Senior Visual Art students exhibit a stunning array of NCEA folios as we prepare for our Middle School Arts Awards Assembly, the Christchurch Schools’ Music Festival, Kids for Kids, and our Junior Cultural Celebration.

Dance success
Congratulations to Year 9 Sana Fujii who has been awarded the Jazz Scholarship Award and the Contemporary Scholarship Award after achieving Distinction (95% and over) in her NZAMD Contemporary level 5 and Jazz Elementary and Intermediate Dance exams. To achieve Distinction and a nomination in the exam you have to attain the highest score in every section, and Sana will travel to Lower Hutt to attend the scholarship classes this weekend. Sana’s dance team was also selected to go to PACANZ (national young performer awards) having been nominated from a local dance competition and were one of the only teams to be selected from the South Island.

Arts Soiree: St Margaret’s The Musical
Some warm memories below captured from this engaging evening last term celebrating the arts. Photos are available on photo site on Insite: https://stmargarets.smugmug.com/

NCEA Visual Art Exhibition
Painting, Printmaking, Photography, Sculpture and Design all played a part at the Senior NCEA Art exhibition held Tuesday evening in the Old Girls Atrium. We congratulate our Year 11-13 artists who achieve outstanding results with the guidance of their teachers, Callum Arnold, Ruve Crawford, Maria Buhrkuhl and Janet Molineaux.

A Strong Showing from Y9 & 10 Debaters at Junior Regionals
St Margaret’s fielded two novice teams at the CSDC Junior Regionals Debating Tournament on Saturday, debating a range of topical issues with other Middle School debaters from across Christchurch.
Motions debated during the day ranged from whether or not Donald Trump regretted involving himself in the A$AP Rocky trip in Sweden, whether we would encourage participation in e-sports in schools, alongside traditional sports, and whether we would prefer to be born with average intelligence or be a genius.
Our Year 10 team of Emily Hodges, Lauren Healey and Sara Gillman had two wins from their three debates and their loss was to the eventual winning team.
The Year 9 team of Anita Avia, Hannah Wylie and Claudia Hundleby won all three rounds and broke to the finals, where they were up against a very strong Year 10 team from Cashmere High School. They argued valiantly a very tough moot about not regretting internet piracy, and, whilst the Cashmere team took out the trophy this year, these girls will be a team to watch in the future.
Well done to all six girls on a great day of debating. Thank you also to Year 12 debaters, Hattie and Lucy, who have coached the girls previously and also gave up their Saturday to shadow adjudicate and provide moral support in the final.

Sedley Wells Concert
Our Christ’s College-St Margaret’s College Combined Orchestra along with members from our SMC Orchestra performed the opening number Feuerfest Polka by Strauss at the annual Sedley Wells Concert and Competition in the Christ’s College Hall Tuesday evening. The orchestra was conducted by Christ College Music teacher Nick Coxon, with SMC’s Sarah Hickford on percussion and Amanda Woods on double bass.

Christchurch Schools’ Music Festival
The St Margaret’s College Year 5 - 7 girls and any Y8 students that choose to will be participating in the Christchurch Schools’ Music Festival again this year. This is an annual event that we participate in, which runs over four nights in early November. Teachers have been working in class and in Choir with the girls on the items to be performed by the massed choir, and the performance night is always a great opportunity to come and see your daughter performing in a large-scale musical production. Please refer to the festival website for further information: www.musicfestival.school.nz.
Our performance night this year is Tuesday, November 5 in the Town Hall Auditorium, with the concert commencing at 7.00pm. In addition, there will be a full rehearsal on the morning of Tuesday, November 5 at the Town Hall. The girls will be travelling by bus to and from the rehearsal and the cost of transport will be charged to the girls’ accounts as explained in the letter sent home. Parents/caregivers will be responsible for transporting the girls to the Town Hall on the evening of the concert. We hope that you will be able to attend the concert. Tickets may be purchased from Ticketek and are expected to sell out quickly, so please do not delay purchasing tickets to avoid disappointment. Please do not hesitate to contact Sarah Hickford (sarah.h@stmargarets.school.nz) if you have any questions or concerns.

Kids for Kids Concert
Our Year 3 and 4 students have been learning songs for the Kids for Kids concert which will be held in the Horncastle Arena on Tuesday, November 5. The students will be rehearsing at the arena in the morning where they will be travelling by bus accompanied by their class teacher. The rehearsal will be from 9am and they will return to school at 1pm, also by bus.
Tickets are available through the ticketing agent handling the venue for your school. Please check ticketing information on the website kidsforkids.co.nz under the Dates and Locations page. The concerts normally book out in advance and we recommend pre-booking your tickets to avoid disappointment.
Unfortunately, the Christchurch Schools Music Festival is on the same evening as the Kids for Kids concert and this is out of our control. Please note that if you have daughters involved in the Christchurch Schools Music Festival (Y5-7 students) and the Kids for Kids concert, you will need to consider which family members are going to be able to attend which performance and purchase tickets accordingly.
The Kids for Kids performance will start at 7.30pm and finish at 9.30pm, all students need to be backstage by 6.45pm – the girls will know on the day where to meet.
All families should have received a letter with further information and details designed by the organisation but please email me if you need any more information,
Samantha. Bates@stmargarets.school.nz

Junior School Cultural Celebration
The whole Junior School are excited to present the Junior Cultural Celebration on Thursday, November 21. This celebration of folk dance and music from around the world will be a fun event for all the family to attend. So start inviting friends, neighbours and family now!
Show 5pm-6pm. Picnic dinner 6-6:30pm
School field if fine. Auditorium if wet.
Please note: All Junior School students are involved in this event.
More information will follow in notices in the coming weeks.
Kind Regards
The Junior Performing Arts and Music teachers
Samantha Bates
Stacy Goldsworthy

Middle School Arts Awards 2019
Applications have now closed. All awards will be presented at our Middle School Arts Awards Assembly scheduled for week 5, Tuesday November 12, Period 7 (2:40pm)