Weekly News Term 4|Week 6 | St Hilda's Collegiate School

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

A Note from The Principal

In this current climate where there is a very real shortage of quality teachers, we are delighted to announce the following appointments:

Mr James Sutherland has been appointed to the position of HOD Visual and Performing Arts. Mr Sutherland is currently HOD Visual Arts and Director of Culture at Hamilton Boys High School. He previously taught in an all girls’ school in Edinburgh. He is a painting specialist, and also has a strong interest in Music, being in charge of the Orchestra and Jazz band at HBHS, where he has produced the school productions in conjunction with HGHS. We look forward to welcoming Mr Sutherland and his family to Dunedin and St Hilda’s in 2019.
Mr Paul Elwood has been appointed to the position of Maths teacher. Mr Elwood is currently at Kaikorai Valley College. He is an experienced Maths teacher, and also teaches Te Reo and has strengths in Tikanga Māori and Kapa Haka.

As many of you will be aware Mr Michael Grant has resigned after 15 years at St Hilda’s. We will miss his commitment to music and the arts, especially Sings Hilda, and the productions. His willingness to support a lot of school activities behind the scenes, and spend many weekends and evening hours assisting students and staff with performances has been greatly appreciated. We are currently working through the appointment process for his replacement

Jackie Barron

Remaining Key Dates for Term 4

Sunday 25 November – Carol Service – Chapel, 5 pm
Tuesday 4 December – Leavers Dinner – Otago Museum
Wednesday 5 December – Prize Giving – Edgar Centre, students to be seated at 4.45pm for 5.00 pm start. Please email admin@shcs.school.nz if you are unable to attend

Out and About

BEAMS – A group of Year 10 students are visiting Auckland University for the annual BEAMS (Business, Engineering, Architecture, Medicine, Science faculty workshops) event. They are enjoying the workshops and even bumped into Jono and Ben!

Marae Visit -Year 9 spent Tuesday and Wednesday out at the Ōtākou Marae on the Otago Peninsula. Despite some less than ideal weather conditions, the girls had a great time.

The girls and staff experienced a mihi whakatau, learnt about the history of the marae and local area, learnt flax weaving, how to write their mihi, waiata, Māori PE games, competed in a quiz, did mindful art and a beach walk. Twenty lucky girls had the opportunity to help out by holding little blue penguins while they were being tagged. We ended our visit with some prizes and a farewell ceremony. It was a great experience and the staff look forward to doing it all again next year with the new Year 9s.

LilyMcLauglan and Bella Gilmour

St Hilda Alumnus Ali Higham who is working for the Royal Albatross Centre and Pukekura Trust to preserve and enhance the natural environment at Pilot’s Beach for the korora blue penguin helped lead two groups of students. The students helped microchip blue penguins as part of a monitoring programme.

Ali Higham (centre)

Tolcarne News

The last few weeks of Tolcarne activities have been so much fun! Last weekend a group of students went Paddle Boarding down at the Harbour. The weather held out for them as they tried to stay standing on their boards, and even tried to do handstands.

This weekend, the Tolcarne activity was a silk class! The girls tried stretching and tricks while being suspended by cloth from the ceiling. Thank you to the Air Fitness crew for letting the girls have a go! They had a great time!

Many of our Senior students are starting to pack up their rooms and head home for the summer holidays. We wish them all a safe and happy holiday period! :)

Guidance

Thank you to everyone who attended the Family Zone Parent Seminar last week. It was fantastic to see so many of you there. We have created a St Hilda’s Family Zone website which can be accessed by clicking here. The presentation from last week is included for those of you who were unable to attend. Please do not sign up for Family Zone through this site. We will work with Family Zone to set up your account and will notify you by email when it is ready to use.

Student Achievement

On Wednesday 21st the Junior A volleyball girls had a mini tournament in Dunedin in preparation for the South Island Secondary Schools tournament being held in Dunedin next week.

The girls played against Otago Girls, Columba and a Bayfield boys team. It was good to get combinations going and the girls kept their skill level up.

We look forward to a successful tournament next week.

Reminder – School Canteen

The Canteen has closed for the year. Don’t forget a packed lunch.

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.