Dear Parents and Caregivers

As the end of the year draws closer we have some important school events coming up. On Sunday we have our Carol Service which begins at 5:00pm. We look forward to seeing you there as it is always a nice reminder that the Christmas season has begun. The girls have been practising their caroling and are in great voice. We have asked the girls to wear tidy mufti for this event.

Next Friday 29 November will be our junior service day. The girls will be involved in a rotation of five activities that will support Anglican Family Care. For this day the girls should wear their PE uniform.

On Thursday 5 December we have our Prize Giving at the Town Hall. Prize Giving commences at 5.00 pm and we ask that your daughter is seated in the Town Hall lower level by 4.45 pm. On the morning of Prize Giving the junior students will wear mufti to school for the morning. They will be taken down to the Town Hall at 10:30 am fora run through of the prize giving service and will be released from the Town Hall at approximately 11.30 am.

Please ensure that your daughter(s) uniform is immaculate for the evening. This is her formal uniform and includes wearing a long-sleeved shirt. She may wear white socks rather than tights.

We look forward to seeing you all on the evening of the 5th December to celebrate the end of our academic year.

If your daughter is unable to attend Prize Giving, please email  admin@shcs.school.nz  with a reason.

Key Dates for Term 4

Monday 14th October – 5th December 2019

Sunday 24 November – Carol Service – Chapel, 5 pm – Families welcome

Wednesday 4 December – Leavers Dinner – Museum

Thursday 5 December – Prize Giving – Dunedin Town Hall (please note change of venue) students to be seated at 4.45pm for 5pm start.

St Hilda’s 125th Anniversary Celebrations

PFA Fundraising at Forsyth Barr Stadium

Call for Parent and senior student (16 years and over) volunteers.

To assist the PFA in fundraising at concerts being held at Forsyth Barr Stadium in February.

Elton John:         Tuesday 4 February times TBC

Queen:                Monday February 10 times TBC

At this stage the PFA are looking for expression of interest please email Ali Copeman pfa@shcs.school.nz once we have a few more details Ali will be in touch to confirm plans. This fundraising goes towards supporting SHCS students in sporting and cultural activities

Sports Uniform Reminder

St Hilda’s new sports uniform is now available at NZ Uniforms on Moray Place. If you need to update or replace items please head there over the holidays. It is compulsory for our students to have the PE top, Shorts, Trackpants, Dri fit and Hoodie. For all students who play in a weekly competition, travel on tournaments or as a PE class, these items are to be worn. No alternatives are allowed. For students with the current style these can still be worn. Over the past few weeks, we have noticed a number of sports teams wearing a variety of shorts and trackpants that are not school regulation. If you are unsure on what these look like, then please head to the website:  http//www.nzuniforms.com

Activities

Year 10 Tautuku camp was again a great experience. The year group excelled in the outdoor environment, and it was an added bonus that the weather held throughout the week and we got to enjoy the range of activities such as abseiling, kayaking, bush navigation, tramping, confidence course and of course the iconic Tautuku camp mud run. Thank you to all the students, staff and especially the parents who were so kind to give up their time to support us on this camp.

Junior Sports Week.

This week many of our year 9 &10 students were involved in the OSSSA Junior Sports Week. This was a  great opportunity for our volleyball and touch teams to get out and compete against teams from all over Otago.

Our junior Water Polo team are presently competing in Blenheim and we will have results from that tournament next week.

Otago Primary Athletics Day.

On Thursday, some of our Year 7 & 8 students  headed down to the Caledonian for Athletics Day. Having qualified through North Zone Athletics Day, the girls were ready for another big day. Well done to Mya Haigh for throwing over 8m in her shot put and to Charlotte Cardno for jumping 4.46m in Long Jump and making a new record. Cassie Horo made the 100m final and our relay team of Phoebe Jackery, Katie Moore, Charlotte Cardno and Cassie Horo did a great job in their heat. Well done to Chelsea Sinclair for making her age group shot put final.

Achievements

Hannah Langsbury has been selected into the New Zealand U14 Maori Rep Team for Football.

Chapel Matters

This coming Sunday afternoon we have our Christmas Carol Service here at school which is a great way to get into the Christmas spirit. We always end our Carol service with the most published carol in the world; if you go onto You Tube you will find versions of it sung by everybody from Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey to church choirs and even cats! And all of this is true, even though this carol was written exactly 200 years ago, in 1719.

The carol is “Joy to the World” and it the lyrics were written by Isaac Watts. He wrote over 750 hymns for churches – this is quite remarkable when you realise that someone like Justin Bieber has written about 40 songs, Taylor Swift has written about 200, and Bob Dylan has written about 500! Isaac Watts’ family was “non-conformist,” meaning they didn’t belong to the Church of England, and his father was put in prison twice for his views. This also meant that Isaac wasn’t allowed to go to Oxford and Cambridge, because you had to be Anglican to go there. Isaac went to another university, became a tutor, and also wrote hymns. His hymns became popular – and he changed the way people sang in church – even in Anglican churches! Watts didn’t just write hymns though. He had studied philosophy at university, and he wrote a textbook on the topic of “Logic” – this was used by the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge for over 100 years! Interesting for someone who wasn’t even allowed to study there!

The music for “Joy to the World” was written by an American musician, Lowell Mason, who lived in the 1800s. He also grew up in a family that went to a non-conformist church;
this is the Unitarian Universalist church, which is all about intellectual freedom, inclusive love, and spiritual growth, and although many members don’t actually even believe in God, many still attend church, pray and sing hymns. Mason was one of the church-going members, and he wrote the music for many of the hymns that they sang, played the organ and directed the choir. He wrote the music for “Joy to the World,” in 1839, 120 years after Isaac Watts wrote the words, but he also put lots of other lyrics to music, even including simple things like “Mary had a little lamb!” His church was in the South of the United States, in Georgia, and at a time when slavery was still deeply part of life in the South, Mason helped out at a nearby African-American Baptist church and started the first ever Sunday School for black children.

Even though these two men lived in different centuries, and in different countries, they both did things that went against the grain of the societies they lived in, and were non-conformist in their beliefs and faith, choosing to be true to what they believed about God in how they lived their lives. And in the end they both contributed to one of the most well-known and loved carols of all time, which I think is pretty special!

Reminder – School Canteen

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

BLUE RIBBON INSTALLATION

This is a fundraising initiative that current families, Old Girls and past families can support – purchase a Blue Ribbon plaque with your/your daughter’s name on it, to be displayed permanently in the foyer of the new Arts Building.

Please contact the Director of Development at aburke@shcs.school.nz to reserve your Blue Ribbon today.