Acting Principal's Message
Staring at a blank screen trying to begin writing the newsletter I started distracting myself by flicking through my diary looking at the daily quotes; this one popped out at me! “It always seems impossible until it’s done” Nelson Mandela.
I think plenty of students will relate to this as the last few days of term have many project and assessment deadlines. Some girls are finding it hard to find their motivation, some are tired, some have had illness or have had to isolate, many have missed periods of time out of school. The amount of work needing to be done can seem overwhelming and procrastination can creep in. To counteract this, it can be good to choose just one goal, focus on it and get it done. (Like this newsletter) If trying to do everything at once it takes longer to finish anything and the feelings of dissatisfaction grow.
So, what can we, and you, do to help?
If your daughter is absent through sickness, or isolating due to Covid, the teachers are here to help. Staff will be in contact with your daughter via school email or TEAMS and let them know what work is being completed and where to find it. This is usually through the subject in TEAMS or through the OneNote notebook. If appropriate, the teacher might Teams chat (like a zoom call) or invite her to an online lesson. Feedback will be given to help her along. If your daughter is too sick to work, then her teachers will understand and will adjust the expectations on her accordingly. We can help her to prioritise and make a plan.
If she is likely to miss an NCEA assessment, this is not the end of the world. She needs to complete a Missed Assessment Form and return it to Ms Leckie or Mr Gordon. Arrangements can then be made to give an extension or reschedule a test.
To help prevent your daughter missing any more school than she must, we would really appreciate it if appointments, trips, holidays etc are not made during school time. Especially at this time, we never know when the next unplanned absence will strike.
The school guidance counsellors, Georgie Reid, Jenny Keaton (St Matthew’s site) or Theresa Ahipene (Rathkeale site) are available for students, and parents, to contact should some sage words of advice be needed.
Have a lovely weekend and enjoy the Arts extravaganza.
Around School
Boarding Note from Jo Booth
A few reminders for boarders as we head into the final week of Term 2-
- In Main House, all boarders are to tidy and empty their rooms before the holidays. Feel free to start taking belongings home that non-essential items.
- In Hampton House, all boarders are to tidy and clean out their rooms. (Some items maybe be locked away but please check with Matrons first.)
- Our end of term Boarders Dinner will be on Thursday 7th July.
- Afternoon tea for boarders parents will be available on Friday 8th July 2-3pm in the Dining Room. Mr James will also be present to answer any queries you have regarding Orah. (All leave requests must go via Orah from the start of Term 3.)
- Both Boarding Houses will close on Friday 8th July at 5pm except for those few boarders who have a netball game on Saturday morning.
- All boarders, full and part time are to return to the boarding houses on Sunday 24th July between 2-5pm. Dinner will be provided and there will be no charge for this night.
Good luck to our junior sports teams travelling to Wellington for the Pentangular Tournament.
Lastly, with the girls permission, here are four of our lovely Year 12 Boarders enjoying sitting around their new dining table after prep. It is so nice to see you finishing off some schoolwork (or online shopping!) and enjoying each other’s company.
Have a great weekend - Jo
An Evening of Art
Come join us for an Evening of Art - on tonight and tomorrow night starting at 6.30pm at the Trust House Theatre at Rathkeale College.
Storylines Author visit
On Tuesday Paul Beavis, an author and illustrator, and Sarah Ell an author visited the school and spoke to Year 8 and Year 9 classes. They have been visiting schools in the lower North Island talking about their work as authors. Paul spoke about his journey to getting his stories published and about his training in England at arts school which has led him to illustrating many books. Sarah described how she began writing as a journalist and has now written several young adult novels and non-fiction books. The students enjoyed their talk and had many questions to ask them afterwards. Thanks to the Storylines Children’s Literature Charitable Trust for making this visit possible.
Parent/Teacher Interviews Term Three
Parent/Teacher interviews have been moved to Week 2 of next term – 4th and 5th of August. Details for booking will be emailed to parents in the last week of this term. Year 10 parents will be given first option for booking as they missed out on the first round of interviews.
Matariki Arts and Crafts
When gathering student voice at the beginning of the Kotahitanga journey, arts and crafts was a popular request. We decided to align arts and crafts with Matariki. The students had the opportunity to do some paper weaving, make putiputi (flax flowers), poi, lanterns, fortune tellers and koru art. There were some beautiful pieces created, and some challenges along the way. It was a great afternoon which enabled girls to build connections, be creative and therefore opportunities for mindfulness. Thanks to the staff for the great programme and to the students for keeping an open mind and giving it a go.
Wairarapa Readers’ Cup
On Wednesday evening, 29 June, a team from St Matthew’s competed in the Wairarapa Readers’ Cup competition – an event organised by the various college librarians. It was the first such event in our area, though similar events have been running elsewhere for a few years now, and St Matthew’s has previously competed it the Manawatu competition.
St Matthew’s entered a team of six Year 9 students: Lucy Didsbury, Fiona Ebbitt, Audrey Hall, Scarlett Handley-Craig, Olivia Leach and Vicky Wu – though sadly, at the last minute, Vicky was unable to compete. The girls prepared for the competition by reading six books: The Long Way Down (Jason Reynolds), Atua (Gavin Bishop), Always (Morris Gleitzman), The Porangi Boy (Shilo Kino), Dog Runner (Fran MacDibble) and Slice of Heaven (Des O’Leary). The competition took the form of a series of short answer questions covering details of each book. These were answered in writing, and marked immediately by the adjudicators.
The Rathkeale Chaplain, the Revd Ben Arcus acted as MC and created a very friendly atmosphere. There was cheerful rivalry between the competing schools with Wairarapa College finally emerging as the winners; though overall it was an evening enjoyed by all
I would particularly like to thank our librarian, Mrs Christina Bate, and the other local college librarians for organising the event.
Next week, the same six girls will compete in the Manawatu competition – though with a different six books. We wish them well.
T. P Clarke
Food and Nutrition
Here is the third Food Waste project recipe from Ana Long and Coco McMillan -
2022 School Board Triennial Elections
The St Matthew's Collegiate Board of Trustees Elections will be held on 7 September 2022. We encourage any parents, caregivers and those from the wider community who are interested in being part of the governance of our school to put their name forward when nominations open this month.
School App
If you are new to St Matthew's Collegiate, or have yet to download, please follow the link to install our school app https://schoolappsnz.co.nz/install
For current families, please update your subscription groups by clicking on the cog in the top right hand of the screen. It will take you to the groups for you to change.
Key Dates
- Friday 1st July - Saturday 2nd July - 20 hour back-page challenge
- Friday 1st July - Saturday 2nd July - Arts Evening (6.30pm at Rathkeale)
- Sunday 3rd July - Tuesday 5th July - Pent Tournament (away)
- Wednesday 6th June - Year 11 Barn Dance
- Friday 8th July - Last day of Term 2
- Monday 25th July - First day of Term 3
- Wednesday 3rd August - Mid Winter Showcase
- Thursday 4th August - Parent/Teacher St Matthew's
- Thursday 4th August - Parent/Teacher Rathkeale
- Friday 5th August - Parent/Teacher St Matthew's
- Sunday 7th August - Monday 8th August - Winter Quad (Nga Tawa)
- Friday 12th August - Food Bank non uniform day
- Saturday 13 August - Exeat
- Sunday 13th August - Exeat
- Thursday 18th August - Viva Fundraising concert
- Monday 29th August - Teacher Only day
- Saturday 3rd September - Exeat
- Sunday 4th September - Exeat
- Friday 16th September - House Music event
- Friday 30th September - Last day Term 3