St John’s Girls’ School

Newsletter

17 November 2017

Principal’s Comments

Tena koutou katoa – Greetings to you all.

PrEP

The girls raised approximately $4000 from their PrEP stalls. I am very proud of their work!

Familiarisation Morning

We had our annual Familiarisation morning today. The house captains and their deputies did a fantastic job of informing

the new girls and their parents about the school and the buddies made sure that the new girls felt welcome. Thank you

everyone!

Greats and Grans Morning: It was lovely to see so many proud grandparents at school on Friday 3rd November. The

girls enjoyed sharing their talents and their learning with you. Thank you to the junior teachers for organising this lovely

morning.

End of Year Events

We have many end of year events. To find out what each one is about, look in the School Handbook which was given out

at the beginning of the year. It is also available on our website.

Thank You Assembly

Invitations have been sent out for this annual special assembly, to thank and honour sports coaches and managers, on

Wednesday 22nd November. We appreciate the time and effort the coaches and managers put in. Without these

wonderful people your daughter couldn’t play extra-curricular sport.

Tabloid Sports - Monday 4th December, starting at 1pm

It is part of the house competition. Each house competes in a series of activities. The afternoon finishes with various

relays and a house chant. Parents and extended family are welcome to attend.

Uniform

We are proud of how our girls look in their uniform. To achieve the high standard that we are known for

we require all parents to conform to the uniform code please.

Junior jackets - Years 1 - 4 are school issue, cosy warm, water-proof blue ones.

Seniors - Years 5 – 8 may wear any plain black jacket.

Shoes – Years 1 – 2 may wear black leather t-bar shoes or black leather lack up shoes.

Years 3 – 8 all wear black leather, dress, lace up shoes. No sneakers.

Accounts: Please ensure all outstanding accounts are paid up before the end of the term.

Congratulations to:

Kate Burr, Grace Watson and Ivy Turner did such a good job at the Story Teller’s workshop that they were invited to

present their story at the Story Tellers’ dinner on the Friday night. Well done girls!

Nga mihi nui (Kind regards)

Brenda Mackay

TERM DATES:

November

22nd Thank You Assembly - 10am

24th Stripes awarded

27th BOT meeting 5.30pm

December

1st House Captains & Deputy House

Captains for 2018 announced.

4th Tabloids—1pm

5th Dance Sharing

7th Christmas Service practice am

8th Christmas Service 2pm St John’s Church

12th Prizegiving practice am

13th Prizegiving 1.30pm St John’s Church

Y8 Leavers afternoon tea 3.00—4.15pm in hall

Last Day

January 2018 30th 1st Day Term 1

Congratulations to the following girls who received

awards recently—

Room 1 Aaliyah Jack, Esme McCleery,

Nevaeh Roughan

Room 2 Elizabeth Torrington, Morgan Lau

Room 3 Niamh Doherty, Sofia Campbell-Wall,

Ella Pope, Kiri Paitai

Room 4 Brooke Acker, Kacee McEwan,

Millie Cottam, Jaylah Harvey-De Clifford

Room 5 Holly Hampton, Emma Wallace,

Anna Coveney, Frances Keast

Room 6 Katie Unahi, Jessica Wallis,

Taleeha Stewart, Ella Watt

Room 7 Samara Beck, Jane McDowall,

Lindsay Black, Jordan King

Values Cup:

10 Nov Isabella Rhind Rm 4

17 Nov Tess Bryan Rm 5

ROOM 4—Year 4 & 5—Miss Smillie

Room 4 have been working extremely hard this term with testing and our technology unit. We have been learning

hand stitching this week. We have been sewing noughts and crosses bags that can be used as a travel game over the

holidays or as a Christmas gift idea. Room 4 have mastered backstitch, cross-stitch, running stitch, overstitch and

blanket stitch. The most difficult task was threading the needle with such a thick thread and the most frustrating was

when we had to unpick our work and start again. We are very proud of our efforts and wanted to share them with you.

Next week we are cooking up a storm in the technology room.

ROOM 5— Year 8 —Mr Hughes

It's been all about the stitching in Room 5 in the last two weeks as we put together our blanket stitched teddy bear

cushions. Mr Hughes is pretty amazed at how well we are doing and with so much perseverance. Not one temper

tantrum has been had! It's exciting choosing the colours for our bear's clothes and the cushion borders.

We really enjoyed the trip to the Awarua Communications Museum and the highlight had to be watching the vintage

reeled films in the Victorian style theatre. We were even treated to coned ice-creams and we had to stand for the

Queen at the beginning. We were able to use a working switchboard and those old vintage dial telephones... like

Mr Hughes had when he was a kid!

We are choosing the literacy activities we want to complete from the 'Homemaking as Great Nana did it'

taskboard. Sketching Gilmour House and learning about its history has been a popular choice.

This week we are deciding and starting on our Prize Giving and Leavers' Ceremony songs. How is Christmas coming

so quickly?

ROOM 6—Year 7—Mrs Hawke

We have had an extremely busy term so far in Room 6. The girls are very proud of their PrEP and the profits made

from market day. They all participated in successful ventures and have learnt a lot about running a business.

Room 6 have been cooking a great selection of food in the past couple of weeks. We have made savoury and sultana

scones, tomato soup, cheese pastry twists, apple crumble, custard and sausage rolls. The girls have also been learning

about the importance of hygiene, metric scales, balanced diets and nutrients in our food. They are now aware of how

to follow a recipe and should showcase these talents for you at home.

The girls are also very excited about the selection of leadership roles to be awarded soon. This will give the Year 8

girls an opportunity to mentor our girls into their new roles. We have so many girls with outstanding qualities who I

am sure will make great leaders for 2018.

AFTERSCHOOL CARE

Thank you for the support received throughout the year. As usual it is going by very quickly.

The Afterschool Care Programme will run on the last day of school (13th December) after prizegiving

It would be appreciated if all accounts could be paid up before the end of term.

Thank you

The past few weeks have been extremely busy with ongoing testing. We had running records and written test for maths

and reading. In our class we also have to pass at least one of our normal spelling and basic facts tests every two weeks,

which requires a bit of effort. Mrs Taylor has been very busy trying to keep up on all the running records as well and

spelling and basic facts tests.

In Room7 we have been trying to complete 10 minutes of writing everyday. Our writing has been different every time

because we get a random topic. One of our topics was creating a new species. A few of the creations were the

Snuggleumps, the Unila and the Horseguine. Every now and then we get to pick 1 of 5 topics e.g. ‘My Father’s Job’ or

‘The Person I Admire Most’. Sometimes we publish our writing so we can make it look neat and tidy on the walls.

On Friday 3rd November Years 6, 7 and 8 went on a field trip to the Awarua Communications Museum to see old

fashioned phones, radios and other communication devices. At first the people showed us into the museum where we

went into the movie theatre. We watched a movie about trains and another about how they built Manapouri Power

Station and how they built power poles to get the electricity to town. Then we ate ice cream, yum yum. We have also

seen clothes that they used to wear as the museum people were dressed up in them. After the movie we got a question

sheet that we had to fill out. Once we had found an item that was on the sheet we would tick it off and write when it

was used.

On Monday 6th November Mr MacFarlane came to talk to the Year 6, 7 and 8s about when he was a child. The class

was very interested. After he told us about his childhood we went into the technology room and looked at some

artefacts he had brought in. Then we went back into the classroom and asked him some questions. We thanked him for

coming in and showing us some of the old fashioned everyday lifestyle ornaments, books, posters, blackboards and

toys.

For PrEP there were 4 groups, Tennis Balls, St John's Bags, Jam Jars & 3D Printing. It was a great experience because

we got to choose what we wanted to make, then we sold it! The whole thing was very exciting because we got to see

the “old girls” that bought some of our bags at the Centenary Fair. All our groups made a profit, but not very much. We

were told businesses don’t often make a profit in their first year so we did well. Mrs Taylor helped us a lot along the

way and set amazing goals for us to strive for to get the job done.

The choir has been very active with learning new songs for the Christmas Service. They have been learning the songs

‘The Stars Danced, the Angels Sang’ and ‘Star Carol’. I think that they are improving lots in singing and Mrs Taylor

has been a huge help teaching us.

The soloists have been getting more confident with singing their parts for Christmas Service. Katie, Samara and Ivy are

soloists from our room.

The whole school have been learning the Christmas Songs. Sometimes we sing in the morning.

We still have a bit to practise and haven’t sung much without the words, but are getting there.

Five Year 5 & 6 girls have been given the opportunity to take part in Feuerstein. Feuerstein was named after Professor

Feuerstein. We have been going for about 6 months at the end of the year. Our teacher, Kiri Scott, helps with

learning curves and how to solve problems which will help with growth and pathways. Feuerstein has caused class

timetables to move around so normal everyday subjects can be accomplished by 5 girls who do Feuerstein. Feuerstein

is done on Mondays, Wednesday and Thursdays each day 40 minutes a session.

ROOM 7—Year 6—Mrs Taylor

FAIR UPDATE

The fair raised over $18,000. This has far exceeded all our

expectations and we want to say a huge thank you to you all for

your outstanding support and generosity.

We really enjoyed organising this event for the school and it showed

us what a wonderful school community we have.

The money raised is going to be used to build new playground

equipment for all the girls to enjoy.

SPORTS NEWS

GOLF

MINIBALL

SCHOOL SWIMMING: Term 1 2018

TABLOID SPORTS

On Monday 13th November we had three St John’s golf teams compete at the Town Zone Golf

Tournament which was held at the Invercargill Golf Club. We would like to say a huge thank you to Mason Middlemass, Lisa Stevens and Sharon Hampton for transporting and managing the girls on the day. Our team comprising of Brooke Egerton, Kate Goodeve, Holly Hampton and Jorja Unahi finished in 9

th position. They have now qualified to play in the Southland Primary Schools

Golf Tournament which is to be held at Drummond Golf Club, on Thursday 30th November.

Congratulations girls!

Our teachers have recently had a PD session with Chris Morgan the Otago/Southland Education Manager for Swimming NZ. Chris spoke about the change of focus, from learning to swim to survival in the water and the newly implemented ‘Water Skills for Life’ programme. Water Safety NZ has completed a study and found that there is a need for a greater emphasis on teaching water safety skills prior to stroke and distance focused swimming skills. What will this mean for your child? More emphasis on developing confidence and buoyancy in the water (eg putting her head in the water) before moving on to stroke instruction For more information, please go to: http://www.watersafety.org.nz/resources-and-safety-tips/education-initiatives/water-skills-for-life/

Miniball took a break this week due to a large event at the stadium. Next week the St John’s Giants play a semi-final game with the finals to be played on Tuesday 28

th November. Good luck girls!

We also have three Year 3/4 girls playing in a composite team called Sacred Heart School Warriors. They play their final round robin game on Tuesday 21

st November. We hope you have enjoyed the season.

On Monday 4th

December, at 1:00pm, the whole school will be taking part in Tabloid Sports. This is a fun afternoon where the girls will be competing in various activities for house points. The girls may wear house coloured T-Shirts and hair ribbons if they desire. School PE shorts are to be worn. There will be a house “chant off” at 2:50pm if time allows. Parents are most welcome to come and support the girls.

WATERPOLO

Here are a few photos of the Year 4-6 St John’s Flippers water polo team in action last Friday when they played the Windsor North Stingrays in the semi-finals.

PHOTOS

REPRESENTATIVE NEWS

If anyone has taken any photos of our after school sports teams in action, please feel free to email them through to me as it would be nice to put some in the sports section of the newsletter when space is available. Thanks, fsmith@stjohnsgirls.school.nz

COMMUNITY SPORTS NO-

Congratulations to Kacee McEwan and Madeleine Lawlor who have been selected to represent Southland in the Girls U11 Touch Rugby team. Kacee and Madeleine recently travelled to Queenstown for a U11 tournament and have two more tournaments coming up. They have a tournament in Invercargill this weekend and another tournament in Win-ton on Sunday 3

rd December. Good luck girls!

If your daughter has made a representative team or has excelled in her sport, please remember to inform either myself or Mrs McEntyre in the school office so we can acknowledge it in the newsletter. If they participated in a St John’s Girls’ School sports team we will note this for end of year merit certificates and for Y7/8 stripes. Thank you. My email is fsmith@stjohnsgirls.school.nz

IHD Summer Holiday Sessions Want to improve your basic hockey skills? Wanting to learn how to play hockey? Sessions for all ages to be held at the ILT Hockey Turfs, Invercargill Cost: $20 per player per session or $100 for 6 sessions (up front) Email: development@ihdcoaching.co.nz or call Tony on 021 708 414