Year 9’s Chloe van der Ree has her artwork published as we wish our Junior Theatresports team the best of luck for the regional finals and close the term happy in the knowledge that St Margaret’s arts are alive and well.

Artwork selected for publication
Huge congratulations to Year 9’s Chloe van der Ree whose stunning painting of 'Mt Taranaki' has been chosen to feature in The Jillion - a collection of some of the most amazing writing and artwork from NZ publisher, Toitoi. Over the last three years, Toitoi has published over 1,000 young writers and artists and The Jillion celebrates all of their courage, curiosity and creativity but just a handful were picked to feature.

Middle School Arts Awards
Awards in the arts were presented to our Year 7-10 girls in a special assembly, with the following 12 girls awarded Colours: Mila Ballin, Nikita Bloy, Lucy Johnston, Georgia Lassen, Maya Laws, Alexandra Lehmann, Alice McLeod, Molly Payne, Yani Rutherford, Abby Smith, Alex Traylen and Caitlyn Wickham. We enjoyed performances from our Middle School Dance Company, Junior Theatresports team and musicians, with art on display in the atrium, and closing words from Middle School Head Kathryn Gray.

Alice! link to recording
We’re excited to have the following Youtube link available for you to see a recording of this year’s magical sell-out show. Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VXz9vn5ZaI

Middle School Theatresports Finals
December 2nd our valiant team of Year 9 and 10 Theatresports girls will be representing our school at the Regional Finals of the Junior Inter-school Theatresports Competition. We wish Zoe Fulton, Georgia Lassen, Yani Rutherford, Lily Burt, Sammy Hood and Poppi Hamilton, along with teacher in charge Katherine Tyson-McPhillips and leaders Kaitlin Burden and Feya Durkin the best of luck!

125 years down the line
We do well to remember our foremost feisty woman, Kate Sheppard, 125 years after her birth. What a legacy she has left us, as we strive to follow our school motto, “empowering girls to live and lead”. We take every opportunity to give our girls the chance to do just this, and 2018 has been a whopper in the arts, from our fun cushion cabarets to stunning art exhibitions, a plethora of concerts, shows and displays, performances at various school functions and, of course, the magical sell-out success of Alice! We have celebrated record numbers of awards, prizes, regional and national representatives, and we have seen girls on stage, sometimes for the very first time, and been moved to tears.

Huge thanks to our Arts Council team who brought us Arts week and the fabulous Nightmare on Winchester Street, with special thanks to Ruby Anderson and Sophie McClean for leading the charge so capably and with such vision. Kate would be so proud of you! Thank you to our amazing Arts staff who have given their all throughout the year, and especially to our Head of the Performing Arts Faculty Amanda Woods: you are an inspiring teacher, leader and sustainer of your team. Thank you to all our staff for your support of the girls and the arts events of 2018, especially to the crew behind Alice!: we couldn’t do it without your help. Big ups to our PFA for all your interest in and help with our events, and thanks to our wonderfully supportive St Margaret’s community who are always behind us wherever we go.

We wish all our Year 13 girls the very best as they move into the next phase. The future is in good hands, folks, as these girls will keep Kate Sheppard’s spirit alive with her words in mind: “We must be ourselves at all risks”.

A very Happy Christmas St Margaret’s whanau; we look forward to seeing you next year.

Arohanui

Mary Davison Arts Facilitator