Dear Parents and Caregivers

Year 12 Geography students arrived safely back from Mt Cook on Saturday night after being snowed in.  The girls were accepting of the situation and spent Saturday morning working happily on their Geography work.  Special thanks to Ms Turner and Mrs Bradfield for their constant contact and calm manner.

The girls involved in the Young Enterprise Scheme made their presentations on Wednesday afternoon.  Brainwaves, consisting of Lola Garden, Holly Armstrong, Anna Power, Brie Shea, Holly White, Claudia Maker and Aria Park, won two of the three awards – Best Business Plan and Best Oral Presentation.  The team are in the process of producing a chocolate bar that promotes productive study.

We have three groups participating in the Young Enterprise Scheme this year.  Once their products have been made and sold, they also have to complete an Annual Report and a regional winner will be announced in October, travelling to Wellington to represent Otago at the New Zealand Awards.

On Monday morning we are holding the Founders’ Day Service.  At this we will celebrate the school founders.  We will also gift our donations to The Anglican Family Care. Many thanks for the donations we have already and please feel free to send items in on Monday to add to this. We ask that all girls are in formal uniform for this special Eucharistic service.

On Tuesday class and group photos were taken. These photos on McRobie’s website for you to order. The cost is $16.00 per photo (postage included). The photos are available until August to order online at http://wp.me/p39g4r-3No.

The Year 10 Film Festival is on next week. We are looking forward to viewing the creations of these budding directors next Friday.

Continue reading Weekly News – Term 2 | Week 10 →

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

Sings Hilda had a wonderful performance at The Big Sing last week.  They won the trophy for the Best Performance of a NZ Composition and also were awarded Highly Commended for their other two performances from the Classical and Other Styles categories.  Ihlara McIndoe received a Highly Commended award in the Student Conductor category.  Sings Hilda will now perform at The Big Sing Finale, which takes place in Wellington 13 – 15 August.  They are one of only 24 choirs to be invited from over 200 choirs around the country.

LineWize

We have installed new software over the last couple of weeks  called “Linewize’ that is an updated version of the filtering system that we have had in the past.

This is a much more effective system that allows us to manage access to different websites and social media functions on a more individual and robust basis, and also gives us meaningful information on how students are using our network, what sites and systems are being accessed and how much data is being uploaded and downloaded and why. 

This system gives us improved tools to manage our network effectively in a way that keeps learning, and devices for learning, as the priority. It supports best practice in that we have accessible, relevant data which then underpins decisions we make about functionality, suitability and accessibility of the internet, because we know what is actually happening in our own school. We can also have a greater degree of certainty that we are keeping the girls as safe as possible in terms of what is accessible during the school day. This software has also been installed for the Tolcarne system. 

We have explained in two assemblies with the girls, that installing this new software is not about ‘watching them’ or any ‘big brother’ motivation, but rather supporting their learning and assisting them to continue to use technology in a way that enhances effective learning in the classroom, helps them with good decision making and further develops their skills as digital citizens.

Continue reading Weekly News – Term 2 | Week 9 →

Dear Parents and Caregivers

We have had a busy but successful sporting week with the Otago Secondary Schools’ Netball Tournament finishing on Monday and girls competing at the Otago Cross Country on Tuesday.  We had great results in both events which are detailed below.

We have also had our two choirs out all day today competing at The Big Sing. They have been preparing for this and we have been getting previews at assembly in the last few weeks. We look forward to hearing the results, they were certainly sounding good.

Next Monday and Tuesday we have Stuart Wright running his Study Skills programme with Year 10 students. This is a great chance for the girls to get some tips on retaining information and how to plan their study time.

On Wednesday Year 12 Geography students are off to Mount Cook with Ms Turner and Mrs Bradfield.  Wishing these students a safe and enjoyable trip.

Continue reading Weekly News – Term 2 | Week 8 →