Nelson College for Girls

Nelson College for Girls
N E W S L E T T E R
TERM 4 WEEK 9
2014
Best wishes for the festive season and holidays
Dear Parents, Caregivers and Whanau
As the year draws to a close I want to wish you all a very happy holiday and family time over Christmas and the
New Year. This has been a very busy and successful year for Nelson College for Girls and I want to thank you all
for your contribution to our school. We are very fortunate to have such supportive families in so many ways. It
is appreciated.
I am very grateful for the assistance we always received from our Parent Teacher Association. This group of
parents is hard working and innovative about ways to help the school.Their very successful fashion show again
this year was an excellent example of these qualities. They have continued to help to purchase equipment that
is needed but could not be provided from our government funding.We are very grateful for this.
Another group in our school that makes a significant contribution is our Old Girls’ Association. This group
of women work very hard for our school and they represent many decades of students, who have passed
through our gates. A very visual moment in our calendar is our graduation ceremony for our Year 13 students.
This evening is hosted by our Old Girls’ Association and they make this evening very special with the corsages
that they make for each girl and also the beautiful graduation scrolls that they prepare. During this year they
have funded the re-upholstering of the heritage chairs and the re-surfacing of the special table. We are very
grateful for this also.
The end of a year inevitably brings farewells.This year we have a small number of staff leaving us; two of these
have given collectively more than 70 years of service to Nelson College for Girls. Mr Robert Taylor retires at the
end of this year after 35 years at our school and more than 40 years devoted to education.He has held a variety
of roles at our school, including Head of Mathematics and Assistant Principal. In recent years he has taken on
a non-teaching role looking after our NCEA data entries and provision of relief teachers. We wish him well in
his retirement. Mr Mark Allen is also retiring after more than 30 years at our school. A passionate Geographer
and Social Studies teacher, he has given much service to our school too. We are also farewelling Mrs Gerda
Smith, who has been with us for 10 years, part of that time as the Assistant Head of English. She is taking up the
positon of National Moderator with NZQA in Wellington and we thank her for her contribution to our school
and wish her well for her new positon.Mrs Sheila Leeper, our Finance Manager, has been on leave this year and
she is not returning in 2015.We wish her well for the future.
We will also be farewelling several staff who have been in longterm relieving contracts this year – Miss Catherine
Loten is heading away overseas next year; Ms Vonda Ellen, Miss Phoebe van der Pol, Mr Vaughan Watson and
Mrs Audrey van Hilst are also leaving at the end of the year.
There are some new appointments too for existing staff. We are delighted that three staff have been appointed
to management positions from the start of 2015 - Mrs Cheryl Candish as the Assistant Head
of English; Mr Richard Bradley as the Head of the Technology Learning Area; Mrs Anna
Keogan as the Head of Materials Technology.Other staff have been appointed to
assistant teaching positions – Mrs Kate Lewers to a permanent position in the
Mathematics learning area; Ms Danielle Devereux to a fixed term position in English;
and Ms Tracy Tjostheim to a three year position as Dean and teacher of Mathematics.
At the start of the school year in 2015, we look forward to welcoming our students
back, ready for the new school year. We know that they will return ready to take PRIDE
in all that they do and how they represent our school. The starting times for next year
are included in this newsletter. We hope that you all have a wonderful family time over
the summer break.
Kia kaha
Cathy Ewing
PRINCIPAL
Tel: +64 3 548 3104
email: [email protected]
www.ncg.school.nz
P O Box 842, Nelson, 7040, New Zealand
SCIENCE
YEAR 9
2014
INTER-CLASS TECHNOLOGY CHALLENGE
The BP Technology Challenge is a fun event between teams
from our Year 9 Science classes. It challenges students to
design and develop ‘solutions’ to problems using easily
resourced materials, e.g., paper, string, sticky tape and straws.
On Thursday 4 the eight Year 9 teams competed in the annual
inter-class competition. It was wonderful to see NCG’s PRIDE
values in action as the girls battled it out . Under strict time
constraints the girls had to work together, show initiative and
think on their feet to design “the light tower” and complete
their challenge. They also pre-designed and built a device
called the “tosser” to launch a ping-pong ball high into the
air. This event encourages cooperation, team learning, risk
taking , competition and provides an opportunity for those
girls with practical skills to shine.
This year the winning teams were from 9LW and 9TS.
Congratulations!
Sarah Johns
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INTERNATIONAL YEAR 13 GRADUATION
Graduation is always a very special occasion when we are delighted to celebrate with our international leavers.
Left to right: Benjawan Sae-ngow (Thailand); Xiwei Lv (China); Nhu Thi Quynh Tran (Vietnam); Akane Hisamatsu (Japan);
Yan Lok Chan (Hong Kong) and Asuka Yamamoto (Japan).
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SPORTS
LATEST SPORTS RESULTS!
We have some talented sporting stars at NCG and they have
certainly been shining brightly over the last term.
Our Junior A and B Volleyball teams recently returned from
the South Island Secondary Schools Championships with
some new hardware for the walls. Congratulations to the
Junior A team for winning Bronze at the SISS Indoor Volleyball
champs. Our Year 9 SISS Beach Volleyball team also came
home with a Bronze, and the SISS Year 10 Beach Volleyball
team took out their competition and came home with Gold!
Well done girls. A special congratulations to Tali Uia for being
named in the tournament team and thanks to the coaches
and managers who put in a big effort over a long week.
NCG athletes also had a big presence at the recent Tasman
Secondary Schools Sports Awards. Our Games Captain Ellie
Bell did a wonderful job as MC for the evening and also
took home Sportsperson of the Year for Netball. Four other
Sportsperson of the Year awards went home with NCG girls:
Jess Martin - Cross Country, Geena Gross - Football, Tessa
Timms - Underwater Hockey, and Courtney Lott - Touch.
Fantastic work, a big congratulations to you all!
GYMNASTICS
Gracie Kroos fantastic acheivement of winning four golds at
the Nationals
At Level 6:
Maya Smith finished 3rd
Aimee Robinson, 7th, with a
Silver in Clubs
Grace Dennis, 9th
Zoe Jensen, 10th
At Level 8
Beth Strickland won Bronze
in Rope.
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Most popular titles in 2014
Years 7 & 8
+ every other Jacqueline Wilson or Robert Muchamore title 
Years 9 & 10
Years 11,
12 & 13
All year
groups
combined
It was twice as popular as any other title!
Merry Christmas & happy holidays
from Carolyn, Rosie-Anne & Kath
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PERFORMING ARTS
THEATRESPORTS
The Junior Theatresports team won the Nelson Theatresports Competition at the Theatre Royal in June.The
girls went on to compete at the nationals in Christchurch on 30 November. The team consists of Maria Mullett,
Eloise Beattie, Danielle Smith, Emma Kenny and Rhiannon Griffiths. They are the youngest group of students
to ever grace the regional and national competitions. This group only formed this year and are coached by
the Senior Theatresports team. Their talent, wit and creativity is to be admired. Well done girls!!!!!
SPEECH AND DRAMA
This year Karen Austin FTCL ( Speech and Drama), LSB ( Public Speaking ), Accredited Examiner Speech NZ began
teaching Speech and Drama/ Public Speaking to some of the hostel girls. Karen is an experienced Speech and
Drama/ Public Speaking teacher and previous to her move to Nelson earlier this year had a large practice in
Oamaru.
Congratulations to Katie Mears who completed all three modules of Grade 7 Speech and Drama gaining
Honours and Claire McKay who gained Honours in Module One, Grade 7 Public Speaking.
Both girls sat Speech New Zealand examinations.
Karen lives directly opposite Clarice Johnstone House at 19 Examiner St. If you are interested in your daughters
gaining the confidence to communicate confidently and clearly while at the same time gaining a nationally
recognised qualification please contact Karen.
Contact Details:
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 03 539 0000
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DANCE
Aimee Robinson recently co-choreographed a
Garin College dance at the Vast Dance festival
because she was not aware that anyone from Girls
College was taking part. Aimee is an active member
of Nelson Youth Theatre and has appeared in six
productions. More recently she has carved out a role
as a choreographer, choreographing three dances
for Cats, all the dances for Jesus Christ Superstar and
also contributing significantly to Producers.
MUSIC
KINDERGARDEN TOUR
On Friday 28 November the NCG school orchestra
went to Brook, Nelson South and Grove Street
kindergartens. We played three pieces which were
Rainbow Song, Star Wars Theme Song and Jingle
Bells. The children thoroughly enjoyed our performances and some of them even sang along. It was a
fun experience playing for little ones and we hope that they will also start learning instruments as they
grow older.
by Flora Secker
CAREERS
We are coming to the end of another busy year for seniors. Many of our Year 13 students have been awarded Scholarships for
tertiary study.
UNIVERSITY ENROLMENTS
Year 13 students going to University in 2015 are reminded to complete enrolments with the Universities they will be attending.
N.B. Many Universities have an enrolment deadline in early December. Please check individual University websites for details.
STUDY LINK
All students leaving who need to access loans or allowances need to apply online at www.studylink.govt.nz
Further help is also available on 0800 88 99 00
STUDENT JOB SEARCH
Students studying at tertiary level in 2014 may register to find summer jobs. Go to: www.sjs.nz.co.nz or call 0800 757 562.
YEAR 9 CAREERS
During Term 4 Year 9 students have completed a “Careers Focus” unit during their Social Studies class.
If you or your daughters have any career queries please do not hesitate to make contact with one of the Careers team.
ncg careers team name
position
email
telephone
Ms Robyn McLean
HOD – Careers
[email protected]
548 3104 extn 807
Mrs Alex-Coombs King
Gateway Co-ordinator
[email protected]
548 3104 extn 861
Miss Adrienne Williams
Careers Administrator
[email protected]
548 3104 extn 850
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NCG STAFF LIPSYNC
ENTERTAINMENT
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NCG STAFF LIPSYNC
ENTERTAINMENT
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S C H O O L
O N L I N E
S Y S T E M S All these systems may be accessed online, at anytime, anywhere where you have internet access.
Our new website homepage
looks like this. On each page
you will see icons that link you
to our contact page, Twitter,
Moodle and Home page.
Our website does not and
will not contain information
pertaining
to
everyday
housekeeping, this will all be
found in Moodle.
Please do not use our contact
form to inform us of absences,
this must be done through
the correct emails found in
Moodle on the front page.
KAMAR
THE WEB PORTAL
By logging into KAMAR through
the Web Parent Portal, which
is accessed via the front page
of Moodle,
you can access
your daughter’s attendance,
her timetable, the main school
notices.
You can also access her grades
and (once uploaded) her report.
Parents were given their login
at the beginning of the year via
email.
Moodle
is
a
Learning
Management System which
is used by many schools and
tertiary institutions both in
New Zealand and overseas.
As a parent you have access
to information here without
logging on. Here you can see
term dates, the newsletter, the
calendar etc. From Moodle,
students can login through the
portal to gain access to their
classes.
Microsoft Outlook is the mail system
that we use at NCG. Your daughter
can access her mail account from
anywhere.
Google Apps is the online software
that students use to create and
collaborate. Again, this can be
accessed from anywhere.
Schools are working in a rapidly and frequently changing environment. This is both exciting and
challenging, but also takes time. We ask that as we implement these changes and upgrade and develop
our systems you bear with us and support what will finally become a very efficient and productive method
of communication for all concerned.
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NCG Sponsors
We are pleased to confirm the following businesses as our School Partners. Please support these
businesses and make sure you mention you’re part of the Nelson College for Girls family.
Platinum sponsor
Bowater Hyundai continue their support of our
School with the provision of the new i20 Hyundai
signwritten vehicle, acknowledging Bowater
Hyundai’s involvement with Spirit of Adventure Trust
and their generous sponsorship towards two girls to
go on the Spirit of NZ each year. The keys for the
i20 were presented to our Principal at the launch of
the new Hyundai premises on Rutherford Street on
3rd April and The Nelson Mail article is attached. The
vehicle is in constant use with errands, meetings and
appointments and the School is very grateful for this
excellent resource.
www.bowaters.co.nz
Gold sponsor
TM Covers (formerly Transport & Marine Covers) is the provider
of the smart shade sail at the school canteen as well as those
at the pool. They are the leading company in the top of the
south for all quality outdoor fabric and canvas products. They
make a wide range of products, from shade sails to outdoor
blinds, awnings, outdoor beanbags & cushions, PVC covers,
tarpaulins, calf shelters, swimming pool covers, truck covers &
curtains and boat covers. They
also have Nelson’s widest range
of hire tarpaulins available.
Contact them to discuss your
requirements.
www.tmcovers.co.nz
If you are interested in becoming an NCG Sponsor please contact Jo Reilly at [email protected]
– she would be pleased to discuss the options available.
VODAFONE AND INTELLIGENT REWARDS
Are you a Vodafone homeline customer? If so, you can nominate the School to receive Intelligent
Rewards points from your bill each month. It doesn’t cost you anything to nominate your School
for points, but the School will earn 1.5 points for every dollar that is spent each month by you. Call
Vodafone free on 0508 011 737, quote Intelligent Rewards and register Nelson College for Girls.
Intelligent Rewards can be redeemed for a range of items from first aid kits to bean bags!
WAREHOUSE STATIONERY – SCHOOL POINTS
Each time you shop at Warehouse Stationery, please ask for Nelson College for Girls to receive Support
Your School points. We can then redeem Points for rewards to buy much needed school stationery, art
supplies and more. If you are shopping online, please quote our School code: BYSHUTZ
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Nelson College for Girls
PREPARATORY SCHOOL
ENTRY 2016
Applications close
Friday 27 March 2015
Please contact us if you would like
to book a tour of our school.
Ph: 03 548 2194
[email protected]