With remarkable achievements in Theatresports, Debating and a silver award at the Big Sing National Finale, we have much to celebrate as we look forward to our NCEA Dance Night, IB Art Exhibition, senior Arts Awards Assembly and Performing Arts Showcase.

Big Sing National Finale

We congratulate the members of our Amanda Choir who competed at The Big Sing Choral Federation National Finale at the Michael Fowler Centre in Wellington last week, gaining a silver award. 350 choirs from all over New Zealand enter this annual competition and our Amanda Choir, comprised of 18 senior students from Christ’s College and St Margaret’s, were one of only 15 to gain this prestigious award. Director Rosemary Turnbull has worked very hard with the choir which was only formed in February, and we applaud her great efforts and also acknowledge the support of Head of Music Amanda Woods.

Senior Theatresports Competition

Congratulations to our Senior Theatresports team who competed in the annual regional Theatresports Competition two weekends ago at the NASDA theatre. Our girls placed a close second in the regional heats but were pipped at the post by Cashmere High school who continued through to the finals. Our team were very competitive winning nearly all of their rounds. Well done girls you represented SMC with skill, humour and professionalism!

Canterbury Schools Debating Council semi-finals

Last week SMC had three teams competing in the CSDC 2018 inter-school semi-finals. As it was Fashion Week, CSDC chose motions along that theme.

Year 10 team in Junior Semi-Final: (usually Yani Rutherford, Alexandra Lehmann and Caitlyn Wickham, but these girls were unavailable and were represented by Rosie Lester, Phoebe Jennings and Lucy Johnstone). The girls put up a valiant effort arguing that runway shows should have a quota of plus-sized models. Unfortunately, they were beaten by Ashburton College.

Year 11s vs Year 13s in Senior Semi-Final: Our Year 11 team of Sophie Benson, Amelia Parker and Elizabeth Cross have done extremely well this year as Y11s competing in the senior competition and were delighted to make the semi-final break. They were up against our extremely capable Y13s, yet put on a strong show arguing that we do not support the use of sweatshops in the fashion industry. The Y13s were able to argue convincingly that sweatshops did contribute to third-world country economies and that this work was preferable to the alternatives for many unfortunate workers. Sarah Cosgrove (Y12) did a great job filling in for Milly O'Brien, who is at the Big Sing, with Y13s Ruby Anderson & Aisha O'Malley.

Congratulations to our Year 13 team of Ruby, Aisha and Milly who this week will face Cashmere High School in the CSDC Senior Final, which will take place Thursday evening at StAC.

Senior Drama performance Songs for Nobodies

Our Year 11 - 13 Drama and Theatre Arts classes were treated to a special showing of 'Songs for Nobodies' performed by Ali Harper on Friday 24 August. Our girls were blown away by Ali's talent as a performer and commented on how seeing a performance such as this has inspired them to follow their passions in the performing arts. Our Drama students will be writing about this performance for their end of year examination were are all extremely grateful to Ali for making this opportunity possible.

Physical Theatre workshops

Last week our Year 11 NCEA Drama classes participated in intensive workshop sessions with Alys Hill from Zen Zen Zo Theatre Company. The students worked incredibly hard and were challenged to take risks and open their minds to different ways of working in the theatre. We thank Alys for working with our students and can't wait to have her back again next year.

NCEA Dance Evening: A Moment in Time

We welcome our community to join us Saturday September 8 at 7pm in the Charles Luney Auditorium for an evening of dance presented by our Year 11-13 NCEA Dance students. The work showcases the girls’ own choreography alongside that of Dance Head Candice Cain and will also include performances from our Middle School and Senior Dance Companies. All welcome with a gold coin donation.

IB Art Exhibition

We welcome you to join us this Sunday for the opening of our IB Art Exhibition in the Old Girls’ Atrium Sunday September 9th at 5pm. Exhibitors Minji Kim, Molly Mackenzie and Sophie McClean have worked very hard towards this, their final exhibition, with stunning results.

Senior Arts Awards Assembly

Tuesday September 11th we will be presenting our Year 11-13 girls with certificates, Pockets and Honours awards in the arts at our annual Senior Arts Awards Assembly, period 7, in the auditorium. All successful Honours recipients have now been notified and are invited to join us with their parents/whanau for a celebratory afternoon tea in the Old Girls’ Atrium directly after the assembly. Please note that to gain an Honours Award it is not only the girls’ arts achievements that are taken into account but also their ability to promote and support this area of the arts at St Margaret’s, give service to the school, participate fully, take initiative and be a role model to others. Later this term there will be the opportunity for Year 7-10 girls to apply for Middle School Arts Awards (Badges and Honours.)

Performing Arts Showcase

Wednesday September 12 we urge you and your whanau to join us in the Charles Luney Auditorium for our annual Performing Arts Showcase. With a start time of 7pm, this evening of music and dance showcasing our school co-curricular groups promises to warm your heart and soul with the talent on show from our Year 7-13 girls as they display their skills and joy: entertainment for the whole family!

Percussive storytelling workshop for Year 1-8

This term, Canterbury University are hosting Cory Hills, a member of grammy-nominated percussion ensemble the Los Angeles Percussion Quartet. As part of his visit Cory has offered to do some outreach with local students. His program is called Percussive Storytelling, and it brings storytelling and classical music to kids in fun and accessible ways. Cory has presented more than 470 programs to over 110,000 children in 8 different countries and released two children’s albums and two children’s books. Workshop themes are centred on traditional, multicultural folktales that Cory either writes himself or adapts from existing stories. Cory also talks to the children about how to craft stories, where the instruments are from, and how he created the concept. Cory will be joining us at SMC to present a session for our Year 1-8 girls Thursday September 13, Period 6, in the auditorium. The price will be $3 per student, to be charged to accounts.

Nightmare on Winchester Street: SMC's Arts Soiree spooktacular

At St Margaret's we celebrate the arts every year with our Arts Soiree, an evening of fun and entertainment organised by our student Arts Council. During the evening we recognize our girls' achievements from throughout the year alongside performances from our dancers, musicians and actors and a guest speaker. We provide a three-course buffet dinner, a bar and a photo booth to capture those souvenir shots.

This year our Nightmare on Winchester Street "spooktacular" will be held Thursday September 20 from 6-9pm in the school dining-room. Tickets are $50 and open to all girls Year 9 and above and their parents/whanau. We encourage you all to dress to the theme (there will be prizes for the best costumes!) and to organise yourselves in tables of eight where possible.

Please purchase your tickets through the school website by September 14. Follow this link: https://www.trybooking.co.nz/ME

Alice! photos

Our talented photographer Petra Mingneau has set up an independent website where photos from our production of Alice! can be purchased. Here is the link to the gallery where you can see the images and purchase them straight from the website: https://petramingneau.smugmug.com/ALICE/n-Rk3V2P/