Dear Parents and Caregivers,
A Note from The Principal
It was my pleasure to support Helen Knott and Inez Meuws at the recent Pasifica Awards at the Otago Polytechnic. Both girls are wonderful ambassadors for the school and their culture. Helen helped us all to learn a Tongan prayer response in chapel on Tuesday and we are fortunate to have our young women so ready to share and celebrate their cultures with us.
Tonight we have the Manu Pounamu Awards where our Maori students are acknowledged for their excellence. This is a very special ceremony and one where the importance of whanau, connectedness and belonging are so evident. I look forward to watching Kiriana Hunter and Sarah Langsbury receive their awards.
We look forward to sharing the celebrations of our Blues evening tonight as well (it is a busy week!!) – and are delighted that Old Girl Sophie Morris has accepted our invitation to be the guest speaker.
St HIlda’s Day will be a welcome chance to come together as a community; reflect, sit, listen and be grateful for the time to worship together. The cathedral always exudes a sense of majesty, calm and safety, a timely reminder of the importance of having all those attributes in our lives. I look forward to seeing you there.
Jackie Barron
Paid Union Meeting – Friday 9 November
School will finish at 11:50 am on Friday 9 November 2018. Staff who are PPTA and NZEI members will be attending a paid union meeting, an entitlement which is part of their Collective Agreement.
Although school will officially remain open until 3:00 pm that afternoon, there will be no formal classes operating. However, there will be supervision in the Library for students who need to stay at school until the end of the school day.
Please note: Confirmation of bus times will come shortly.
Please notify the school office if your daughter will need to remain at school on this afternoon. (Contact Karen Mowat on 477 0989 or email admin@shcs.school.nz)
The times for the school day will be as follows:
Period 1 8:40 – 9:35 am
Period 2 9:40 – 10:35 am
Break 10:35 – 10:55 am
Period 3 10:55 – 11.50 am
Thank you for your understanding of this disruption to scheduled classes.
Key Dates for Term 4 – Monday 15th October – 5th December 2018
Friday 26 October – Blues Evening – Chapel, 7 pm
Sunday 28 October – St Hilda’s Cathedral Service – St Paul’s Cathedral, 10 am.
Thursday 1 November – Last day for Seniors
Monday 12-16 November – Year 10 Camp
Sunday 25 November – Carol Service – Chapel, 5 pm
Tuesday 4 December – Leavers Dinner – Museum
Wednesday 5 December – Prize Giving – Edgar Centre, students to be seated at 4.45pm for 5 pm start.
Reports
This year we have made changes to how we report on your daughter’s learning to ensure that reports are appropriate, useful and timely. We were very aware that the paragraph comment based report was slow to produce, often out of date by the time you received it and did not easily allow for specific next steps. Because of this, comments were often generalised statements, with limited relevance.
The final report for the year will be a record of your daughters learning for the year. This will include a comment from her Whanaungatanga teacher which will give you an overview of her year’s learning.
Throughout the year we have communicated through Learning Conversations which allow a three-way conversation with the teacher, student and parent, Interim Reports which focussed on learning behaviours and Progress Reports which gave specific next steps for your daughters learning.
These reports when combined give an accurate and timely overview of your daughter’s learning dispositions, next steps and progress.
RSVP’s
St Hilda’s Day – Sunday 28 October, 10:00 am
It is an important time for our School Community and it is expected that all students will attend the Service on this morning. Any absences for St Hilda’s Day must be emailed to Geraldine Corkery, with a reason, care of admin@shcs.school.nz.
Guidance
As exams approach it is important for us to consider how we can support students with any exam stress they are feeling. Click here for advice from ReachOut about how you can best assist your daughter during this time.
Chapel Matters
St Hilda lived a long time ago – in the 7th Century – and was in charge of one of the most
important Abbies in England at the time. As the Abbess of Whitby, she had many
responsibilities and this included giving advice to kings and other rulers. We only have one
piece of writing from her, and with St Hilda’s Day at the Cathedral this weekend, I thought you might like to ponder on what she had to say. While the words and phrases can take some effort to read, the advice she gives is still pertinent today.
Trade with the gifts God has given you.
Bend your minds to holy learning, that you may escape the fretting moth of littleness of mind that would wear out your souls.
Brace your wills to action that they may not be the spoils of weak desires.
Train your hearts and lips to song which gives courage to the soul.
Being buffeted by trials, learn to laugh.
Being reproved, give thanks.
Having failed, determine to succeed.
– St Hilda of Whitby, 7th C
Ichikawa visit March 2019 – request for Homestay families
As you are aware each year St Hilda’s in partnership with John McGlashan hosts students from our sister school, Ichikawa Gakuen High School in Japan, for a short term visit. We are pleased to announce that Ichikawa School will be visiting us again Monday 11 – Saturday 23 March 2019.
Our intention is to confirm homestay families and match to students before Christmas.
Please get in contact as soon as possible if you are in the position to open your home for one of our Japanese short stay students. Your help would be much appreciated. If you would like to have a further conversation around what is required please also make contact.
Contact details:
Tolcarne News
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Passion Project
St Hilda’s Arts Building
Student Achievement
Lily Knox, year 9 has had her poem selected for a book of NZ young writers. The book is called The Jillion.
Sunken eyes, hollow cheeks, greying sagging skin
Wrinkled musty overcoat, twanging violin
He rests upon the crest o’ hill, peaceful to the world,
holds the bow and instrument, bony hands unfurled.
Hunched he sits, awaiting, but now, he reaches for the strings
A melancholy melody and quietly he sings.
Blotchy skin and shaky breath, through weary, wizened eyes
His crinkled face lifts to the sky, surveys the warm sunrise
The last golden ray pierces the clouds,
He listens, he sighs, he slows,
Shaking hands unlatch the case of the violin he stows
He does not rush, his aching limbs no longer in their prime
Wrinkles like cobwebs shroud his face
For he is the Master of Time
Over the holiday’s girls attended the National Finals of Under 15 Bantum Ice Hockey.
Congratulations to Breane Byck who achieved:
National Goalie Champion, tied for National Goalie Skills Champion as well as her team taking Silver Medal
University Scholarships
University of Otago Academic Excellence Entrance Scholarship (worth $35,000)
University of Otago Vice Chancellor’s Scholarship (worth $18,000)
University of Otago Performance Entrance Scholarship (varying amounts)
University of Otago Māori Entrance Scholarship (worth $10,000)
University of Otago Leaders of Tomorrow Entrance Scholarship (varying amounts)
University of Otago New Frontiers Excellence Entrance Scholarship (currently worth $2,500 but increases to $5,000 if they get Level 3 with excellence)
The University of Waikato Sir Edmund Hillary Scholarship (worth $10,000 for each year of study)
Victoria University of Wellington Tangiwai Scholarship (worth $5,000)
Lincoln University Future Leaders Scholarship (worth $6,000)
Lincoln University Netball Scholarship ($6,000)
Meyer Cruden Engineering LTD, Engineering Tertiary Education Scholarship (worth $3,000)
Dunedin School of Art Secondary Schools Overall Award (one semester tuition at the Dunedin School of art valued at $3,362)
Town Belt Kaitiaki Photography Competition
Orders for the St Hilda’s Chronicle are being taken now!
This year’s school magazine contains over 150 pages of photos and memories from 2018. The cost is $40.
The Chronicle will be ready for your daughter to collect at the conclusion of Prize Giving on Wednesday, 5 December. Alternatively, copies can be collected from the school office or posted home.
Could you please complete the online form below or pick up an order form from the school office to order your daughter(s) copy of the Chronicle. Multiple copies may be ordered. The Chronicle will be charged to the school account.
Please note, there will be no door sales of the magazine on Prize Giving night. We are now only printing the number of magazines that are pre-ordered to avoid unnecessary wastage.
Orders can be made until 3pm, Friday 16 November.
Click here to order the 2018 St Hilda’s Chronicle
Kind regards,
The St Hilda’s Chronicle Committee
Careers News and Events
To view visit the Career Events calendar.
A reminder to check the Sports Draws page of the website to keep up to date with match times. The netball draws are posted each week in readiness for the weekend’s matches.