditions in your area be different to those in the rest of the city you must make individual decisions based on what is safest for your family.

Once girls are at school we encourage you not to text them regarding school closures during the school day.  If these were to eventuate we would email parents immediately.

You can view the above information at any time by clicking on the Snow Day and Late Start Procedures page under the Informationalonal Links menu on the right.

Reminders

Uniform

Just a reminder that girls are required to have hair ties, scrunchies and ribbon that matches the uniform – Blue or St Hilda’s tartan.

Jewellery: Earrings should be studs in gold or silver and no more than two each ear, no rings and no bracelets.

We really appreciate your support with this.

Visiting School

For health and safety reasons all visitors / parents coming into school need to sign in at the main office.

PFA – Family Quiz Night

Remember to get your teams organised for this event and bring money for some fantastic raffle prizes.

Achievements

2019 Otago Regional Science and Technology Fair
A number of students completed projects for the 2019 Otago Science and Technology
fair. This was an opportunity to showcase their scientific thinking and an understanding
of the accepted scientific investigative process, as well as their creative and
communication skills.
The following girls did particularly well, gaining one or more prizes.
Lashaan Ashton – NZ Institute of Physics Award and Dodd-Wall Centre for Research – Excellence Award for Physics related project
Evie Rose Grace and Eliabel Legrand – University of Otago Department of Zoology Award
Phoebe Jaquiery  – NZ Institute of Chemistry Award and Australasian Corrosion Association Award
Amelia Leaper –  NZ Microbiology Society Mike Baxter prize and Dairy NZ Award
Maia Palmer  – NZ Baking Industry Trust Award
Emily Wright  – NZ Institute of Chemistry Award
Sienna Wright – University of Otago Department of Zoology Award

Hip Hop
The Town hall was booming with energy and teamwork as the NZCAF regionals took place on Friday the 2nd of August.

St Hilda’s Collegiate had four crews take the stage.
Sashay Away – coached by Libby Ward and Acrylic – coached by Ms Geary were place 2nd and 3rd respectively in the Senior Same Schools category.
Toxic – coached by Anna Harcus and Sophie Wispinski gained a lot of experience by competing in this category for the first time.
Area-09 coached by Stella Rathbone and Amelia Johnstone were placed 2nd in the Primary/Intermediate Same Schools section.

All of the crews, that gained a placing, will compete in the NZCAF Nationals held in Queenstown in September.

Aerobics
The NZCAF Otago Regional Aerobics competition was held on the weekend of 27 and 28 of July at the Kavanagh College Auditorium. St Hilda’s had 39 students participating over the weekend and we were incredibly proud of all of our students who performed. This event was the culmination of months of intense practice, strength and conditioning, and complex choreography.

St Hilda’s won the NZCAF Award for the highest scoring school as well as eight category titles, six second placings and three third placings. Special mention must be made of Maia Lamb, who was awarded the Artistic Excellence trophy across all participants, and Sofia Johnston, who was the recipient of the award for the Year 7 and 8 competitor with the most potential. Thank you to all of the parents, students and staff who attended over the weekend to cheer on our competitors, your support was greatly appreciated. Thank you also to the parents who kindly volunteered their time to carry out our duty on the Ticket Desk over the two days.

Thirty three of the St Hilda’s students qualified for the National NZCAF competition to be held in Queenstown, 21 and 22 September, and will now be continuing to refine their routines in the lead up to this event.  We look forward to seeing their skill, athleticism, and hard work on display on the national stage and wish them well with their preparations.

Quad
Badminton finished 2nd which is a great result.  Georgia Copeman received the Certificate of Contribution

Hockey finished 2nd also, they had a great tussle with Columba and St Margarets.  Teea Frances received Certificate of Contribution

Debating finished third with Emma Burnside as Certifciate of Contribution
Netball finished 1st!  Many close games and a draw against Columba , saw some great Netball being played. Millie Scully received Certificate of Contribution.
Overall a great two days of competitive sport and St Hildas coming Second Equal overall.

 

New Zealand Highland Dancing Nationals
Over the holiday, Olivia Buchanan-Letts danced in 10 dances in the New Zealand Under 18 age group, receiving places in all. With these results Olivia was awarded 4th place rating in New Zealand for the Under 18 age group. This is a great achievement as a 16 year old.

Olivia also travelled to Christchurch last weekend to audition for the New Zealand Highland Dance Company, and she has been offered a position in this very prestigious group of New Zealand Dancers. She will travel throughout New Zealand and overseas competing in events and displays such as the Edinburgh Tattoo.

Congratulations Olivia.

Olivia doing parallels in her Sean Triubhas

Irish Hornpipe   2nd presentation

Guidance – reminder

We will be having a Parent seminar about Restorative Practice on Tuesday 20 August, at a time to be advised, and invite you all to attend to learn more about Restorative Practice and what it will look like in action.

Katy Hutchison became a Restorative Justice advocate following the murder of her first husband. After ten years of sharing her story internationally to over five hundred schools and community groups, she views the education system as the structure with the most potential to affect positive social change. Katy sits on the Boards of Restorative Practices International & Glenlyon Norfolk School and volunteers for Leave Out Violence (LOVE). Click here to listen to her TED talk about using Restorative Practices to resolve conflict/build relationships.

CAREERS

SAVE THE DATE – St Hilda’s Careers Evening

Year 11 – 13 Subject Selection

A reminder that subject choices for 2020 are due by 2 September 2019. While this date may feel some time away it can take time to explore the resources available.

Please find below links to resources you and your daughter may find helpful in the decision making process.

St Hilda’s Collegiate 2020 Senior Academic Programme (also linked at the bottom of the student homepage)

Check out the information in the ‘Need to Know’ section as well as subject specific pages.

https://sites.google.com/shcs.school.nz/st-hildas-collegiate-senior-ac/home

Understanding NCEA

https://www.nzqa.govt.nz/assets/About-us/Publications/Brochures/A-Guide-to-NCEA-ENGLISH-March-2018.pdf

Careers Online Resources (also linked at the bottom of the student homepage

https://sites.google.com/shcs.school.nz/careersonline/home

Career Central (also linked at the bottom of the student homepage)

Free seminar for parents
Parents and caregivers of secondary school students (Years 9-13) are invited to a free ‘Parents as Career Educators’ seminar on 28 August.

The seminar will provide parents with tips and advice to guide their teenagers through the various career and study options available to them in the modern world. This free seminar will cover:

 The world of work: looking forward

  • How to make informed career decisions now and in the future
  • How parents can assist
  • Career development resource.

Presented by a career consultant from the University of Canterbury | Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha (UC), the seminar will assist parents to help their teens consider ALL their options, such as work, university, polytechnic, an apprenticeship, private providers or other possibilities. (This event is NOT about study options at UC.)

The seminar will be held from 7:00pm-8:30pm at Dunedin Community House, 301 Moray Place, Dunedin on Wednesday 28 August 2019. Register online at:www.canterbury.ac.nz/events

MoneyHub, a guide to scholarships
As many of our Year 13 students begin their applications for tertiary study and look for ways to fund their future studies – MoneyHub, a consumer finance website, has published a guide to hundreds of scholarships for any student planning to start university in 2020. The comprehensive list includes scholarships offered by every university as well as those specifically available to local students. A list of privately-funded, Maori, Pacific and International university scholarships completes the list. Applications close at various dates throughout the year. MoneyHub has also published a list of tips for scholarship success. For more details and to find suitable scholarships, visit the MoneyHub Scholarship page

Student Job Interview Guide and Tips
MoneyHub, a consumer finance website, has published a guide to job interview success, helping students to attend a job interview and have the confidence to shine! All job types are covered, and a list of template answers will help students put together their own replies. Getting a part-time or summer job is a lot easier with this guide. To access the guide, visit the MoneyHub Student Job Interview Tips page

Volunteers Required – PFA

Parents and senior students over 16 years of age.
The PFA has been given an opportunity to fundraise at this year’s Fleetwood Mac concert on September 21 at Forsyth Barr Stadium.
This involves working in one of the hospitality areas for approximately 8 hours and attending a 90min induction meeting in the week prior to the concert,
The PFA raises funds for the school community for the benefit of all students.

It’s actually a lot of fun and if you are interested in receiving more information please contact Ali Copeman on pfa@shcs.school.nz

Tolcarne News

On Wednesday night, Tolcarne had a dinner swap with Columba and Otago Boy’s boarding hostels. The Year 9 and 10’s stayed at Tolcarne while the Seniors went to OB’s and Columba. They enjoyed a game of tug-of-war, before sharing a yummy dinner and getting to know each other a little more.
This weekend our Year 9 students are giving a boxing class a go! We hope that all of our Tolcarne families from down south are keeping warm in this snowy weather!

Upcoming Events

The St Hilda’s Theatre Sports team (coached by Eve Scott), enjoyed a 3 hour workshop with Improsaurus tutors at Logan Park’s auditorium on Saturday the 3rd of August. Multiple schools untied for this fun occasion in preparation for the Theatre Sports Semi-finals which will be held at the Playhouse Theatre between 1-2.30pm on Saturday the 17th of August. We welcome audience support to this improvisation event.

Feeling musically inclined this month? Somehow found yourself in Timaru on a weekend? Here are music events you could attend in August with some incredibly dedicated students performing.
  • Tuesday 13th August – Secondary Schools Music Festival concert. Dunedin Town Hall 6:30pm. Koha entry
  • Saturday 17th August – Sings Hilda Cadenza Gala concert. Theatre Royal Timaru 7:00pm. $20 https://nmw.co.nz/book-now?view=event&itid=194
  • Friday 23rd August – Bandquest. Taieri College Performing Arts Centre. 6:30pm. $10 (kids under 6 free).

Art Auction Gala

The Art Auction Gala is sold out and we have a catalogue of 25+ works by sought-after artists up for auction. Click here to view the catalogue.

Please contact aburke@shcs.school.nz for all enquiries – we need your help to make this event a huge success for St Hilda’s.

We are very grateful to all of our sponsors for supporting the upcoming Art Auction Gala on August 24th. Thank-you for sponsoring this event and ensuring our fundraiser is a success.

Weekly News Term 3|Week 2

Weekly News
Dear Parents and Caregivers,

In assembly this week we looked at the impact of the event of 50 years ago this month when a man first walked on the moon. It was a momentous occasion and one that captured people’s imagination. How could people have got that far? It was an event to inspire joy and wonder.

I remember, being very little and listening to the coverage on the radio at primary school. I have a vivid memory of us all sitting in class, just up the road at Maori Hill Primary School, and being spellbound, amazed, that we could hear what they were saying and they were millions of miles away in space. It should be noted that for everyone on Earth, the first Moon landing was purely an audio experience. Controllers in control centre had the added benefit of telemetry from the spacecraft, but there was no live television of the landing. A 16-mm silent film camera mounted in the right hand (Aldrin’s) window recorded the event, but was not available for viewing until it was returned to Earth and developed.

For the moon landing to be successful 10,000 pieces of equipment had to work perfectly, and they did. The technology seemed unbelievable. Today there is more technology driving your phone than was used to get that rocket launched. An iPhone with 4GB of RAM packs more than 1 million times more memory than the Apollo computer. Comparing ROM, a 512GB iPhone is 7 million times more powerful than the guidance computer. Today’s iPhone could handle 120 million moon missions at once

When the Apollo 11 alarms went off 5 times saying something was wrong, they kept checking the data and making decisions during the expedition, because there was too much data for the computer to manage – which is not surprising. And yet it was still enough to get men to the moon.

It was a  positive news story that literally stopped the world. For a generation who had seen the end of WW2, the Korean war, witnessed the assassinations of the Kennedys and Martin Luther King  this was a really good news story.

Every nation had people tied to radios, holding their breath as the lunar module landed, then rejoined the spacecraft and then landed back on earth. A global population wishing them on, hoping for success. Some commentators have said, it was the last time the world was one.

When I think about it, what has since stopped the world like that? What has united us all in a common event? There have been plenty of instances when bad news has dominated.  When thinking about this, we often first think of tragedies; those of us who were alive can remember where we were when Princess Diana died, what we were doing when the planes hit the twin towers, being horrified at the Columbine High School shootings, fearing for family and friends during the CHCH earthquakes. It seems to be much harder to think of good news that has united the world. Perhaps royal weddings, Kate and William, Harry and Meghan or the amazing rescue of the Thai boys from the caves.

The moon landing was an amazing event. The chance that something could go wrong was high, it needed teamwork, self belief and people working together and trusting each other, under very stressful circumstances and it all came together.

Photos taken of the control room, show anxious faces, and men wearing the same white shirts and black ties except for one woman, Joann Morgan, who was the instrumentation controller for the NASA Apollo 11 Moon mission. She was the only female in attendance in the launch firing room for the Apollo 11 liftoff.  As a student some years before she had applied to be an engineer because the ad said ‘student’s not boys’, or she said she would not have had the courage to apply. She went on to have a 45 year career at NASA winning many awards, holding prestigious roles at the Kennedy Space Centre, and breaking the ceiling for the women who came after her. Morgan was a talented mathematician, a fantastic communicator and a bona fide engineer — but that didn’t stop prejudice, especially in the sixties. When she first started work, one of the guys in her team asked if she could make them coffee. No said her boss, she’s an engineer, and you don’t ask an engineer to make coffee

Morgan said; “I look at that picture of the firing room where I’m the only woman and I hope all the pictures now that show people working on the missions to the Moon and onto Mars, in rooms like Mission Control or Launch Control or wherever — that there will always be several women. I hope that photos like the ones I’m in don’t exist anymore.”

What she did was to pave a way for the women who came after her, just as Aldrin, Collins and Armstrong took a giant step that showed us all another world and that anything was possible.

Jackie Barron
Principal

Staffing

Due to changes in circumstances, we have had to make some staffing changes. We are very fortunate to have the capabilities within our staff to accommodate these changes while maintaining the high standard of curriculum delivery. Mrs Crawford who has been covering Year 7 Science, Year 10 English while Ms Corkery is on leave will finish at the end of this week for family reasons. Year 7 Science will be taken by Mr Rosenberg, Ms Julie van Rij will take the Year 10 English class. A timetable change will happen for Year 13 English whereby Mrs Almey and Ms van Rij will swap classes. As these two classes follow the same programme and these two experienced teachers work together closely this will not adversely affect the learning.
Good luck to the girls involved in the Hip Hop competition.
We have a number of girls travelling to Timaru for the winter Quadrangular competition which is being hosted by Craighead this year. I am sure there will be some great competition.

Achievements

Annika Marriner won the Most Promising Performer award as part of Musical Theatre Dunedin’s theatre restaurant show, “Future Stars”. Well done to Annika for this great achievement. Lily Hornal and Chloe Woodhouse were also part of this show and gave a great performance.

Hokonui Fashion Awards results
The Hokonui Fashion Design Awards were held in Gore on the 26/27th of July. This year we had students from Year 12 and 13 Textiles enter their garments in various sections.

The night was a positive one with Anna Harcus winning the runner up spot in the Streetwear section and Lucy Girvan also winning a runner up award in the Natural fibres section. Summer Phillips also received a Merit award in the Streetwear section.

 

ODT Class Act 2019
Congratulations to Tamara Mason and Olivia Hall who have been nominated as our two 2019 Class Act representatives.

The 2019 Class Act awards presentation ceremony is to be held on 5th September.

Tennis
Mya Haigh and Charlie Byers (Year 8) have been selected to compete in the 14 and under age group at the Kiwi Indoor Junior Champs in Christchurch. Entry is via NZ ranking and only 16 players compete. These two girls are awesome tennis players competing on a national stage. Congratulations!

Guidance

Five years ago the guidance and pastoral team met to discuss which initiatives would make the biggest difference to the wellbeing of our students. This is when Bun Bun La Hop, our Therapy Rabbit, entered the scene. He has been an important and real component of the guidance arena, making a significant difference to a number of girls. Sadly he retired at the start of this year, after many years of amazing work.

After considerable thought and research we decided to purchase another animal to continue and extend Bun Bun’s role and are very excited to introduce the newest member of our Guidance team, Mathilda. She is an 8 week old Golden Retriever puppy. There is a strongly credible body of research on the benefits of dogs to assist healing, wellbeing and belonging, and Golden Retrievers as a breed are highly regarded for companion and Guide dog roles.

Please see the articles linked below for further information about recent case studies and research around the use of Therapy Dogs.

What if schools hired dogs as Therapists? – https://brightthemag.com/can-a-dog-at-school-help-struggling-kids-7317a8eff20d

Animal Assisted Therapy in Counselling and School Settings – https://www.counseling.org/resources/library/eric%20digests/2001-05.pdf

Making Comfort Dogs an Everyday Part of School – https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/50580/making-comfort-dogs-an-everyday-part-of-school

Bringing a Dog to School – https://www.edutopia.org/article/bringing-dog-school

Therapy dogs can help reduce student stress, anxiety and improve school attendance – https://theconversation.com/therapy-dogs-can-help-reduce-student-stress-anxiety-and-improve-school-attendance-93073

We realise that there may be reasons why you may not want your daughter to interact with Mathilda, or to only have limited access to her on her lead. If this is the case please use the link below to share this information with us.

https://forms.gle/UReAEJmLQyyQsAv97

A school dog is a new situation for St Hilda’s, but it is not an unprecedented initiative in schools in NZ and overseas, and we believe the time is right to further enhance the support services we offer in our school. We are confident this will be a positive and constructive initiative that will support our students and staff, and continue to ensure we offer the best quality care for everyone in our school community.

Article about mindfulness featuring St Hilda’s.

It was very exciting to see St Hilda’s featured in the New Zealand Education Gazette in an article highlighting how schools, and in particular St Hilda’s, are using mindfulness. Below is the link.

https://gazette.education.govt.nz/articles/inclusive-cultures-and-pastoral-care-help-students-reach-full-potential/

Chapel Matters

As part of the 150th celebrations of the Anglican Diocese all the different churches and organisations of the Diocese have put together video montages of photos etc. to represent them in relation to being part of the Diocese. So for St Hilda’s, there is a historical one and also a more modern one.
Below is the link to view them (scroll down to the bottom of the page for St Hilda’s)

https://www.calledsouth.org.nz/organisations/

Thank you to our PFA

We want to thank our PFA for their kind donation of appliances for the student kitchen. This is much appreciated.

Ali Copeman – PFA President delivering the donation.

Holly Clarke and Tia Docherty also want to thank the PFA for their kind sponsorship towards the St Hilda’s Teen Ag, Young Farmer Of The Year Grand Final. Their sponsorship helped Holly and Tia with the purchase of their tops along with the embroidery of their names. Holly and Tia had a wonderful experience learning a lot of new techniques and meeting a lot of great people who support the farming industry. Although they did not place in the top 5 they still feel that they learnt a lot of extra skills from being in the competition.

 

Volunteers Required – PFA

Parents and senior students over 16 years of age.
The PFA has been given an opportunity to fundraise at this year’s Fleetwood Mac concert on September 21 at Forsyth Barr Stadium.
This involves working in one of the hospitality areas for approximately 8 hours and attending a 90min induction meeting in the week prior to the concert,
The PFA raises funds for the school community for the benefit of all students.

It’s actually a lot of fun and if you are interested in receiving more information please contact Ali Copeman on pfa@shcs.school.nz

Tolcarne News

This week at Tolcarne we started our Thursday Flexi prep, giving students the option of doing activities instead of prep. We have beeswax wrap making, hat knitting, fitness, yoga, GoPro movie making, music and cooking all on offer! Flexi prep is a great way for students to learn something new and different, and they had a great time!
Last weekend we had four groups of students give the Dunedin Escape rooms a go! They had heaps of fun! This weekend we have a silk class on offer.

Self Defence Project Information

Out and About

International students at Tunnel Beach

PFA – Family Quiz Night

Art Auction Gala

The Art Auction Gala is sold out and we have a catalogue of 25+ works by sought-after artists up for auction. Click here to view the catalogue.

Please contact aburke@shcs.school.nz for all enquiries – we need your help to make this event a huge success for St Hilda’s.

CAREERS

SAVE THE DATE – St Hilda’s Careers Evening

Free seminar for parents
Parents and caregivers of secondary school students (Years 9-13) are invited to a free ‘Parents as Career Educators’ seminar on 28 August.

The seminar will provide parents with tips and advice to guide their teenagers through the various career and study options available to them in the modern world. This free seminar will cover:

 The world of work: looking forward

  • How to make informed career decisions now and in the future
  • How parents can assist
  • Career development resource.

Presented by a career consultant from the University of Canterbury | Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha (UC), the seminar will assist parents to help their teens consider ALL their options, such as work, university, polytechnic, an apprenticeship, private providers or other possibilities. (This event is NOT about study options at UC.)

The seminar will be held from 7:00pm-8:30pm at Dunedin Community House, 301 Moray Place, Dunedin on Wednesday 28 August 2019. Register online at:www.canterbury.ac.nz/events

MoneyHub, a guide to scholarships
As many of our Year 13 students begin their applications for tertiary study and look for ways to fund their future studies – MoneyHub, a consumer finance website, has published a guide to hundreds of scholarships for any student planning to start university in 2020. The comprehensive list includes scholarships offered by every university as well as those specifically available to local students. A list of privately-funded, Maori, Pacific and International university scholarships completes the list. Applications close at various dates throughout the year. MoneyHub has also published a list of tips for scholarship success. For more details and to find suitable scholarships, visit the MoneyHub Scholarship page

Student Job Interview Guide and Tips
MoneyHub, a consumer finance website, has published a guide to job interview success, helping students to attend a job interview and have the confidence to shine! All job types are covered, and a list of template answers will help students put together their own replies. Getting a part-time or summer job is a lot easier with this guide. To access the guide, visit the MoneyHub Student Job Interview Tips page

Weekly News Term 3|Week 1

Weekly News
Dear Parents and Caregivers,
Welcome back to Term Three. I hope you and your daughters had a great holiday, and are feeling relaxed and refreshed for a term that always has lots of fun events, challenges, opportunities and the unexpected joys that make life so rich.
A number of students spent their holidays representing the school at various activities and I thank them for that. We also had girls away in Houston at the NASA Space Camp and we look forward to hearing more about their adventures soon.
The Interhouse day on Monday was a great way to start a new term and it was fantastic to see all our juniors really showing what teamwork, house spirit and hard word can look like – the tug of war competition was outstanding!
Last night at Open Evening, we got to open our school, our place, to others. Many of you will remember coming here with your daughters, looking around, getting a sense of who we are and what we offer. I hope that when you visited us you felt welcome, and that is certainly how I hope visitors felt last night.
All I asked of our students is for them to be honest and their best selves. It is really important that all those who came to visit saw what we stand for, what is important to us and that they got a sense of our strength, our community and our commitment to learning.
It is a privilege to be the Principal of St Hilda’s Collegiate and it was easy for me to stand in the Chapel last night and talk to a group visitors to our school, about how fantastic this school is, how amazing our staff are, and how fabulous our students are because I truly believe it. I love skiting about St HIlda’s- it is one of the favourite parts of my role!
I am proud of all our achievements, academic, cultural, sporting and service but I didn’t stand up and talk about all of these last night. All our visitors had information to take away where they could see our great NCEA results, the academic extension, the cultural opportunities, the sports that we offer and how well we do in regional, national and international competitions. What I chose to talk to them about were two things – heart and belonging.
I wanted them to know that we understand that having compassion, empathy and being able to work in a team are critical skills for leading a happy, productive and meaningful life and so we do lots here to help students build those skills. To have heart and compassion and an interest in others is key to a strong and healthy community.
The other concept that is important to us, that I really wanted our visitors to understand is central to everything we do – which is helping everyone to feel like they belong.

“True belonging is the spiritual practice of believing in and belonging to yourself so deeply that you can share your most authentic self with the world….True belonging doesn’t require you to change who you are; it requires you to be who you are”

Brene Brown University of Houston 2018

Thank you to our school community for their support of our open evening.

Jackie Barron
Principal

Staffing

We warmly welcome Rachael Parker, our new Head of Sport and Erin Wellington, Sports Coordinator who both started in their positions on Monday.

Extended Learning Time

Next week we have our final two extended learning days for this year where students have again had the chance to explore aspects of their learning for a longer period of time allowing for a chance to delve more deeply into current learning topics in different ways. We will use the feedback from students and staff to develop our next steps in this area.

Achievements

Athletics
Sarah Langbury was selected to represent NZ at the recent Pacific Games held in Samoa over the break, where approximately 4000 athletics from around the Pacific came to compete – many using this as an opportunity to qualify for the Olympics next year.
Sarah competed in the Women’s Hurdles where she ended up placing 4th, a very impressive result considering she was one of the youngest competitors in the field
For Sarah, this was a wonderful development opportunity to not only represent NZ, but also to experience being part of an athletic village with all the other athletes, and to complete in a Senior Open Event rather than in an age group category. However, this did require her to have to hurdle at a different height than she would normally be expected to do for her age.
Along with an intense training programme leading into the games, Sarah also collected 23 pairs of second hand running spikes to donate to the local athletics club.  These were gratefully received at a special ceremony organised by the hosting country during the competition which gained coverage on the Samoan news and radio stations
      
Basketball

Laura Ring, Ella Southby and Grace Keno were part of the Otago U15 Basketball team who placed 5th at the U15 Basketball National Championships. Congratulations to Laura was also named in the tournament team at the end of the tournament.

Curling
Our “Sweeping Beauties” curling team of Ruby Kinney, Danielle Bain, Charlotte Atkins-Hutton and Anna Clarke won silver at the NZ under 21 Curling Championships held in Naseby during the holidays.
Netball
Our 9A and 10A Netball teams attended Junior South Islands in Christchurch over the break. Our 10A’s finished strongly in 5th place in the Yr 10 section and the 9A’s won the South Island title in the Yr 9 section which was a great effort.
Trap Shooting
 Analee Toro competed at the South Island Secondary School Champs over the holidays.  She won her Ladies Single Barrel Division which is a great achievement from 110 competitors!
Upcoming events
At the beginning of this year, Rubie Cummings was selected for the NZ High School Rodeo Team.  Her role within this team is competing in Barrel Racing.
They competed against Australia over three Rodeos in February here in New Zealand and in August this year the team will be travelling to Queensland Australia to compete in three Rodeos over there. Good luck Rubie!
Town Belt Kaitiaki
The Town Belt Kaitiaki received a Very Highly Commended award from the Keep Dunedin Beautiful Society last term. Stephanie Post and her co-chair Ben went to the ceremony and were very pleased with the outcome and very proud of their team.
In other news, Stephanie Post was also recently awarded the Peer-to-Peer Award for June by the New York Academy of Science’s STEM U programme.

Guidance

You will have all received an email today outlining the rationale for the introduction of Restorative Practice at St Hilda’s. Click here to read more about why schools are implementing Restorative Practice to strengthen relationships and to encourage students to take responsibility for their behaviour.

PFA – Family Quiz Night

Art Auction Gala

The Art Auction Gala is sold out and we have a catalogue of 25+ works by sought-after artists up for auction. Click here to view the catalogue.

Please contact aburke@shcs.school.nz for all enquiries – we need your help to make this event a huge success for St Hilda’s.

CAREERS

CAREERS EVENING DATE FOR YOUR DIARY – Tuesday 27 August @ 6.30pm.
We have an exciting lineup of professions represented at this year’s Careers Evening. The evening will begin with a guest speaker who has extensive HR experience both abroad and here in Otago. After which the remainder of the evening will be structured for students and families to hear from a range of speakers grouped within industry panels, e.g. Health, Arts & Media, Community Law & Safety, Hospitality, Tourism & Adventure, Animal Care & Conservation. Each session will be approximately 20-30 minutes in duration, repeating after a short break to enable students to hear from two different pre-booked industry areas over the course of the evening. This year’s theme is the soft skills and attributes required within career pathways. Further details on the makeup of each panel will be advertised in the coming weeks.

Free seminar for parents
Parents and caregivers of secondary school students (Years 9-13) are invited to a free ‘Parents as Career Educators’ seminar on 28 August.

The seminar will provide parents with tips and advice to guide their teenagers through the various career and study options available to them in the modern world. This free seminar will cover:

 The world of work: looking forward

  • How to make informed career decisions now and in the future
  • How parents can assist
  • Career development resource.

Presented by a career consultant from the University of Canterbury | Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha (UC), the seminar will assist parents to help their teens consider ALL their options, such as work, university, polytechnic, an apprenticeship, private providers or other possibilities. (This event is NOT about study options at UC.)

The seminar will be held from 7:00pm-8:30pm at Dunedin Community House, 301 Moray Place, Dunedin on Wednesday 28 August 2019. Register online at: www.canterbury.ac.nz/events

MoneyHub, a guide to scholarships
As many of our Year 13 students begin their applications for tertiary study and look for ways to fund their future studies – MoneyHub, a consumer finance website, has published a guide to hundreds of scholarships for any student planning to start university in 2020. The comprehensive list includes scholarships offered by every university as well as those specifically available to local students. A list of privately-funded, Maori, Pacific and International university scholarships completes the list. Applications close at various dates throughout the year. MoneyHub has also published a list of tips for scholarship success. For more details and to find suitable scholarships, visit the MoneyHub Scholarship page

Weekly News Term 2|Week 10

Weekly News
 Dear Parents and Caregivers,

The memorial service for Glenn Smith that was held yesterday, was a fitting testament to a much loved teacher, mentor, colleague and friend. I was so proud of all the girls who attended for their recognition of the formality of the situation, their courage and their openness to celebrating and paying tribute to Mr Smith. I have included, below, my tribute given on behalf of the school.

Today was a day for coming together as a community and being grateful for life’s blessings. We had our Founders Day Eucharist service, where we recognised the history of the school and acknowledged the strength and foresight of Sisters Etheleen and Geraldine. Bishop Steven led us in worship and it was fitting that we finished the term giving thanks for our school and our community. The Prefects had organised a sausage sizzle, ice creams, chalk art and a dance competition for lunch time, and the raucous laughter and screams of delight coming from the chapel, amidst the beat of the dance music, told me that the girls were having fun and enjoying the moment. So important after a tough couple of weeks.

I hope you all have the chance for some relaxation, refreshment and reflection over the holiday break, and that you are blessed with the time to enjoy each other and your family activities.

Jackie Barron
Principal

Glenn Smith – Tribute

Glenn Smith was a man who cared deeply about the Arts, his students and the opportunities the Arts provided them.

He came to St Hilda’s in 2003, having previously taught at Kings High School and Ashburton College.

After leaving school Glenn graduated with a Degree from the Ilam School of Fine Arts and upon completing his teaching diploma, the following year, he accepted a position at the Kohitere Boys home in Levin before moving to another community based role as a member of the Christchurch Community Arts Council, and as a community Art worker.

These early experiences seemed to shape his concern for, and care of, those groups and people who needed extra help, were often misunderstood and who felt marginalized in the community. He saw the Arts as a way to develop peoples strengths, confidence and expression. He has continued to grow those skills in all his students.

Glenn had always had a special interest and strength in photography, and when he began teaching at Ashburton College, through to his time at St Hilda’s, he grew his reputation as one of the best, if not the best, photography teacher in NZ.

He had first been approached to be on national marking panels in 2002. He was a highly valued and respected member of NZQA Level 3 Photography and Scholarship panels, first as a panel member and then as check marker. His colleagues on the panels remember him as a great listener, open to others perspectives, always so positive about students work, and determined students should be rewarded for their practice. He was known for his leadership and willingness to work in a team, a warm and caring person who was a ‘huggie bear’ as Ruth Cameron, National Advisor described him.

Art and photography teachers that he has worked with talk about his generosity in sharing his experience, ideas, and time with others and he was always available as a sounding board. The work his students produced was leagues ahead of other level 3 portfolios according to Kirsty Grieve who led the Level 3 and Scholarship panel. Glenn’s students were technically advanced and exhibited a skill level that enabled them to really capture the essence of the medium, which was a real credit to his teaching, his expertise, his passion and his guidance.

At school here, Glenn was an integral part of the school community. Passionate about Art and Photography, he was always keen for discussions on music, movies, and creative events. He was involved in countless school productions, lending his expertise and also practical skills to set building and construction.

His commitment to the school rugby teams, often saw him on the sideline, supporting the girls, organising the team kit, and identifying future Black Ferns. He was the provider of a large amount of lollies at half time,  always had the coin for the toss, he had a warm smile for the injured and was a quiet motivator for the despondent.  He would try so hard not to get caught up in the hype, then jump in the air when the girls won.

He was an incredibly kind and thoughtful member of our staff. If someone needed a class covered, Glenn would be the first to put his hand up: assistance with a duty, Glenn would offer to help. He spent countless hours in the holidays and weekends, assisting girls with their portfolios. He was selfless and generous with his time, patient and thoughtful in his demeanor, and inspirational in his standards and expectations.

Glenn created a family culture in his classroom where everyone felt accepted, valued and acknowledged, regardless of their skill level. He had a real knack for making everyone feel special, and he was incredibly proud of all his students’ efforts. He saw ability in girls that they did not see in themselves and he was able to bring the best out of them – as artists, as photographers, as people.

A big man with an even bigger heart, we mourn his loss, and our thoughts are with you Tracey, Lily and Bernie, and your families, and all his friends.

Thank you for sharing Glenn with us, we have been so fortunate to walk a ways with him on his life journey.

A reminder that school will be closed tomorrow, Friday 5th July

Course Selection Evening Tonight

A warm invitation is extended to parents/caregivers of current Year 10 to Year 12 students for this year’s Course Selection Evening, being held @ 6:00pm tonight. 

The focus will be on sharing resources to assist families to make an informed course selection for 2020. This event will coincide with the online release of the 2020 Academic Programmes.

The evening will begin with a welcome in the Chapel followed by a brief outline of how NCEA works. Over the next hour you will have the opportunity to move through two workshops.

  • Workshop 1: Subject Selection, the process and exceptions – academic wellness within the St Hilda’s graduate profile. Navigating the online Academic Programme.
  • Workshop 2: Introduction to the new Parent Portal of Career Central – tools to help identify interests, skills and abilities for career pathway exploration.

The Kamar Parent Portal to enter your daughters 2020 subject choices will also open on this date (linked from the Course Selection page of the Academic Programme). Entries for Year 11-13 in 2020 are due no later than Monday 26 August 2019.

NOTE: Students are not expected to attend this event as the focus is on information for families.

Sharon Ritchie
Careers’ Advisor/STAR Gateway Co-ordinator

Staffing

Due to ongoing staffing requirements, and staff on long term leave we have had to make the following adjustments to our timetable for Term 3 & 4.

Mr Nigel St Louis will be coming in for Mrs Bartley’s Yr 10 and senior Science classes while she is on sabbatical leave for Term 3 and Term 4.

Mr St Louis will also take Ms Corkery’s Year 13 Biology class until she returns.

Mrs Bradfield will take Mrs Bartley’s 9H Science class and Ms Crawford will take year 7 Science, until Ms Corkery returns.

Thank you for your understanding

Day One Term 3

Reports/Learning Conversations/Junior Interhouse Challenge

Academic Progress reports for Year 11 – 13 will be emailed in the first week of the holidays. This report will contain feedback on learning and next steps.  It will also give you an overview of what has been covered in each subject.  Specific assessment information will not be included in the report but can be accessed through KAMAR.

Learning Conversations for senior students (Year 11 – 13) which will be held in Week 1 of Term 3 are a chance for you to meet with your daughter’s subject teachers to discuss how the year is going and put in place plans going forward.  This discussion is with the teacher, student and parent.

On Monday 22 July the students in Year 7 – 10 will be undertaking a special programme of interhouse challenges. These students are to come to school at the usual time in PE uniform.

These learning conversations will take place on Monday 22 July during the day (9:00 am – 3:30 pm) and  in the evening (6:00 pm – 8:30 pm)

We realise that it is not always possible for you to make this meeting but we encourage you to book a time for your daughter who should come by herself as this is a critical milestone in her learning for the year and she would find it very valuable to talk to teachers about her next steps.

Site:  https://www.schoolinterviews.co.nz/
Login: jpteu

Booking details will now be emailed to parents on Thursday 4th July and the site will open on Friday 5th July at 5:00pm and remain open until Friday 19 July.

Taonga Puoro

On Monday the Year 7s and 8s were treated to a visit by Sandra Crawshaw and Jen Cattermole from the Dunedin Symphony Orchestra and the University of Otago. Sandra talked about the piece From the Southern Marches, which is about Maori and Pakeha first contact. Jen demonstrated Taonga Puoro (Maori musical instruments) and gave the girls a chance to try play them for themselves.

Chapel Matters

This week we held a Memorial Service for Glenn Smith. I thought you might like to ponder on this prayer from the service.

 

Loving and holy God,
We thank you for Glenn –
the years we shared with him,
the good we saw in him,
for all those aspects of his life which meant so much to us,
As a friend, teacher, colleague, family member, and partner.

But words and images will never be enough.
We cannot sum Glenn up or do justice to the hugeness of this man.
So we simply say thank you for the opportunity to have been a part of his life, to have known his quirky, grouchy, witty, loving & unique touch in our lives.

Support us, God, all the day long of this troubled life,
until the shadows lengthen, and the evening comes,
the busy world is hushed, the fever of life is over, and our work is done.
Then, Lord, in your mercy, give us all safe lodging,
a holy rest, and peace at last.
Amen.

Achievements

Congratulations to the following girls who have been selected in Dunedin Netball Representative teams

U14A
Billie Crowe, Demi McAlwee, Ella Southby and Laura Ring

U14B team
Erin Willis, Grace Keno, Meg Pope, Renee Willis and Sophia Tutty

U15A team
Grace Southby, Bronte Crowe and Gemma Rowcroft

U15B team
Erin Hancock, Jaymee Meffan, Kaylee Bond, Pippa Clarke and Stella Rathbone

U17A team
Brooke Callon, Elora Peters and Annie Timu

U17B team
Sofie Bain, Olivia Buchnan-Letts, Lily Chamberlain, Savannah Cleland, Sara Harding, Chloe Light, Molly Marsh, Murphy Scott, Analee Toro and Danielle Willsman

U19B team
Phoebe Aburn, Millie Scully, Abbey Cochrane and Kendra Robinson

Congratulations to the following girls who have been selected in Otago Hockey Teams. We also wish the girls good luck who are heading away to tournament with Southern U18 and Development teams during the Holidays

Otago U15A
Ava Beens, Ella Booth, Billie Crowe, Anna Duncan, Ella Grayson, Bridget Malcolm, Demi McAlwee, Georgia Roy Hannah Lithgow, Annabelle McKnight 
Otago U15B
Chloe Deerness, Bronte Crowe, Hattie Kerr, Myah King, Anna McClean, Anika Smith 
Otago U13 Collier
Kyla Ashton 
Otago U13 Development
Amelia Brown, Charlotte Byers 
Upcoming Events

Good luck to Sarah Langsbury who is going to be away competing at the Pacific Games in Samoa during the upcoming school holidays, Sarah will be competing in the 100m and 300m Hurdles

Our Year 9A and 10A netball teams are off on Sunday for the Junior South Island Netball tournament.  We wish them all the best and a great time away.

Tolcarne News

At our last Tribe dinner for the term, we farewelled our final gappie, Hannah Engels. Hannah has been with us for a year and she has created some awesome relationships with the Juniors through the weekend activities and putting them to bed at night. We will miss having Hannah’s bright smile and cheerful disposition around the hostel. We wish her all the best for her future.
We wish all our Tolcarne students and family a relaxing holiday.

Sponsorship Opportunity

The Art Auction Gala is sold out and we have a catalogue of 25+ works by sought-after artists up for auction. As we are hoping to raise as much as we can from this event for the Building Heart Campaign, we wish to offer local businesses the opportunity to become a sponsor in exchange for promotion of your business in the art catalogue, advertising, in the social media promotions leading up to the event, and on the night. Thank-you to Roslyn Fresh Choice, Anderson Lloyd, Gallaway Cook Allan and Mosgiel New World for already coming on board as sponsors!

Please contact aburke@shcs.school.nz for all enquiries – we need your help to make this event a huge success for St Hilda’s.

NZBlood drive

A group of 24 eager Year 11-13 students lined up at the archway on Thursday 19th June to give blood at the NZBlood facility in Crawford Street as part of our annual blood donation.
This is around the 10th consecutive year that St Hilda’s senior students have given generously of themselves to help others less fortunate in society. Each donation assists the well being of at least 3 other people and off the 24 students who travelled down to the donation facility, 17 successfully gave blood this year.
We are delighted as a school to support this worthy cause and we would especially like to thank Mrs Lynn Rodeka from NZBlood for liaising with us and making this donor morning such a fun experience.
Neil Rosenberg
The Blood man

The Cancer Society Otago and Southland Division invites you to the inaugural Runway for Life Fashion Show.  This event is a collaboration between the Cancer Society, Otago Polytechnic and H&J Smith and many other businesses in Otago and Southland have offered their support.

We would love for you to come along and enjoy our fashion show featuring exclusive pieces donated by top New Zealand fashion designers (such as Trelise Cooper, Claire Bloom, Darlene Gore, Tamsin Cooper and more) that you will be able to bid on in our exciting charity auction.

The auction will be followed by a relaxed afternoon tea.  Prior to and after the fashion show, you will have the chance to browse our pop-up shop of fabulous pre-loved and lightly loved clothing and accessories that will be for sale (EFTPOS available).  We would appreciate you passing this invitation on to your colleagues and friends.

When and Where:  Saturday 13th July 1pm @The Hub, Otago Polytechnic Forth Street, Dunedin. (Fashion show to start at 1:30pm.)

Tickets are only $20 and are available online here or from the Cancer Society, 283 Great King St, Dunedin (03) 477 7447.   Email info@cansoc.org.nz  for further information.

“From Professor Margo Barton, Otago Polytechnic:  Otago Polytechnic is proud to be collaborating with the Cancer Society in this inaugural Runway for Life Fashion Show.  Please come along and help raise funds for this worthy cause.  There will be all sorts of interesting and wonderful fashion pieces to suit every wallet and person.”