It has been lovely to have a full week back at Tolcarne! It does feel like 'normal' hostel life is returning, especially with an ease in certain rules starting this afternoon. We know everyone is very excited to have more freedom and head back out on different host and weekend leaves!

Although some rules and regulations have looked slightly different, we have all managed well. The girls have done a fabulous job of communicating leave and carrying masks when leaving Tolcarne. It certainly makes hostel life run smoothly when everyone is willing to do their part! Well done girls 😍

On Monday evening we gave out the prizes for our lockdown competitions. The overall winner of the Tasty Twins challenge was Georgie Lawson, with her take on 'raspberry slice'. She was lucky enough to receive their new book - full of all things cooking, wellness and tips to make study slightly easier! For photos of the Tasty Twins baking, see the images at the bottom of the article.

We also had prizes for....

Winner of the baking competition - Milly Kerr (Year 13) Second place - Honor Garden (Year 9)

Winner of the Tasty Twins challenge - Georgie Lawson (Year 12) Second place - Molly Loe (Year 13)

Winner of the cooking competition - Greer Egan (Year 9)

Best senior contribution - Ella Perkins (Year 13)

Best junior contribution - Meg Miller (Year 9)

Spot prizes... Anna Duncan (Year 12), Hannah Murray (Year 12), Megan Foster (Year 13) and Christy Foster (Year 11).

Well done to all of these girls and to everyone else who entered throughout lockdown!

Our Tuesday after school activity was baking. We decided to create something a little different, attempting to melt marshmallows and make homemade caramel to put between cookies! Talk about a sugar overload - which looks pretty impressive! It was great to get back into the activities room again and be creative - it felt like we were on one of the extreme cooking shows 😆

After many weeks without Koru, we were back with both Year 9 and 10 sessions. The Year 10 students focused on values. We looked at a sheet full of words, discussing what they meant and which ones stood out, fitting into different categories (family, friendships, spirituality and work). This was a great chance to reflect on each category, with certain words meaning more to some than others. Next week we will look back at what we wrote, narrowing it down even further and discussing the importance of values in relation to our friendships, family, spirituality and work.

The Year 9 girls continued to look at fear, which was the craziest Koru session! We had various challenges for the students to take part in, from 'egg roulette' to 'iron feet', 'worms and cream' and more. There were various shrieks, as the girls put their hands into mystery bags to feel the items inside, or taste tested unique foods! We loved the enthusiasm shown by the group and that everyone had a go - even when an egg cracked on their head (I have heard it is great for your hair!!) 😜 They certainly faced different 'fears' and this was a great way to wrap up our theme for the term.

This week I popped into the hostel at breakfast time, surprising all that I was there to film a wee video on the food options available. If you are anything like me (who has a pretty boring looking breakfast), you will be overwhelmed at the amount of choice! I was tossing up between the hot breakfast option, chia seed pudding or a smoothie bowl - delicious! Enjoy taking a look at the incredible spread the kitchen team put on every morning for breakfast. We are very grateful for the amount of effort they put into providing balanced and nutritious options for the students. **Warning - you may feel hungry after watching this video...!

Have a fab weekend everyone. Hopefully the sun is shining and you enjoy it from wherever you are within the country 😍 Please remember to complete the wellness declaration form before your daughter returns to the hostel. We thank you for your continued patience and support with our Covid-19 policies.

Otago Secondary Schools Art Award