What a week! With the excitement of snow flurries, formals and 'My Flat Rules', we have been busy at Tolcarne 😍

On Friday a group of girls headed to the Dunedin Ice Rink for their annual Mid Winter Christmas night 🎄 They were all dressed to theme, getting right into the festive spirit! Rebecca McNab and Jessie Davidson were awarded best dressed, with Santa himself handing out chocolates to the group 🎅 It sounds like they had a blast, with our chief interviewer (Grace Keno) interviewing Jessie Davidson on her night at the rink...

Grace and Jessie — Image by: Isla Huffadine

Q: How did you enjoy the ice skating activity?

A: It was a great way to spend a Friday night and a good opportunity to mix with the juniors outside of Tolcarne. The skating was fun (I barely fell over...) and definitely my favourite weekend activity! Of course with the added Christmas disco theme - who wouldn't be in a good mood!

Q: How did it feel to be awarded best dressed?

A: I felt so overwhelmed to win such a prestigious award 😉 I was dressed in a Candy Cane outfit with Santa patterns (we did get a few weird looks - probably because we were that well dressed!!)

Q: What was your highlight?

A: Apart from winning, skating around with the Christmas music playing really got me into the festive spirit! Even though it is 6 months away, I am already wanting to plan my Christmas wish list!!

Anna and Jessie in their festive outfits! — Image by: Isla Huffadine

On Saturday evening a lot of our girls were out at the John McGlashan formal. Once again the corridors were smelling like the signature Bondi Sands coconut scent, mixed with nail polish - a delightful combination 😉 As always, the girls looked stunning and had a wonderful night! With the formal season almost over for 2021, we are getting ready for the junior socials. Wahoo I am already looking forward to the Tolcarne Social next term!

The Year 10s spent their Koru session looking at social media on Tuesday. This is an extremely relevant topic, with social media being used daily. The focus was around our emotions, for example - how the use of the media can make us feel confident, insecure, happy and even sad. We also looked at two different 'selfie' images, making judgement on what we saw. It was revealed the photos were of the same female, which was a surprise to most. The girls discussed how judgements are made of photos shared online, potentially altering our perception of others. This was a great open session and we look forward to further conversations around this topic.

Year 11 Korero was also held on Tuesday, focussing on 2 discussion points. Ziggy and Ross started the session focusing on how banter is defined, followed by identifying how unintentional harm or offense may occur. After a discussion the cohort were divided into groups, each creating skits to perform. Skits are a great way for the girls to put their ideas into 'real life' scenarios, enabling further reflection and sharing of ideas/opinions. Continuing these conversations into Year 11 from junior Koru, has been a great way for the students to build on 'tools' within their 'toolbox' and develop new strategies to carry through their senior years.

Year 9 Koru on Wednesday was a follow on from our previous session about empathy. The girls prepared performances, displaying various situations where empathy was/was not shown. These were all relevant to life as a boarder, which helped the girls to develop strategies they may use in similar future situations. Cassidy helped lead this session, ending with a lovely message for the group 💕

Group hugs all round after Koru — Image by: Isla Huffadine

After much anticipation the annual 'My Flat Rules' was held on Wednesday night. The planning, budgeting and use of 'mystery' ingredients was the topic of discussion for the Year 13 flat girls. Their mystery ingredients this term were... Prunes, parsnip, mascarpone, slivered almonds and 'non meat' meat. The judges said this year they have seen the highest standard of meals yet - making the judging difficult!

Desert with a matching 'red' theme — Image by: Isla Huffadine

The overall champions this season were Ocean, winning a dinner voucher for the Esplanade! Their winning dish consisted of lamb cutlets with parsnip rosti - delicious 👩‍🍳 Well done to all of the teams involved, your meals looked incredible!

The winning dish — Image by: Isla Huffadine

This weekend the juniors are heading to Inflatable World, which is always a fun afternoon out. We also have lots of girls heading to their first concert tonight, the outfits are planned and excitement levels are high! Woohoo, an exciting final weekend at Tolcarne 😀 See you all back on Sunday for the last week of term 🌸

Midwinter Carnival