Research shows that girls attending all-girls schools excel in many ways, but in the past week I may have discovered one overlooked advantage, the value of which is long term and enduring.

Being a flexible, critical thinker is an aspiration for students to achieve by the time they are ready to leave St Margaret’s College; it is one of the attributes of our Graduate Profile.

We're approaching that season when daughters come home, or into boarding, at the end of each day and after a suitable wind-down, wind themselves back up into preparation for forthcoming examinations!

Thanks to everyone who filled out our school holidays survey - it was great seeing all the fun things everyone had got up to during the term break!

This latest feature by School TV covers school refusal, sometimes called school avoidance or school phobia, which is not uncommon. It is different to ‘wagging’ or truancy and is often related to worry or anxiety-related issues about going to school.

Tonight is the Senior Learning Pathways evening. If you are due to attend you will have the wonderful opportunity to discuss with teachers from all learning areas, the wide range of subjects we offer at St Margaret’s College.

Last week was the annual celebration of house pride at SMC - the house plays! Each house presented their interpretation of “She’s my Champion” through music, dance, and drama. We were treated to a fabulous afternoon with a whole cast of characters making an appearance, each house found a truly unique and special way to get their message across!

This week's featured local businesses are McDonald's Family Restaurant, CDF National Ltd, Cequent Project Management, Caxton Press and Craig's Investment Partners. These are all local business who support St Margaret's College and we'd love you to support them back as much as possible, thank you.

Another busy and successful couple of weeks has gone by in the world of Sport at SMC. A huge congratulations to all of the girls who attended our Winter Quad this year in Dunedin. St Margaret’s College came an amazing first overall. How awesome is that? Considering how many tournaments and games have been affected this year, it was fabulous to have some healthy competition from three other schools. You can read all about it further on in the newsletter.

All of our Junior school students learn three languages during their time in the Junior School: In Years 1 and 4 we offer Chinese, in Years 3 and 6 Spanish and in Years 2 and 5 French.

This weekend we're back at Beacon Street please come along if you can. The SMC Wetlands on Beacon Street is an ongoing all-school project that we have adopted to undertake the regeneration of red zoned land.

Here's what's on next week's menu.

Tessa Sitjes, Jenna Davison, Evie Johnson, Cara Birch competed on the evening of Tuesday 28 July. The evening was intense. The girls work solidly two and a half hours and despite not placing showed incredible perseverance.

Join the SMC Move-4-Maia Team Running Challenge - a super fun afternoon with food trucks, music and prizes.