Kia ora Tolcarne whanau, here we are at the end of Week 4! Exams are underway, the Year 10s have been on camp and we held our 2023 Year 9 sleepover - it was all go 🤩

Last Friday afternoon we packed up the bus and headed to Waihola with the Year 9s. We were straight into paintball when we arrived, getting involved in a game of 'capture the bunny'. Robyn and I became targets in the second game, perhaps not quite coming out on top...! After running on adrenaline for a few hours, we headed back to camp for the famous water slide. This is always a hit, proving to be very fast this year!

To finish the night we built a bonfire and made s'mores, before each bunk room performed their rehearsed dance to the group. These were some of the best routines we have seen, with the choreography on point and a remix of songs. Check out our adventures from the first day here!

The next morning we had a few tired looking faces, perhaps due to their lovely singing and shenanigans after lights out 😜😂  After breakfast our teams took on the Confidence Course, having to show teamwork to get everyone through the range of obstacles. We also enjoyed games of bubble soccer and going on the water slide before heading up to the flying fox. 

The flying fox is always a highlight, being harnessed in and flying through the trees! It was a great activity to finish with, before packing up camp and heading back to Dunedin. See what we got up to on day two here! We loved our night away with the Year 9s - this is always something Robyn, Mrs Rathbone and I look forward to 😍

On Tuesday we spent the afternoon poolside, enjoying 'spider drinks' and ice creams. Bring on more sunny summer weather ☀🌈

We had our last session of Koru on Wednesday evening. There was a basket of 'baubles' with a students face printed on each. Every student pulled a random bauble out of the basket, adding a note of gratitude for the individual and attaching a chocolate treat. These were given out at the end, which was a lovely 'warm fuzzy' way to finish our sessions for the year 💓

On Thursday we welcomed the 2023 Year 9 students to Tolcarne for their annual sleepover! It was exciting to see lots of new faces arriving, getting to see what life as a Tolcarne student was all about. 

This was a great opportunity for everyone to meet one another, experience dinner time, have questions answered, get awarded Tribe badges and meet the current Year 9s. 

We hope everyone enjoyed the first night at Tolcarne and we can't wait to welcome you all back in 2023 to be official St Hilda's gals 💙

We invite our community to vote for Tolcarne Boarding Residence for the 'People's Choice" Business South Award. Tolcarne is a finalist for the Business Integrity Award in 2022. Please vote by using the link here, clicking 'Tolcarne' and then scrolling down to type in your email address. Thank you for your support!

Have a fabulous weekend everyone, hopefully more of this glorious sunshine we have been having! Ma tē wā 👋