Nat Hutton wins Canterbury Rockquest heats, Mimi Dyer selected as a finalist for Ara Songwriting competition, four of our seniors gain ATCL in Speech and Drama and Year 8s claim 3rd prize at Showquest.

Rockquest Success
We are very proud of Natalie Hutton, co-Head of Arts, who has won the Canterbury Rockquestsolo-duo heats, alongside Minnie Robberds from Christchurch Girls’ High as the duo act There is a Tuesday Between a Monday and a Wednesday. “Something about being on stage and performing with the closest of friends is just the most special thing,” says Nat. Minnie and Nat performed their original song “The Sound Of The Stars” which they are hoping to record with their band at the end of this year. The judges were extremely impressed with the girls’ vocals, lyrics, creativity and dynamics. In the judges’ words: “Your sound gave me goosebumps. Very atmospheric and original… the audience was captivated.” The girls will now prepare a four-song video submission for the chance to get to the national final in September.

Ara Songwriting competition
Congratulations to Mimi Dyer, who has been selected as one of 12 finalists in the 2019 Ara Music Arts Songwriting Competition in association with Music Works. Mimi’s composition was inspired by the mosque attacks, a beautiful song she performed for our community at last term’s Twilight Concert. This annual competition, open to all Year 11-13 students attending high school in Canterbury as well as Ara Music Arts students, encourages young people to write songs and the 10 finalists will perform at the prize-giving show in the Music Arts auditorium June 2nd.

Climate Change Protest performance
Last Friday Mimi Dyer and Izzy Smith performed for the hundreds of students protesting against climate change in Hagley Park. We are very proud of the girls for taking to the stage and representing their school so well, and also thank Head of Music Amanda Woods for setting this up.

ATCL Diplomas by Sam Capon, Deputy Head of Drama
After a busy night at the ball, four Year 13 students went to the Knox Church to receive our ATCL Diplomas in Speech and Drama. On Sunday 19th May we had the absolute privilege of being able to attend the Graduation Ceremony where we were recognised for our hard work. The four SMC girls who attended the ceremony were Olivia Hubber, Annālida Jaeger, Georgia Benton and Sam Capon. Those who also received their Diplomas but were not in attendance were Kaitlin Burden and Cara Donaldson. SMC old girls Millie O’Brien and Polly Forbes also received their Diplomas - Millie for Singing and Polly for Speech and Drama. It was an amazing feeling to be able to receive a Level 4 Diploma at this young age. It was also very fulfilling to be able to have something to show for the dedication and commitment we displayed all year in preparation for our exams.

Debating Regionals: Jenni McLaughlin, Teacher in charge
With the 2019 Canterbury Senior Regionals Debating Competition postponed from March until May, a clash with our Senior Ball meant that SMC's four original senior teams were no longer able to take part. However, we had a keen, enthusiastic team of Year 11s (Alexandra Lehmann, Phoebe Jennings & Yani Rutherford) flying the SMC flag at Regionals. The girls made great progress and gained valuable debating experience.
With Regionals postponement another method had to be found for selecting the Canterbury team for Nationals. Our Year 12s, Hattie Compton-Moen and Lucy Jessep, were invited to participate in a special selection debate and Hattie won a 3rd place on the team with Lucy named reserve. The girls travelled to Wellington to Nationals over the past weekend and had a very successful tournament (see below.)

Debating Nationals: Lucy Jessep
The competition was made up of seven debates over three days, with a range of topics such as boycotting Facebook, a meat tax and the value of the Mixed-Member Proportional (MMP) voting system. This was a really valuable experience for all of us and we loved being able to meet fellow debaters from all over New Zealand.
The team did very well, ending the tournament on 4 wins out of 7. They narrowly missed breaking into the semifinal based on speaker points, the best result the Canterbury team has received in a few years. Hattie and I were honoured to be able to compete with some of the best debaters in New Zealand and I know this has been a really valuable learning experience for both of us.

International Future Problem Solving
With such great Debating practice under her belt, Hattie Compton-Moen has now jetted off for the International Future Problem Solving competition at the University of Massachusetts,Amherst, USA, representing New Zealand and competing in the Senior Individual Booklet section. Our best wishes go with her and also Sujean In, competing in a composite Senior Team. We know they will have a life-changing time.

Showquest
Last week 49 of our girls performed at Showquest in the Christchurch Town Hall. This competition is an amalgam of Stage Challenge and JRock and pits primary schools against secondary school groups which makes it a tough competition. Our Year 8 girls were absolute superstars and placed 3rd overall, with 1st and 2nd being high schools. The prize system in the show has also changed, with only 1 for each category and we are very proud of Choreographer Stacy Goldsworthy and the girls themselves for taking home the award for best choreography. The girls were complimented on their professionalism and conduct throughout the day, making them superb ambassadors for St Margaret’s College. Hannah Ferguson stepped up to create beautiful lighting capturing the mood and theme behind the piece and Linda Chong brought the whole thing together with the incredible visuals accompanying the dancers. Thanks to all the staff who came to support during the day and evening, and to Performing Arts teachers Stacy Goldsworthy and Rachel Wilford for dedicating their time and skills to create such a stunning performance.

Theatresports: Kaitlin Burden
Theatresports is improvised theatre and here at St Margaret’s, we are lucky to have three Theatresports groups available (Year 7 and 8 Theatresports, Middle School Theatresports, Senior School Theatresports.) All groups are having fun as well as being in the process of practising in preparation for competitions at the end of the year. On Thursday 23rd May, 6 of our Senior School Theatresports girls attended a friendly competition at Hagley College. This was a really beneficial experience as it was set up to follow the structure of the competition so students were able to see how it works. It was run by a court jester who provided us with feedback and suggested areas that would be appropriate to work on. Watching the other teams in their performance was important as well, as we were able to identify where each team was doing well, take that and try and implement it ourselves to improve our ability. Overall, this friendly has aided us in figuring out our strengths and weaknesses. If you want to see our group perform, be sure to attend the Cushion Cabaret on Tuesday the 4th June. We will be performing at the Senior event (6:30pm) but it would be wonderful to see a good attendance for the Middle School event as well (5pm start.)

I Am Photos
If you would like to purchase photos by talented photographer Petra Mingneau for the Year 12 Drama/Music performance I Am, please follow this link: https://petramingneau.smugmug.com/MUSIC-DRAMA-YEAR-12-2019/n-ShwM8G/

Arts Photos
Last week photos were taken of all our school co-curricular arts groups. We thank Janine Hutton for her great skill in artfully staging the photos this year which show our groups amongst the autumn leaves in the main quad. Photos will be available for purchase soon as well as going into our yearbook magazine.

Dance-Art trip
Year 12 dancers visited the Christchurch Art Gallery Wednesday afternoon with their teacher Miss Cain as inspiration for creating their solo choreography for NCEA Level 2 assessments. The girls found plenty of artworks and objects to stimulate their imaginations; we look forward to the results!

Sheilah Winn Shakespeare Nationals
Best wishes to the SMC students travelling up to Wellington over the long weekend to perform in the SGCNZ Sheilah Winn Shakespeare Competition National Finals. Students will be treated to a whirlwind weekend of acting and directing workshops with industry professionals, numerous theatre outings, and the chance to celebrate all things, Shakespeare.
St Margaret's College will be performing their thought-provoking 15-minute version of The Taming of the Shrew on stage at the Michael Fowler Centre on Sunday, 2nd May. The piece was student-directed by Georgia Benton and Izzy Leighs and beautifully navigates the tragic and comic impulses of one of Shakespeare's most problematic plays.
The Sheilah Winn Shakespeare Festival offers students the chance to showcase their artistic and literary talents in a number of competitions beyond acting and directing. This year SMC has experienced unparalleled success in these competitions. Amelia Parker has been named a finalist for her Static Image of Macbeth and Youyu Zhang's Static Image of Romeo and Juliet was Highly Commended by judges. Lauren Healey's Shakespearean short story is a finalist in the Ida Gaskin Shakespeare Essay Competition. Maggie Cui's design for the Shakespeare Costume Design Competition of Lady Capulet in Romeo and Juliet was Commended and Holly Blackburn has been selected as a finalist for the Shakespeare Costume Design Competition. The garment she designed for Lady Macbeth has been brought to life by a professional theatrical costumier and will be modelled on stage during the awards ceremony. Our incredibly talented St Margaret's College students are all wished the very best of luck!

Cushion Cabarets
Tuesday June 4th our student Arts Council will be hosting two Cushion Cabarets in the Ngaio Marsh Theatre. Our Middle School show will start at 5pm and seniors are on at 6:30pm. We welcome whanau to join us for this relaxed evening of entertainment from our girls.

The Big Sing
SMC Chamber Choir and our combined CC-SMC Collegium choir are working hard in preparation for The Big Sing Secondary Schools’ Choral Festival to be celebrated in the newly refurbished Christchurch Town Hall Friday, June 7th. Both choirs will attend sessions during the day, the Chamber Choir at 10:15am and Collegium at 4:30pm, where their 3 song repertoire will be judged alongside choirs from all over Canterbury. The Gala Concert, at 7pm that evening, is open to the public, with tickets available through Ticketek. The choir’s Director Rachel Wilford accompanied the girls to a choral workshop with renowned director at Christ’s College earlier in the term, and they will also be performing their repertoire prior to the festival for residents at the Nurse Maude Hospital.

Chamber Music Contest
June 12th and 13th our three SMC Chamber Music groups willperform at The Piano as part of this annual secondary schools’ music competition. There are six sessions of the Canterbury District contest held over three days and evenings. St Margaret’s will present Mundo Corde (Sujean In, Meg Shatford and Katie Gluyas), the Beati Trio (Mia Cleugh, Amelia Lin and Hellen Wang) and SMC Percussion (Jasmine Ward, Katie Gluyas, Ella Kippenberger, Caitlin Rea, Chloe Taylor and Sienna Wu.) Mundo Corde perform Wednesday June 12th in the 6pm session, and Beati Trio and SMC Percussion perform Thursday June 13th in the 10am session. We wish the girls all the best and thank their directors Roanna Funcke, Chris Lynch, Jennie Goldstein and Sarah Hickford. We welcome whanau to come and hear the girls perform at The Piano.

NZ Playhouse performance for Juniors
June 11th, NZ Playhouse will entertain our Year 1-6 girls and some of our older pre-schoolers, with their touring show “The Tortoise and the Hare” in the Charles Luney Auditorium at 2pm. This adventurous and interactive adaptation of Aesop's beloved fable will have everyone laughing and learning about diversity, kindness and how to be a real winner. $6 per child will be added to the girls’ accounts.

Arts Mentoring
The Arts Council team continue this term with their Arts Mentoring programme where Year 12 and 13 girls guide Middle School girls interested in learning something new or improving their skills in any arts area. The aim of this programme is for our Year 7-10 girls to make connections with girls involved in the arts in the senior school and for them to provide support, advice or even work towards a project (i.e. a performance, an artwork etc.) This is a really great experience for our girls as part of our Tuakana-Teina (big sister-little sister) philosophy. At the moment the Council need mainly mentors for Music/Singing, Drama, Dance and Visual Art and those who have skills in more than one area are gold. Also open to staff!
If you are interested in being a mentor, please send Kaitlin Burden an email with:
- Your name and year group
- What area(s) of the arts you would like to mentor
- Why you want to be a mentor/why you think you would be a good mentor.
If you are in Year 7-10 and would like to find a mentor, you will need to fill out this survey to be paired up: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PBSJWLF

Grimm Tales
First dramatised by the Young Vic Theatre Company, “Grimm Tales”, by Carol Ann Duffy, is faithful to the original stories by the Brothers Grimm. Whilst we are familiar with the pretty versions of Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood and other tales, the originals are dark, gruesome and often nightmarish. The St Margaret’s College production contains these elements but also shows the playful humour, physical farce and overall fun of many of the tales.
Within a forest setting, seven stories ranging from Ashputtel to Rumplestiltskin, are acted and narrated by a cast of fifty students. Dancers, the spirits of the trees, draw the characters deeper and deeper into the woods where the wolf waits to pounce and the birds of prey circle overhead. Often, though, the characters step out of the shadows into the world of romance and magic; Ashputtel meets her prince, the wolf is slain and straw is woven into gold.
This senior production will be staged in the Charles Luney Auditorium 1st, 2nd and 3rd July. Tickets are available through our school website www.stmargarets.school.nz. Please be aware that there are violent endings for the villains of the piece and it is not recommended for children under eight or those with a sensitive disposition.
We are looking for parent volunteers to do a few sewing jobs for costumes. Please contact Mary Davison mary.da@stmargarets.school.school.nz