A shout out to our gardener Emma Taylor for the care and attention she gives to our grounds. As you can tell from the plants and the hanging baskets in the picture above, she does an amazing job, as do our grounds and maintenance staff. Our students and staff are privileged to have such a lovely school environment
Acting Principal's Message
We are now most definitely into the business end of term with NCEA exams under way and school exams for all year groups scheduled over the next couple of weeks. NCEA materials for next year’s level 1 have arrived in schools and rather than closing the school for a teacher only day, our wonderful teachers are pulling out all the stops to support each other so planning can take place and classes are not disrupted.
Around the school this week, girls in the intermediate department have been involved in the Cricket Smash and a Summer sports exchange with Scots. Year 10 have spent today at UCOL taking part in career workshops as diverse as Hairdressing and Building.
The end of the school year will be upon us before we realise, and with it, the Carol Service, Leavers’ Breakfast and Prizegiving. All students from year7-13 will be together for our last day in school on Friday 1st December, dress code: regular summer uniform. Our combined Carol and Leavers’ service will follow at 5.30pm at St Matthew’s Church. We look forward to welcoming our whanau to the service.
Year 13 students and their families are invited to the Leavers’ Breakfast in the dining room at St Matthew’s at 7.30am on Saturday 2nd December, this is hosted by the St. Matthew’s Old Girls’ Association (SMOGA). Our whole school Prizegiving Ceremony follows at 9.30am which will be held in Rathkeale’s Auditorium. We hope this eases the pressure for those families who need to travel between two prizegiving ceremonies.
I wish you all a lovely weekend and hand back the reigns to Mrs Gill when she returns from her sabbatical on Monday.
Take care
Mrs Sandie Sherwen
Around School
Boarding Note
On Monday some of our incoming 2024 Year 9 boarders had a sleepover in Main House so they could experience a taste of boarding. Despite the wintery weather, the girls were kept busy with several afterschool activities. In the picture below, the soon-to-be-boarders enjoyed “speedy introductions” with our current Year 7&8 boarders. Many thanks to everyone for making our visitors feel so welcome.
With less than four weeks of school remaining, it was time to find a Christmas tree for the Main House verandah. Many thanks to the Gibb family for providing the tree for the second year. It is very much appreciated by us all and is a good reminder that we are not far away from the end of the school year.
Pictured with the tree are some of our Year 7&8 boarders, left to right - Charlotte Jaspers, Heidi Didsbury, Zoe Crout, Grace Jaspers, Alexandria Bradshaw, Vienna Weatherstone, Sofia Carroll, Ella Brader, Abi Craig. Absent- Annabelle Wyeth, Zeta Radford and Addison Duckett.
Enjoy the weekend.
Jo
Meningitis Vaccination
If your daughter received the Meningitis Vaccination in our school roll out, they require the Bexsero booster.
There are 2 free walk-in clinics on Tuesday 9th January 10.am -12.00pm and Tuesday 16th January 13:00 -15:00 pm. These are being held at Level 2 Departmental Building 35-37 Chapel St Masterton.
You can contact Sue Keene on 027 181 00362
UNIFORM SHOP - holiday opening hours
The last uniform shop opening for term 4 will be Thursday 30th November 3pm – 4pm.
If wanting to drop 2nd hand uniform off during the first week of the school holidays: 4th December - 8th December, please make an appointment by email: smcsuniforms@trinityschools.nz
In the last week of the holidays, the uniform shop will be open Tuesday 23rd January – Friday 26th January, 10am – 3pm each day. Also open 2pm – 5pm Sunday 28th January.
Friends of St Matthew's
A big thanks to all who supported the Friends of St Matthew's for the Rathkeale Fete last weekend. We had a very successful day and gave away some amazing raffle prizes donated by very generous people!
Our lucky winners were:
Hamper Raffle
- 1st prize - #135 Melissa
- 2nd prize - #391 Hanna
- 3rd prize - #25 Sharyn
- 4th prize (Pea Straw) - #159 Deb
Portrait raffle
- #9 Bridget
Again, thank you all for supporting us and what we do. We hope to see you at our fabulous Kitchen Tour on 24 March 2024!
Girls Who Grow
Girls who Grow was born out of a weekend at Lake Hawea Station where we took industry leaders, entrepreneurs and visionaries away to NZ's only Climate Positive Farm to curate a program for our next generation of female leaders, change makers and environmental guardians in agriculture and farming.
Girls who Grow was born out of a weekend at Lake Hawea Station where we took industry leaders, entrepreneurs and visionaries away to NZ's only Climate Positive Farm to curate a program for our next generation of female leaders, change makers and environmental guardians in agriculture and farming.
In September last year, we were grateful for the opportunity to join CreativeHQ's GovTech Accelerator to dig deep into the problem we were working to solve and design a solution to spark the imaginations of young women all over New Zealand by changing the narrative aligned to food and fashion and how they could be part of the solution. We presented Girls who Grow at The Beehive in December and have been activating our pilot program in Otago this year.
The work of Girls who Grow is activated through Imagination Centred Workshops in Colleges across New Zealand, 1 day Imagination Challenges working on real world problems, On farm Lunch and Learn educational experiences bringing the Future Farmers NZ manifesto to life and 3 day immersions to connect young women and their parents to the land to craft out a meaningful and values aligned pathway.
So here is where we need your support
Girls who Grow will be live on One Good Kiwi launching today (Tuesday 1st August) for the entire month giving us the opportunity to secure further funding to be able to continue our work in Otago, Wellington and the Greater Wellington region, Christchurch and Canterbury in 2024.
We are on a mission to engage thousands of young women, activate scholarships to support them on their journey and create meaningful education that aligns to Climate Positive Agriculture and farming in New Zealand.
So we would love your support in 3 steps
- Download One Good Kiwi from the App Store or Google Play
- Give your luscious green coins to Girls who Grow and other projects you connect with on the platform
- Share the experience across your social media, office intranet, friends, family and others in your network that know the importance of nourishing the hearts and minds of our next generation of leaders.
One Good Kiwi are giving everyday kiwi's the chance to give to the things that are important t them with $1.2 million contributed over the next 12 months.
Thanks for your support and we look forward to you being part of our journey
Catherine van der Meulen & Aimee Blake - co-founders of Girls who Grow
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
- Monday 6th November - NZQA Exams begin
- Friday 1st December - Carol Service
- Saturday 2nd December - Leavers' Breakfast and Service
- Saturday 2nd December - End of Year Prize Giving
2023 Term Dates
- Term Four - Monday 9th October to Saturday 2nd December
2024 Term Dates
- Term One - Monday 29th January to Friday 12 April
- Term Two - Monday 29th April to Friday 5th July
- Term Three - Monday 22nd July to Friday 27th September
- Term Four - Monday 14th October to Saturday 7th December