Term 3 has been an incredibly exciting term for the Arts. It began with the school production of ‘The Little Mermaid’ in which I felt proud to be amongst so many amazing students who performed three incredible shows. So much work went into these shows and I am grateful for the commitment and time that the students each gave to this. I hope that it will be a memorable highlight of your school year.

Congratulations also to Pyper Tamblyn (Visual Arts) and Sophie Wagner (Performing Arts). These students have been successful in the Year 9 Scholarship process showing a lot of promise in the Visual and or Performing Arts. We wish you both well in your studies and look forward to your feedback on your scholarship year ahead.

Thank you to our Arts Prefects Olivia Ollerenshaw and Hannah Lawrence for another wonderful Arts Assembly. This term we showcased Aerobics and the Hokonui Fashion Designs. We are always grateful for students who are willing to share with our school community their learning. 

Thank you again for your continued support of The Arts at St Hilda’s.

Helen Badcock
Arts Coordinator

Visual Arts - Maia Taylor

Term 3 has been a busy and fun term for the Arts Department. The Otago Secondary Schools Art Awards Exhibition took place at the end of August and a bunch of Year 13 students got to showcase their most successful pieces.

Congratulations to Phoebe Hunter, Georgia Chambers, Alexia Jones, Anya Clark, Emma Grindlay, Hannah Lawrence, Maia Taylor, Hannah Elizabeth Wilson and Charlotte McKenzie for being selected to have your work in the exhibition. Special congratulations to Sabine Mason who was awarded the Certificate of Excellence. It was awesome to see the girls' hard work pay off and see some work displayed before the final push to get their boards complete. The rest of the senior school worked hard to get their slideshows handed in for their internals and are now working hard to get their art boards finished. Not having the pressure of a folio, the Year 11s have concluded exploring photomontage options and are now producing work in their preferred style towards a small exhibition. 

Year 10 have put in an excellent effort on their Pop Art Portraits by following a long process towards a final piece. 

Year 9 have been working on some exciting linocut prints based on their favourite animals. 

Year 7 have had their sleeves rolled up experimenting with a variety of mediums to record landscape before embarking on a diorama project.

Kapa Haka - Imogen Hornal

During term 3 Nga Mānu o Hira Tapu has worked towards many performances. We had a wonderful Saturday workshop with our tutor, Annelies MacDuff. We helped open the GPS Symposium and open night in preparation for our biggest performance yet, at Otago Polyfest in Week 9. Where we performed three items, a wonderful medley finishing with our school Haka, Te Iwi E, and Whakatōria Mai. A big thank you to Annelies, Mr Ellwood and Mrs Badcock for supporting our rōpū.

Choir - Evie Rose Grace

Sings Hilda have been continuing to work on our Big Sing repertoire and enjoying learning some new songs as well. We are currently preparing for the Eucharist service in the last week of term, rehearsing some old hymns and a new motet.

Ngā Korimako, our all comers choir, has started up again this term, which is very exciting, we have had new members show up and enjoy singing along with some Disney karaoke and reviving songs we started to work on in Term 1.

Everyone is welcome to join in with Ngā Korimako, and we would love to see more people there on a Thursday at lunchtime in the Chapel.

Hip Hop - Emily Wright and Charlie Williams

This term has been huge for all our wonderful Hip Hop girls. On the 6th of August, our talented dancers represented St Hilda’s at the regional hip hop competition. The wonderful Megacrew, Revolution, placed 1st in their category qualifying them for nationals. Entity the senior crew placed 4th in their category, making it through to the National competition with their incredible performance! Our year nine and ten crew Graphite, put on an amazing performance and placed 7th in the overall competition. We also had a couple of duos from St Hilda's perform, and let's just say they were all so talented. After the hip-hop crews and duos showcased their skills at regionals, nationals was already right around the corner.

On Saturday the 2nd of September, hip hop nationals took place at Kings High school where the wonderful girls from Entity and Revolution performed. The megacrew Revolution, placed first yet again in their category, well done. Entity’s place is yet to be confirmed. We are so unbelievably proud of all the girls and their amazing performances as well as achievements in 2023. They all worked extremely hard throughout the year and are all destined for greatness. We would also like to give a big thank you to all of the coaches and teachers for making St Hilda's Hip-Hop this year possible as well as a huge shoutout to Miss Geary for all the endless help and support she's given us. Woohoo Hip Hop! Coaches Graphite- Bonnie Mcgregor, Charlie Williams, Molly Gaffaney, Entity- Sophie Wispinski, Revolution - Emily Wright, Sophie Burke. 

Megha Senthilkumar - Music

This term has been great for our students in the Music Department. Being able to work with Abby Wolfe, who is part of the creative in school’s initiative, has let students finalise their original songs, and record them in a professional setting.

A few students also entered the nationwide Play It Strange competition, for the opportunity to record their songs for Spotify, where Megha Senthilkumar was a finalist. At Bandquest a group of Year 8s have also performed extremely well, with students in Music and Orchestra working alongside adults in the Little Mermaid school production. Finally, the senior school students are working hard in preparation for their music composition due next term as well as their assessment concert. This term has been extremely eventful for students, and they are all looking forward to what other opportunities term four will bring!

Performing Arts - Imogen Irvine and Amelie Warlow

In Term 3, the performing arts students have been working hard! After the high of the musical production, the senior drama classes have been creating and performing their devising assessments. A group of students visited the New Athenaeum Theatre in the Octagon to watch a performance of a modern interpretation of the classic play “The Seagull” by Chekhov. We were so excited to have this opportunity, as the play will be very helpful for preparing for our end-of-year exams.

Debating - Zara Geddes

The St Hilda's Debating Squad has had a successful year. The main focus for our two Senior Debating teams for this term was the Dunedin Schools’ Debating Competition which continued on from terms one and two. Our more experienced

Year 13 team had much success, winning most of their debates. Their fantastic results from the regular competition meant that they were one of four teams that broke into the Semi-Finals, where they came up against the top-ranked school, Columba. Despite a narrow loss, our St Hilda’s team debated extremely well to finish the debating season on a high. Our younger team continued to improve with every debate and we look forward to watching their progress over the coming years.

Dance - Victoria Avery

It has been another busy term in Dance with everyone working hard to get everything finished for the end of the year.

The year 12s have completed their internal where they had to choreograph a solo and perform it based around the idea of Tūrangawaewae which means a place to stand. The year 13s are now focusing on their choreographies where they have to choreograph a group dance based around Tūrangawaewae for it to be performed at our dance showcase at the start of Term 4. The year 11s have also been busy learning dances to perform as a part of their repertoire internally. They have been learning ‘Can Can' choreographed by Miss Geary and this will go with their Fosse dance which they performed earlier this year. All the senior dance classes are currently studying Mass Solitude which is what our exam at the end of the year is on, and everyone is looking forward to sharing our years worth of work next term at the showcase.

Orchestra - Gion Sin

In July, the full school orchestra participated in The Little Mermaid music production. We started rehearsals in April.

After lots of practice with the singers and dancers, we finally managed to carry out the parts, even though they were challenging. Which was totally a success. Now, we are practicing a few pieces in different genres every Wednesday after school as usual. We aim to perform at the prize giving and Carol service at the end of the year.