insights - Southland Girls High School

INSIGHTS
A newsletter brought to you by Southland Girls’ High School
VOL. 13,
6
NOVEMBER 2015
Stories in this newsletter
Tena Koutou
On Wednesday we said goodbye to our Year 13 students.
For us and them, it is always a bitter-sweet goodbye.
This group of girls are seriously motivated, community minded and
high achieving students. We are immensely proud of them and they
leave us with our very best wishes. However, they are so good we
would love them to stay, but we know they need to leave us to
become the ‘women of the future’ that we often speak of.
The students too expressed some sadness at leaving their red shoes
behind, but at the same time, excitement to be heading into the
unknown and all that it brings.
At Enwood Hostel High Tea on Tuesday night, listening to the 19
Year 13 leavers talking about where they are heading, I was
impressed with the aspirational and varied careers they had planned
for themselves. It is heart warming to hear them still talking about
challenging themselves through future studies.
This certainly bodes well for them and the quality of life they will enjoy
in the future.
How lucky are we to have been a part of their lives.
We wish them every happiness.
Nga mihi nui
Yvonne Browning
Principal
Mark this date on your Calendar…
Wednesday 2nd December
SGHS Prizegiving at Stadium Southland at 3.00p.m.
INSIGHTS
PG 2
PG
CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR 2016
CULTURAL AND SPORTING CAPTAINS
Aerobics
Milly Crothers & Olivea Crothers
Amnesty International
Hannah Ward
Athletics
Yvonne Van Baarle
Basketball
Jessie Kingsbury
Choir & Music
Sarah Sarfaiti
Cycling
Victoria Baldwin
Dance
Brenna Wilson
Debating
Sophie Cook
Drama
Charlotte Pearce
Duke of Edinburgh
Georgia Gordon
Football
Anna Drummond
Hockey
Emma Hopcroft
Kapa Haka
Kaytlin Atley
Multi Sport (Kayaking/Canoe Polo) Millie McLean
Library
Tara Hodgkinson-Harris
Leo Club
Victoria Cosgriff
Netball
Anna Henderson
Rowing
Reeny Souness
Rugby
Kayla Brocks
Small bore rifle Shooting
Samantha Walsh
Swimming/Triathlon
Poppy Le Quesne
Racket (Tennis, Badminton, Squash) Zoe Smith
Touch
Kendall Buckingham
Volleyball
Mikayla Butt
Waterpolo
Kelly Overdevest
Young Farmers
Katie Knarston
INSIGHTS
Captain
PG 3
BATTEN
Karisa Webster
Anna McCracken
Deputy
GORDON
Captain
Molly Warden
Katie Bowman
Deputy
MANSFIELD
Captain
Jessie Kingsbury
Reeny Souness
Deputy
MCSTAY
Captain
Faye-Sarah Holland
Victoria Cosgriff
Deputy
TRAILL
Captain
Isabella Hiroki
Bethany Smith
Deputy
WILLIAMS
Captain
India Frew
Caroline du Preez
Deputy
INSIGHTS
PG 4
On Friday the 30th of October Years 7 and 8 were lucky enough to have Fleur Beale to come
and talk to us about her amazing book writing. During period one she spoke with the Year 7 and
8 Homeroom teachers and shared tips for teaching writing. In periods 2 and 3 she met with Year
8 and then Year 7 and shared some of her work and answered questions. She then ran some
workshops.
I was in her period 3 talk which was with all Year 7 students. I found it interesting that she is an
amazing writer who didn't like writing when she was a kid! Fleur talked to us about where she
got her ideas, most of them are based in New Zealand. The End of the Alphabet talks about a
trip to Brazil. This was inspired by Fleur’s own trip to Brazil. The Year 7 students asked her
heaps of questions like:
When did she start writing?
How does she come up with names for her
characters?
How long has she been writing for?
How long it takes her to write a novel?
Why did she start writing?
Fleur read us the back of three books and also some extracts from End of the Alphabet and also
from I am Not Esther. It was really cool to hear her read it aloud - her way of reading aloud was
probably how she wanted people to read it.
There were also two writing workshops after that in periods 4 and 5. I was in the second one
where she taught us how we can improve our writing and shared ideas of things we should work
on. Fleur taught us to plan our ideas in a different way. This started by brainstorming all the
possible ideas, then you looked at which ideas would have the main character working hard and
involved in action. She said to make life hard for the character by giving them problems to deal
with. You then had to ask ‘What then? What then? What happened next?’ Fleur gave us the
example of ‘Guess what happened this morning?’ We came up with all of the following ideas:
Saw someone you knew
Cows got out
Clothing drama
Chased by a dog
Distracted by lollies
We ended up choosing the idea
about the cows getting out
because we could work out lots
of detail like the character was
scared of cows, the cows ended
up in a ditch and he had to
overcome his fear to help them
get out. We thought he might not have shut the gate and that’s why the cows escaped. The
farmer wouldn’t be happy with him and that’s why he had to overcome his fear and save the
cows.
Fleur encouraged us to look at our word choices. She joked about charging us $10 for every
adjective - no one wanted to pay more than $10! So we had to choose just one adjective that we
wanted to give power to. We also looked at removing adverbs and then selecting even better
verbs. She told us to ‘hunt and kill’ all -ly adverbs (quickly, quietly, gently) because these allow
you to use weaker or vague verbs. For example...Bob ate his burger quickly. We can take away
the adverb ‘quickly’ and look at using a verb that is better than ‘ate’. We considered:
inhaled
munched
gobbled
nibbled
demolished
scoffed
guzzled
and we discussed shades of meaning to help us choose the
best verb. Most of us chose ‘inhaled’ or ‘demolished’: Bob
demolished his burger. Lots better!
I’m sure these tips will really help me with my writing in the future. I was really inspired by Fleur
Beale and over the weekend I was able to get her book I am Not Esther which I am devouring.
Fleur is an amazing writer so you should definitely get all her books out and get reading!
By Lucy Hall
INSIGHTS
PG 5
CAREERS CORNER
SOUTH ALIVE YOUTH SKILLS PROGRAMME
Recently South Alive trialled a new training course aimed at helping youth gain
valuable skills to help with employment opportunities. These sessions were run over 6
evenings with the topics Assertiveness and Self-Confidence, Goal Setting and Timing,
Job Search Skills, Personal Branding, Presentation Skills and Stress Management and
were run by an SIT tutor.
Following comments from some of our students who took part:
“I went to the six sessions at the SouthAlive Youth Skills Programme and learnt
heaps.”
“I found the job search skills session to be most valuable in helping me to better
my CV, but took information from each session”.
“I found the guest speakers to be helpful giving information in relation to people
starting employment”.
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INSIGHTS
PG 6
2015 IIHF GLOBAL SKILLS
CHALLENGE
NZL REPRESENTATIVE
Congratulations to Maegen Blom who was
selected from a field of 15 New Zealand-based players, as a top Ice Hockey player.
This selection saw her travel to Vierumaki, Finland in July 2015 to compete against
46 other countries in the Ice Hockey Global Skills Challenge.
Congratulations to Moira Macdonald, Liz
Turner, Lucy Timpany, Sam Tripp and
Caitlin Miller who have been selected to be
part of the McIntyre Dick & Partners 2016
calendar.
MDP invites secondary school students each
year to enter a competition to be part of their
annual calendar and we are very proud 6 out of
the 12 art works selected are from SGHS.
Well done Girls!
Board of Trustee Elections will be held in May 2016.
You are invited to give consideration to joining the Governance team at
SGHS as a Board of Trustees member at
the 2016 elections.
Being a school Trustee is an important role
that needs people with a range of skills and
experiences, who believe in making a
positive difference to our student’s learning.
INSIGHTS
PG 7
COLOURS 2015
Congratulations to the following students who were presented with
Colours last Friday after meeting the criteria for recognition of their
dedication to their sporting and cultural endeavours:
Debating
Danielle Carson-Cameron, Julia Harvey,
Sophie Cook
Dance
Jordan Skelt
Kapahaka
Hinewai Collins, Teriwa Te Kani
Performing Arts
Alisha-May Perkins, Julia Harvey
Music
Sarah Sarfaiti
Athletics
Emma Hopcroft, Hannah Miller, Hinewai Collins,
Laura Moffatt, Lauren Brown, Samantha Welsh
Badminton
Tayo Dobias, Zoe Smith
Basketball
Jessie Kingsbury, Kelly Thompson
Cross Country
Hannah Miller
Canoe Polo/Kayaking
Alice Brown, Lucy McLean, Martha Broughton
Cycling
Emma Cumming, Makayla Smith, Victoria Baldwin
Football
Alex Bodle, Anna Drummond, Lauren Brown,
Megan Walker, Natalie Henley, Sammy Murrell,
Sarah Bryan, Stacey Allan
Hockey
Emma Hopcroft, Ruby Pringle, Stacey Allan
Netball
Alena Saili, Emily Henderson, Laura Moffatt,
Paige Harris
Rowing
Emma Napper, Irene Souness, Maiah Hegarty,
Michaela Townshend, Moira Macdonald
Rugby
Kayla Brocks, Laura Molloy, Lilly Tomlins
Rugby & Rugby 7’s
Alena Saili, Kendall Buckingham, Lauren Brown,
Meg Paterson, Patricia Hopcroft
Smallbore Rifle
Shooting
Aimee Withington, Samantha Welsh
Softball
Courtney Milne
Squash
Katie Fairweather
Tennis
Zoe Smith
Touch
Alena Saili, Kendall Buckingham, Patricia Hopcroft
Volleyball
Courtney Milne, Olivia Bell, Zoe Smith
Waterpolo
Alex Bodle, Kelly Overdevest, Lilly Tomlins
INSIGHTS
PG 8
Great Opportunities Coming Up
Break Out Day
As part of our Careers Education programme, all Year 10 students will be attending
a Break Out Day at the SIT.
The purpose of the day is to expose your daughter to areas of interest, and allow
them to continue to learn and develop aspects of their career competencies whilst
exploring courses offered at a tertiary institution.
This day will also help build their understanding of their strengths, interests and
values and start to consider how these might influence their life, learning and work
choices. The Break Out Day is to be held on Friday 13 November and/or
Monday 16 November.
Your daughter will be asked to select what she would most like to attend for ONE
day. Not all choices will be available as numbers are limited in some options.
Kia Ora Hauora Health Road Show Kia Ora Hauora Health Road Show to be held
on 24 November.
This will be a great opportunity for Year 9 and 10 students. Invitations to attend this
Road Show will be sent to students over the next couple of weeks.
Southland Secondary Schools Sports Awards
On Friday 6th of November the Southland Secondary Schools Sports Awards will
be held and we would like to congratulate the following girls who are finalists in
their field:
Senior Sports Person Category
Alena Saili, Sammy Murrell, Michaela Townshend, Emma Cumming,
Yvonne van Baarle, Emma Hopcroft
Sports Person with a Disability
Victoria Baldwin
Junior Sports Person
Ella Smith, Ryshae Forbes, Laura Geraghty
Participation in Sport
Emma Dermody, Kendall Buckingham
Team Category
U18 Quad Rowing Team, Senior Badminton Team, Rugby 1st XV, Rugby 7’s
The following girls were also recognised by their Regional sports organisation in
their sport as Future Champions.
Badminton - Ella Smith, Cycling - Emma Cumming, Football - Sammy Murrell,
Kayaking - Jessica Crosbie, Netball - Laura Moffatt, Rowing - Michaela
Townshend, Squash - Katie Fairweather, Softball - Brooke Pennicott, Swimming Emily Joyce, Table Tennis - Laura Geraghty, Taekwondo - Ryshae Forbes, Target
Shooting - Samantha Welsh, Touch - Alena Saili, Volleyball - Bay-Leigh Johnson
INSIGHTS
PG 9
Enviroschools Hui
On the 29 October, students from 20 schools involved in the Enviroschool
programme travelled across Southland for an Enviroschools Hui in Gore.
When we arrived in Gore we all settled down for a briefing on what we were
going to do for the day. After the briefing we had delicious homemade muffins
for morning tea then got down to business.
Alongside 4 other Year 7 students from SGHS, I learnt more about the
amazing things other Enviroschools were doing including developing heritage
potato garden beds; raising chickens to
provide eggs for the school community and
contributing to restoring Red Tussock.
I also learnt some ways to make art out of
recycled things as we got to create our own
‘Enviro-Hero’ character.
After lunch came the really fun activity - a
‘Selfie Tour of Gore’. We scrambled to make
our way to a variety of sites around Gore and
take group selfies, before heading into the
Hokonui Radio Station to record our own
environmental tips for broadcast the following
day.
Our advice was focusing on avoiding ‘singleuse’ plastic - for example re-using plastic
cutlery from take-away and choosing to buy
products with less packaging.
The day concluded with a ‘trading game’.
Each of us has spent time prior to the Enviro
Hui, creating bag-tags from recycled
materials in the shape of emoji
characters. We were able to trade them for
things other students had brought along,
such as fresh produce from school gardens
and packets of vegetable soup.
Unfortunately we didn’t get time to try all of
the activities during the day, but we came
away with new ideas to share back at school
and other things we would like to have a go
at doing.
We are grateful to Environment Southland for
funding this event and making it possible for
us to attend an inspiring day out with other
students who also care about the
environment.
Xanthe Beleskey
7CW
INSIGHTS
PG 10
Equestrian
Congratulations to the girls who competed in the Southland Secondary
Schools Show Jumping Event in Gore on the 1st November
Julia Broughton and Zed
Ella Wylie and Penny
L-R Julia Boughton and Zed, Kimberley Crack and Tui Gold,
Sophie Sinclair and Cruze, Ella Wylie and Penny,
Nicole Crack and She’s no Angel
Southland Board Riders Association Incorporated would like to invite any
Primary and Secondary age students interested in surfing to our “have a go day”
and the 1st “Summer Series” event being held on Saturday, 5 December.
Come along and give it a try – we would love to see you! You don’t need to have
surfed before or have the gear, we can help you.
We are a family friendly club and welcome new and existing members.
For more info visit https://www.facebook.com/
www.southlandboardridersclub.co.nz or contact Jess on 027 864 7230 or Mike
on 027 455 9099.