Our senior girls take out the Debating Championship for the second year in a row, we bask in the glory of recent performances, exhibitions, workshops and awards, and the Arts Council put the final touches to their spooky plan for Arts Soiree A Nightmare on Winchester Street.

Canterbury Schools Debating Council Finals
Congratulations to Milly O'Brien, Aisha O'Malley and Ruby Anderson who won the CSDC final last week to become the Canterbury Senior Debating Champions for the second year in a row. The girls successfully affirmed the motion that states should be able to pay other states to take their asylum seekers and refugees with a convincing win over Cashmere High School. Congratulations also to Milly O'Brien, who was named as Best Speaker of the 2018 senior competition, and to the girls’ coach Jenni McLaughlin who was presented with a long service award.

NCEA Dance Evening: A Moment in Time
Our Senior dance students gave us an evening of outstanding dance skill and stunning choreographies in the Charles Luney Auditorium. The work showcased Year 11-13 girls’ own choreography alongside that of Dance Head Candice Cain. We were also treated to performances from our Middle School Dance Company under Stacy Goldsworthy’s tutelage and Senior Dance Company in Candice’s hands. All in all our girls gave us an outstanding programme of dance.

IB Art Exhibition
Congratulations to Minji Kim, Molly Mackenzie and Sophie McClean for their remarkable IB Art Exhibition opened in the Old Girls’ Atrium last weekend. Each girl presented a body of work with accompanying research and explanations and all three girls sold several artworks during the evening. We thank Callum Arnold, Head of Visual Art, for his support and guidance.

Senior Arts Awards Assembly
Last week we celebrated our senior arts awards at a special assembly. We were treated to originally-crafted performances by Ivy Pileff-Fasso and Jemima Pegg, Ruby Anderson and six Year 13 members of the Senior Dance Company as well as some wise words from guest speaker and What Now presenter Erin Wells. Our Amanda Choir and senior debaters were presented with their trophies from recent accomplishments and certificates and a record number of Pocket awards were given out. Congratulations to the following girls who gained Arts Honours: in Dance: Poppy Cox, Anna Cropp, Annalida Jaeger, Ashley Marfell, Grace Mitchell, Brianna Odering; in Drama: Ruby Anderson, Kaitlin Burden, Emily Stewart; in Music: Amy Chung, Sujean In, Meg Shatford, Jasmine Ward; in Oratory: Hattie Compton-Moen, Milly O’Brien; in Technical: Hattie Compton-Moen, Holly Macdonald, Charlotte Shepherd.

Kids 4 Kids
Last week, the Year 3 and 4 students participated in the Kids 4 Kids Show starring Nathan King and Jackie Clarke. The theme this year was Kiwi As! and included a wide selection of popular songs which the students had been learning at school all term. This was a fantastic, energetic concert which the students really enjoyed being a part of. They performed in the Horncastle Arena with many other participating primary schools to a full arena. Two of our girls, Connie Newton and Katherine Nichols, were chosen out of the many that auditioned to play in a ukulele group and sing a solo. Well done Connie and Katherine – you made SMC very proud! We also thank teachers Rachel Wilford and Sam Bates for all their preparation with the girls.

Performing Arts Showcase
Congratulations to all our performers who gave us an evening of fabulous entertainment at last week’s showcase. The variety of acts, genres and girls on stage is heartening to see and reflects our philosophy of inclusivity in the performing arts. We especially thank those students who presented original songs, monologues and choreography, as well as cheering on those who stepped on stage for the first time. Thank you to our wonderfully supportive community for joining us for the evening and also to our dedicated Performing Arts staff, with special thanks to Head of Faculty Amanda Woods.

Percussive storytelling workshop for Years 1-8
We were fortunate in having a member of grammy-nominated percussion ensemble the Los Angeles Percussion Quartet, Cory Hills, come to work with our Year 1-8 girls last week in a special percussion-storytelling session. Cory played a range of traditional percussion instruments as well as those made from found objects and mixed traditional folktales with his own original stories. The price of approximately $3 per student will be charged to accounts.

Orchestra Festival
Monday evening our Christ’s College-St Margaret’s Combined Orchestra performed in the Christchurch Boys’ High hall as part of the annual secondary schools’ Orchestra Festival. A good crowd was present for this celebration of music, with an eclectic programme featuring a wide range of repertoire. Our orchestra, directed by Dr Sarah Hickford, performed their piece, Epilogue, from the musical La La Land, arranged by SMC old girl Sammy McDonnell, beautifully.

The Creator’s Room Art Exhibition
Congratulations to Year 12 girls Ruby Williams and Ruby McCallum who are on the shortlist for a secondary schools’ art exhibition organised by The Creator’s Room. The girls’ artworks have been selected from a pool of over 1,200 for this new online platform to showcase artworks from Year 11-13 Visual Art students from Christchurch. We await final selection with bated breath!

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 20th from 6-9pm in the school dining-room. Everyone is encouraged to dress to the theme (there will be prizes for the best costumes!)

Middle School Arts Awards
St Margaret’s College recognises achievement and service in the arts at Middle School level with two awards for students in Years 7-10 involved in the arts at school: an Arts Badge and Colours in Arts. The following areas will be considered: Dance, Drama, Music, Oratory, Technical, Visual Art and Creative Writing. However, badges and Colours will be presented for “Arts” rather than for any specific area.

Arts Badge - awarded to students who have demonstrated:

• Skill - A high level of skill in your field/s of arts

• Committed Contribution - minimum of two full years at Middle School level to one or more of the arts. (e.g. choirs, clubs etc). This will include participation in at least two different school co-curricular groups or projects (e.g. Stage Challenge, Production, Community Projects) for two full years.

Badges are white with gold lettering.

Colours - awarded to those students who have demonstrated:

• Skill: - An outstanding level of skill in your field/s

• Committed Contribution: - minimum of two full years at Middle School level to one or more of the arts. (e.g. choirs, clubs etc) This will include participation in at least two different school co-curricular groups or projects (e.g. Stage Challenge, Production, Community Projects) for two full years.

• Service: - going above and beyond mere participation, eg: leadership initiatives such as starting up a new group, mentoring, assistance at school events, help behind the scenes, etc.

• Regional Competition/Exhibition/Publication - a placing (1st/2nd/3rd) or the following qualifications: Music Grade 7, Speech & Drama Grade 7, Contemporary Dance Level 5, Jazz/Ballet Intermediate or an equivalent qualification deemed appropriate by the Arts Committee.

Colours take the form of a white braid to be sewn onto the sleeve of the school blazer.

These criteria are to be maintained up to and including the year of application. Please note that student participation in and commitment to school co-curricular arts groups is imperative to gaining a badge or Colours, and that tuition in Music, Dance and Speech & Drama classes does not count towards applications.

Student Conduct Expectation
To be awarded Colours a student must be able to show that she consistently upholds the values of St Margaret's College and that she consistently meets and role models the attendance, behavioural and uniform presentation expectations of the College.

Procedure
Applications are to be sent to the Arts Facilitator Mary Davison by email (pdf or word please) and two hard copies of each application left in the Performing Arts office WN202. The deadline for applications is 4pm Thursday October 25th (week 2 Term 4.) Applications will be considered by the Arts Committee, consisting of the Curriculum Leaders and Teachers in Charge in all the Arts areas and Middle School Arts staff. Final confirmation will be made by the Arts Committee in consultation with Senior Management. Decisions are final and no correspondence will be entered into. All awards will be presented at the scheduled Middle School Arts Awards Assembly in Week 5 of next term.

Ngā mihi and good luck!!

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/

The Gruffalo Explorers
Last year eight awesome St Margaret’s students were involved in The Christchurch Walking Festival’s Gruffalo Explorer Walk for pre-schoolers. This fantastic walk has been acknowledged by winning the Living Streets Aotearoa Golden Foot Walking Award for a Community Led Project. The walk takes families on a 2.3km journey through Bottle Lake Forest where they explore and discover the creatures from The Gruffalo book and other animals found in our native bush. A huge congratulations to the girls, Miss Stacy Goldsworthy, Ms Sarena Harrison and all who made the walk possible. 2017 Performers – Zelle Logan, Hattie Compton-Moen, Amy Bourner, Georgia Lassen, Greer Thomas, Hannah Seymour, Feya Durkin, Rosie Milne.

Our new Gruffalo Explorers for 2018 have walked the track on a reccie to Bottle Lake Forest. They are Georgia Lassen, Lily Burt, Grace McKenna, Annabelle March, Mia Cleugh, Chloe Taylor, Yani Rutherford and Emma Cawood. This walk takes place on Wednesday 1 October as part of the school holidays.