The newly re-vamped Staff Room proved a warm welcome back to the returning teachers and we thank the Boards for funding this upgrade and for moving the Work Room facilities to the former H4. The bright and airy surroundings saw more and more staff gathering at lunch-time as well as for the usual morning tea, especially on Fridays.

The school year began with a lovely Commencement Service at Knox Church. Rev. Dr K. Enright spoke to us about a young girl called Tārore in a story of faith, forgiveness and the spread of the gospel.

2019 has flown past. It seemed not that long ago that the year was just beginning and now we are wrapping it up and bringing another year of hostel living to a close.

2019 has been another exciting and successful year for the International Department, with girls making invaluable contributions to the academic, cultural and sporting life of the school.

2019 has been an enjoyable and successful year in the Junior School with the children having many interesting and enriching opportunities.

Congratulation to the following students who represented New Zealand in their chosen fields.

Stepping off a plane into a powerful northerly did not deter our intrepid travellers

A whirlwind of a time in windy Wellington for camp group two.

A windy few days in Wellington for group 3

This year the Chemistry Department welcomed Mr Aaron Everett to the team following the promotion of Mr Joseph Chambers to the Head of Mathematics role.

It was another busy year for students of Chinese language. They participated in many national competitions, cultural activities and events.

There was nary a dull moment for the active and vigourous Columba College Classical Studies department in 2019.

It was exciting to begin the year knowing that we had two Young Enterprise teams. To do that we had Mr Doran take on this challenge for the first time with a first-time mentor (but was a Columba Young Enterpriser) Amy Columb.

Year 9 Drama was presented as a unit (two lessons per week), which meant all Year 9 students had an opportunity to learn, participate and create.

“This is not a letter but my arms around you for a brief moment” (Katherine Mansfield to a friend)

The French Cultural exchange is always a highlight to the school year.

Geography continues to be a popular choice for our students.

At the start of the year we welcomed back Caitlyn Trotman and Peyton Fields from the Nordrhein-Westfalen Exchange, and later in Term One their partners Johanna Oleksik and Yasmin Muller were a helpful addition to the Year 13 class.

It has been another busy and successful year in the History department with strong numbers from Year 10 up to Year 13.

It’s been another busy year in the library with 30 fabulously vibrant student librarians led by Head Librarian Sophie O’Neill and Deputy Heads Galina Mandich and Saffron Lai.

2019 has been a year of new beginnings, with many starting with ‘A’. We welcomed Mr A. Barlow, Mr A. Everett, and Miss A. Wilson to the Columba College Mathematics and Statistics Department.

This year has been impressive for musical activities at Columba.

This year, Year 7 and 8 Physical Education was taught by Ms K. Hope and Mrs A. Wafer, with Mrs A. Bishop being on maternity leave.

Religious Studies classes are part of the Presbyterian Special Character of Columba College.

It has been yet another busy, exciting, inspiring and uplifting year in the Science Department. With Mr A. Sparrow and Mr A. Everett joining the team and Mrs West leaving after 27 years, 2019 was always going to be a year of contrasts.

Our Social Studies programmes in 2019 have enjoyed a diverse range of topics.

Te Reo Māori is taught from Year 0-9 at Columba.

We have enjoyed another successful year in the Columba Art Department.

Larnach Castle - Saturday 22 June

Athletics Day was held on the 19th February and was a highlight of the year for many girls. It was a very warm day and spirits were high across all house groups.

This year we had a large number of students participating in our annual Cross Country Event. Despite the freezing, wet conditions, everyone managed to make their way down to Bishopscourt and make the best of this competition.

On Friday 21st June our annual Swimming Sports was held at Moana Pool.

Aerobics is a high intensity sport where athletes perform choreographed routines while executing the sport specific skills required.

Columba College Athletics is as passionate about athletics as you are.

Badminton is a successful and thriving sport at Columba.

Basketball is one of the sports with the highest participation rate at Columba College.

Another fantastic team sport on offer at Columba College is Cricket.

Cross-Country at Columba is a sport that many girls love being part of.

Curling is a relatively new sport at Columba College, however in the couple of years that it has been available for students it has really grown.

Do you love the water? Do you love jumping on a trampoline? Combine both of these things and join us on the Columba Diving Team!

Every Tuesday and Thursday morning throughout the year, girls are welcome to attend Elite Fitness run by our Director of Sport Miss Turnbull (6.15am).

The Equestrian team at Columba College is a friendly and competitive team of great riders.

Columba College football has a number of rising stars and prospective leaders emerging, especially the current 2019 Year 11’s who show outstanding strength, skill and initiative.

Handball at Columba has been running for three seasons now, with an impressive five teams representing the school across Years 9 - 13.

Hockey at Columba College is a popular and interesting sport with five teams currently in the school, ranging in age and ability level.

Columba students are very lucky to be able to play Ice Hockey with the Ice Queens. Four girls’ schools combine to make this team viable and it is managed by Joanna Bishop- Cherry at Queen’s.

Multisport at Columba is a sport which is starting to take off, and has great potential to go further in the years to come.

Netball at Columba College has continued to grow in strength over recent years, with 2019 proving to be one of the most successful seasons to date.

Since 2016 the Columba College Rowing team has received one gold, three silvers and four bronze medals at national level, plus a number of A finals with crews finishing in the top seven.

Since rugby became a sport at Columba in 2015, the talent and number of players interested in the sport has grown tremendously.

Sevens is a hugely successful and inclusive sport at Columba.

Every year Columba College enters a number of teams in the annual Otago Southland Secondary Schools Snowsports Championships.

Competitive swimming at Columba College invites students across all abilities in the water, from trying out events for fun at swim sports to competing for the school at National level.

Tennis at Columba this year has been through a number of changes as we said goodbye to many of our past and long standing players, and brought through a new group of junior players.

Coming off an incredibly successful 2018, Touch at Columba College is quickly becoming one of the most popular sports at the school.

Volleyball is a very popular sport at Columba College, with a number of competitive and social teams.

Water polo is an extremely physically demanding sport requiring speed and strength as well as teamwork and a high level of fitness.

Weightlifting at Columba is a new sport that is growing quickly, with two students representing the school at Nationals this year and competing in various competitions.

During the year, we take part in two sport exchanges with St Andrew’s College, Christchurch.

Back to back outright victories for Columba College after sharing the shield in both 2016 and 2017!

The Columba debating club has had yet another successful year, with four junior teams and three senior teams in the local “Dunedin Schools Debating” (DSD) tournament.

Speech from Miss Abby Griffin, Deputy Head of House

Enviro Club began at the start of Term 3 for 2019.

The 2019 team of Healthy Harbour Watchers proudly took up the mantle of previous years and contributed greatly to monitoring the water quality of the Otago Harbour.

We have been fortunate this year to have Kapa Haka in both the junior and senior schools.

In 2019, our Columba SADD Committee orchestrated a variety of activities within our school to encourage safe driving within our community.

The last word from our class of 2019.