Evergreen Ties, November 2020: Friendships Edition

November — 2020 November

Evergreen

Feature

The Friendships Edition

Ties

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PLUS St Cuthbert’s first school in NZ to launch The Resilience Project ALSO Cultural Honours: The Power of Embracing all of who we areCultural

Honours: The Power of Embracing all of who we are

Amazing Friendships

THANK YOU to all our 2020 donors Through your generosity, you have made an enormous difference here at the school. From a new Dance studio, to a Table Tennis table, to scholarships, prizes – and even a greenhouse; your support has made it all possible. Thank you for all that you do for the students at St Cuthbert’s.

Catherine and John Abel-Pattinson Rochelle Ade Aleksich Family Amanda Allan Alina An Andrews Family Victoria Avery Ankush and Swati Bajaj Nicola Baker M and J Ballantyne Betty Barclay Genevieve Barnard Wandzia and James Barron Joy and Steven Bates Catherine Belcher Hélène Bizouerne Grayston and Nick Grayston Nicole Blackett Pamela Blake Alice Bowden Andrea and Sean Brockley Susan and Mark Brooks Judith Browning Jennifer Bu Jo and Rob Buchanan Susan Buchanan Hayley Buckley Angela Bull Peter and Antonia Burton Chris Butler and Cilla Dunn Mary Cameron Katie Cao and Yu Xu Anne Carpenter (Cole) Mary Challis Coco Chan Stella Chaplin Amanda Charlton Chloe Chen Irene Chen and Adam Wu Paulina Chen Haiou Cheng Kathryn Chrystal and Maurice Toes Andrew Clarke and Susanna Sinclair Clayton Charitable Trust Jenny and Rod College Debbie and Greg Cook Margaret Cooper Melinda Crookenden David and Clare Cryer Anna Cupples (née Wills) Elizabeth Curr and Jayson Bryant Rachel Dai and Sean Pan Lily Darby Mia Gao Mark and Lisa Darrow Dawn Davenport Karen and Adele Davidson Margaret Elaine Davies Grace Merrilees M de Man Eileen Deng and Shane Kwok Aidin and Clare Dennis Brent Egerton and Sara Dennis Ian and Joanne Denton Development Committee 2020 Xinlin Ding Pippa and Eve Dixon Katie Doar Madi Doar Sissy Du Jenny Du Wei Emmeline Duncan Jennifer Duncan Julie Earwaker Mohsen Ehsankya and Mary Jung Phoebe Ellis Charles and Sally Fairbairn Wilma and Grace Fan Emma Feng Brooke and Matt Fenton Dr Anna Fenton Mary Fenton Lucy Fenwick

Akesa Fifita Joan Finlayson Belinda Ford Andrew Fraser Valarie Fraser Serena Gao Moina Garland Pamela Garlick Gifford-Maposua Family Gillingham Family Kirsten Glaetzer The Glengarry Family Yan Gong and Tao Zhang Zheng Gong and Mei Rong Justice Christine Gordon A Gray Ella Greenwood Pervinder Grewal and Nav Sidhu Margot Grigg Carol Guan Madeleine Guan Sunny Yang and Emily Guo Helena, India and Sylvie Haldane Ian Ham and Donna Brooks Emma Hamilton Frith and Peter Hanning Joanna Pidgeon and Philip Hardiman Louise Hare Vanessa and Ella Harford Hessey Hargrave Anne Hargreaves Rosemary and Grant Harris Susie and Andrew Harris The Hawkesby Family Maddie Hayes Fiona He Margaret Healy Henwood Family Saffron Heppner Mary Lou Herdson Dan and Hayley Hirschfeld Elena Horler-Dyblenko and Aues Shibzukhov Gladys Hou Patrick Hu and Fiona Zhao Yingkun Hu and Catherine Zhao Leo Huang and Linda Hou Sophia Huang and John Yu Yan Huang Colleen and Mava Iese Lilian Ji Xiaoli Jing Ann Louise Jordan Lucretia and Tony Kemp Tina Kilmister-Blue Peter and Anna Knight Wendy and Ian Kuperus Lucyana Lai Lam Family Madeline and Natalie Lamb Jovy Lau Megan Ewe Louise Lauer Jun Lei Pui Sim Mic Leung and Yuet King Chow April Li Bardo Li and Helen Chen Jessica Li Lan Li Michael Li Phoebe Li Valerie Li Zhou Li Jasmine Liang Jeff and Vivian Gao Chris Jones and Joanne Limbrick-Jones Hannah Linkhorn Margaret Linkhorn Celine Liu Clare Liu Helen Liu

Heli Zhu and Michael Liu Jason and Kiki Liu Jessie Liu Ka Chun Lo and Wing Man Ho Debra Lockie J Lockington Raewyn Lockington Joan-Mary Longcroft QSM Ashleigh Low Christina Low Michael Ly Jaclyn Wang Neda Maani Giri Mahadevan Justine Mahon and Gregory Heap Laura and David Mahon Olivia Mann Martin Family Salote Mauai Minnie McCormack Allan McFall and Karen Anderson Ian McGowan and Kate Moss McGregor-Macdonald Family Kirsten McKenzie Leigh and Donald Melville Cindy Merz Ava Milne Tulip Min A and J Minturn Roimata Mitchell Mitha Family Kate and Philip Morgan-Rees Sandra and Mackenzie Morrison Anna Mowbray Catherine Murray Janine Nathan Carmen and Gillian O’Neill Ali Nelson KC Ng Nick Ni Tabitha and Wayne Ni Abigail Parry North Jenny Ou and Sam Ye Kaue and Walter Pakalani Holly Palmer Parents & Friends Rachel Paris Adarsh and Rashida Patel Manishkumar and Kajal Patel Fiona Peacocke Kirsty Pearce and John Wright Penelope Peebles and Samantha Sutherland Rosabelle Penaflorida Paige Philipson Rachael Picot Denise Pollard The Popping Family Olivia Power Polly Powrie Ashleigh Pushon Dong Ming Qin Jessica Qin Akram and Humaira Qureshi Alisa Rao and Ashley Rao Robert Read and Maree Gibson R and F Paine Gillian Robertson Jazmin Robinson Samantha Ryan Ravi Sami Edmund Santhara and Carline D’Cruz Dave and Sharon Saunders Laura and Paul Savory Gay Scaniglia J and T Schaumkel Alisa and Jordan D’Mello Paula and Jason Seymour Nancy Shen and Alex Wing Jojo Houben Lish Shi Andrew Shiu Drs Ellis Situe and Nina Vasan

Meagan and Lilith Skelton-Faalogo Maia Smith Family Tiffany Song Old Girls’ Association Sarah and David Stewart Victoria Jagusch Shari Storie Kenneth Sun Rianne Li Vijaya and Suresh Kumar Alistair and Charlotte Sutherland Derek Tang and Helen Wang Yiyi Tao Anne Tattersfield Mele and Naisa Taumoepeau Marie Taylor Cynthia Thomas Paul and Saraid Thompson Hua Tian and Tao Xu Mike and Margaret Tomlinson Sulu Tone-Fitzpatrick Rebecca Tsang Tracey Ujdur-Subritzky Figen Ulgen and Andrew Flavell Charlotte Valentine Ruby Van Rooyen Stuart and Bridget Velvin Roz and Peter Vickers M and C Vinall Sarah Vokes Wadsworth Family The Waller Family Diana Wang Jessica Wang Lydia and Daniel Wang Paul Wang and Yue Fan Rachel Wang Hannah Warren Robyn Webb née Beauchamp Sophy and Scott Weenink The Vincent Family Bella Welsh Pia Wickstead Sondra Wigglesworth Rachel Wight Wilcox Family Guy and Michelle Williams Rob and Jo Wills Andrew and Sharon Wong Woodland Family Kathy Wu and Henry Chen Thea Yi Ming Xu Xu Family Yan and Zhang Family Gui Zhi Yang Lily Guan and Limin Yang Lily Jiang and Shu Guang Yang D Yao Year 13 2020 Karrin Yeoman Dian Kun Yin Bonnie Yu Jessica and William Yu Georgia Zacest Victoria Zeng Jianyu Zhang and Jun Wang Katie Zhang Mike Zhang and Madeleine Guan Stella and Jim Zhang Tracy Zhang and Zhao Rong Mai William Zhang and Jing Wong Barbara Zhao William Zhao Zhenyu Zhao and Beijun Shen Emma Zheng Jun Zhou and Shangchang He Linda Zhou Judy Zhu Mason Zhu Wei Zou 120 Anonymous

Making girls amazing Making Amazing Scholars Making Amazing Athletes Making Amazing Artists Making Amazing Discoveries Making Amazing Friendships — It’s amazing what you will achieve

Evergreen Ties —

A special edition celebrating friendship and the return to school post lockdown.

Evergreen Ties is published two times a year by the St Cuthbert’s Communications Office.

Meet our Leaders

EDITOR Jemma Taylor DESIGN & LAYOUT EDITOR Janice O’Kane

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From the Desk of Justine Mahon

TEAM Suzanne Joyce, Louise May, Sarah Talaic communications@stcuthberts.school.nz ADVERTISING Judy Watt Judy.Watt@stcuthberts.school.nz OLD GIRLS’ ASSOCIATION Georgina Robertson PresidentOGA@stcuthberts.school.nz PARENTS & FRIENDS’ ASSOCIATION parents.friends@stcuthberts.school.nz

Making Girls Amazing

PHOTOS BWMedia photography NEXT ISSUE May 2021

21 Follow us on: StCuthbertsCollege

StCuthbertsCollege

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StCuthbertsCollege

Spotlight on Sport

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Gratitude Day

Featured Stories 7

Amazing Friendships

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Being at one with the environment: Kahunui

Contents 01 — From the Desk of Justine Mahon 02 — Bringing out the best in students 03 — Farewell to our staff 04 — Preparing girls for the future 05 — Toi Toi 06 — Friendship Albums 07 — Amazing Friendships 08 — A Reflection on Friendship 09 — St Cuthbert’s Asian Friendship Group

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Online Scholars’ Assembly

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The Resilience Project

10 — Making Family Memories 11 — Amazing Girls of St Cuthbert’s 12 — Our Golden Girls 13 — Being at one with the environment 14 — Online Scholars’ Assembly 15 — Meet our new Associate Head of Performing Arts 16 — Shakespeare Festival 17 — 2020 Cultural Honours 18 — New Dance Studio 19 — The Resilience Project 20 — 2020 Sherilyn White Scholarship

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21 — Spotlight on Junior School Sport

Honouring our Outstanding Old Girls

22 — Student Hockey Coach, Frances Melville 23 — Spotlight on Senior School Sport 24 — 2020 Wearable Arts 25 — Gratitude Day 26 — Amazing Mentors 27 — The Solar Lights Project 28 — Old Girls’ Association

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From the Desk of Justine Mahon

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OUR LEADERSHIP

Welcome to our end of year edition of Evergreen Ties, in what has been an extraordinary period in New Zealand’s history. Who would have thought this time last year, that within a few months, we would be entering a global pandemic, our borders would close, and our students would be learning remotely?

The theme of this edition is friendships, a fitting tribute to the way in which our school community has come together during 2020. The Trust Board led by Mrs Hayley Buckley, the P&F by Mrs Elisabeth Bell, the Asian Friendship group by Mrs Nancy Zhang, and the Old Girls’ Association with new President, Ms Georgina Robertson at the helm, have all played a significant part in supporting us this year and reminding us all of the strength of commitment to one another.

I would like to acknowledge particularly, our dedicated teachers and support staff for everything they have done to continue delivering a leading education to our students during the lockdowns, and in helping us all to remain connected. Moreover, I am extremely proud of the grace and resilience our girls have shown as they embraced different ways of honouring the many St Cuthbert’s traditions and rites of passage.

I have reminded the girls at events recently, that, just as statistics reveal that nations governed by women during this pandemic have fared better, so through the centuries, has it so often been women who have defied circumstance, transforming loss to contribute to humanity’s creativity and thereby holding us constant and connected.

The St Cuthbert’s girls of 2020 are no exception. They have studied, danced, sung, painted, acted, produced, written, composed, and maintained fitness during a pandemic, not flinching as disappointment mounted upon disappointment, as the cancellations rolled in continuously.

I hope all parents will take heart from the fact that the endeavours of their daughters this year have been videoed and archived for posterity, a testament to the girls’ talent courage and perseverance in extraordinary times.

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However, perhaps the most enduring memory of 2020 for me is the generosity of spirit of our Year 13 girls. They have had to endure the most significant disappointments and instead of dwelling on their misfortune, have proved themselves to be the epitome of ‘By Love Serve’ and their leadership of our younger students this year has been remarkable.

Our amazing Head Girl, Ruby Sussock and her cohort have etched their legacy into St Cuthbert’s through a selfless and tireless contribution to their community.

We know these girls have the skills and resilience to successfully navigate life’s challenges and opportunities and are deeply grounded in the values represented by our motto. I have no doubt that they are ready to embrace their futures and make their mark, mindful of the value of the deep friendships forged at this College which will sustain them throughout their lives.

They have been nurtured on this journey by outstanding teachers and loving and supportive families. For those of you whose last daughter is leaving us as 2020 comes to a close, we wish you and your family all the very best for the years to come.

My deep gratitude to all of you in this special community of ours for the way in which you have believed in us throughout this challenging year. Your loyal and supportive messages have been really appreciated.

I wish you now a safe and relaxing summer holiday with your loved ones, a blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year.

With warmest regards, Ms Justine Mahon — Principal

OUR LEADERSHIP

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Bringing out the best in students – Anna Ready, Head of Commerce Commerce is one of our most popular faculties among Senior Students and includes both NCEA and IB subjects.

From teaching about personal finance and business acumen to mentoring Young Enterprise teams, Anna Ready and her team are equipping our students with knowledge on the latest in commerce and business innovations and setting them on the path to success.

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Anna’s own love of business was ignited when she took part in the Young Enterprise programme as a school student herself. After school, Anna studied Accounting and Finance at University and began her career as a Junior Accountant working in this field for three years while on her OE in the UK. On her return to New Zealand, Teachers’ Training College beckoned, where Anna completed a Graduate Diploma in Teaching – Accounting and Economics. At that time, Business was not offered as a subject choice. It just shows how far this area has progressed in the last twenty years.

Anna has been a teacher at St Cuthbert’s since 1997 and her passion for teaching is abundant.

Commenting on Commerce, she says, “It is relevant, current and practical. Businesses these days have a quadruple bottom line – profit, environment, people and culture, and it’s exciting to see the next generation striving for success and change in such a global world and to realise how the mix of accounting, business and economics can assist with this.”

Students gain and build on knowledge, year on year, across the subjects of accounting, business and economics. Our Year 9s learn about personal finance and financial capability as well as entrepreneurship and small business. Students use the online platform ‘Banqer’ where they create a CV, secure a job, pay a mortgage or rent and budget effectively – all great skills to have for the Year 10 life skills experience; Kahunui.

Year 10s focus on experience-based learning and skills such as problem-solving, co-operation, decisionmaking, negotiation and communication. These skills, combined with knowledge about production, demand, marketing and finance culminate in a market day where students sell products or services to other students.

Older students build on these skills and the appreciation of ethical concerns at both a local and global level, developing relevant and transferable skills, including the ability to: think critically; make ethically sound and

well-informed decisions; appreciate the pace, nature and significance of change; think strategically; and undertake long term planning, analysis and evaluation.

Young Enterprise is still a highlight today for Anna. “It’s exciting to see the girls work in teams and have the opportunity to apply their knowledge to a real business. It’s also great to see students combine their passions with business – for example, girls with a genuine passion in any area such as fashion, design, a particular service or social interest topic should start there and then think of that in a business context asking themselves the question – how can I work in an area I love but make a living from it?”

This year there are nine businesses running across the Young Enterprise competition and Level 3 NCEA Business. The following four teams are currently competing in The Lion Foundation Young Enteprise scheme: ‘Koa & Co’ was started by students in 2019 with the first year involving research and development with Pharmacare to create a vitamin gummie and, in 2020, the team has moved into production and distribution for sale. They currently have three different vitamins in their range, and they are now sold at Farro in Epsom. ‘You and i’ had a creative idea during lockdown for Bluelight Glasses while ‘Lost and Found’ is a social enterprise scheme collecting and donating books and toys. Talsh Hoodies is selling fashionable hoodies designed by one of the students with some of the profits going to Youthline.

Another keystone for Anna is the incredible overseas Commerce trips which allow students to build on their passion for business. In 2019, Anna, fellow commerce teachers Liz Charsley and Jamie Lloyd, and students visited many businesses and heard from entrepreneurs in New York, the White House in Washington DC and Ad Astra at SpaceX in L.A.

2020 Central Auckland Regional Awards for Young Enterprise You and i received Company of the Year – 1st place.

They will pitch to judges in the National Finals in Wellington in December.

Koa & Co received Company of the Year – 2nd place St Cuthbert’s also received the following awards: Excellence in Communication Talsh Hoodies Excellence in Promotion Koa & Co Paying it Forward Award You and i 8

EXCEPTIONAL TEACHERS

Exceptional Jewellery & Bespoke Engagement Rings

orsini.co.nz

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Farewell to our staff We acknowledge and celebrate the significant contribution Anne Louise Binns (Louise) has made to the St Cuthbert’s College Educational Trust Board from 2016 to October 2020.

Louise joined the Board in June 2016, serving as the Chair of the Engagement subcommittee from 2018 to 2019, a member of the Fundraising subcommittee from 2017 to 2020 and the Education subcommittee from 2018 to 2020.

At the end of this year, we farewell Senior School House Dean of Melrose and Maths teacher extraordinaire, Merelyn Ford, who is retiring after 11 years at the College. During her time at St Cuthbert’s Merilyn has been an outstanding Dean and hundreds of girls have been grateful for her compassion and insightful approach. She will be sorely missed as a Mathematics teacher who excelled at teaching both scholarship Maths, and girls who find the subject difficult. We are so appreciative of all she has done to support our students, and we wish her all the very best for her retirement.

During the year we said farewell to our wonderful school nurse Fiona Tawse who is taking a well-earned break from nursing after 12 years of dedicated service. Fiona was a wonderful professional, caring and patient with our girls, and gifted in diagnosis. She has responded to countless emergencies and has always ensured our girls and staff are safe and healthy. Through Measles outbreaks and Covid-19, she has gone above and beyond for our school.

We also said farewell this year to Trust Board Secretary, Mary Challis, and the Trust Board would like to thank her for her many years of dedicated service and professionalism. Theresa Breed has now taken over this role.

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EXCEPTIONAL TEACHERS

Louise has a strong knowledge of St Cuthbert’s through her experiences as a student (1969–1974), Old Girl and past parent. Louise’s mother (Val Fraser née Batts) and daughter Hannah, are both Old Girls of St Cuthbert’s and her husband, Mark, was a Trust Board member from 2005 to 2012.

The Board has been fortunate to have Louise’s extensive experience as an adjudicator and mediator, skills which she has successfully applied to her work as Chair of the Engagement Subcommittee. Her genuine warmth and respect for the staff of St Cuthbert’s have made her a trusted member of the College community.

Louise has regularly attended many events at St Cuthbert’s, where her presence has been greatly appreciated.

Her wise counsel, friendship, and commitment to the College during her time on the Board truly encompass our motto of ‘By Love Serve’.

Preparing girls for the future Introducing Digital Technologies teacher Preeti Kahloon Digital Technology helps girls to gain skills, knowledge, and understanding, that will enable them to contribute thoughtfully to the technological developments that shape our lives. In what is a rapidly changing world, it helps give our students transferable aptitudes for jobs which do not yet exist.

Having previously taught in a state school where Digital Technology attracted classes of mainly boys, Preeti really enjoys teaching at St Cuthbert’s and working with confident girls.

And it’s not all about device time – some units focus on unplugged time and learning how a computer works, how it sorts information and error detection. Digital Technology opens up a broad range of skills including website creation, coding and programming but, in a much wider context of thinking critically and collaboratively about problem-solving and innovating.

Our Technology Department aims to help girls develop creative design thinking through the exploration of new products and systems in the fields of Digital, Product Design, Food, and Textiles Technology. Preeti Kahloon, one of our amazing Digital Technology Teachers, shares with us why she loves teaching our confident girls.

One of Preeti’s biggest joys is seeing girls collaborate and integrate skills gained in her class with other subjects or passions the girls have.

She explains, “I believe Digital Technology is essential because it enables you to integrate and apply it to other subjects in many contexts in an ever-changing world.”

One of the highlights of Preeti’s year is the collaborative Food Truck Fiesta in Term 4.

This is a collaboration of all the technologies for the girls and culminated in the marketing, producing and selling of a lunchtime food option. Students must design a product and logo, make aprons and cook and sell their product.

Interestingly Preeti also teaches Year 12 Geography as she comes from a background in digital mapping technologies. Preeti says she really enjoys that aspect of her work and is thrilled to work at a school where cross-faculty teaching is supported.

Introducing our St Cuthbert’s Online Uniform Shop!

Black Watch House Uniform Shop is now also available online, to provide you with a quick and easy way to buy your daughter’s uniform items for school, PE and Sports.

You can pay through your school account, or by credit card, and choose whether you ‘click and collect’ from the shop on campus, or have them delivered to your home. Visit stcuthberts.school.nz/uniform

EXCEPTIONAL TEACHERS

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Toi Toi is a journal for budding writers and artists and is proving very popular with St Cuthbert’s students across both our Junior and Senior Schools.

There have been four issues in 2020 and St Cuthbert’s girls have been published in three of these.

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MAKING GIRLS AMAZING

Toi Toi Toi Toi says “we celebrate the ideas, imaginations and creative spirit of New Zealand’s young writers and artists and we believe that their work has purpose and deserves a wider audience.

Our philosophy is to treat young writers and artists with respect, handle their work with care and produce a beautifully designed journal of high quality that reflects how much we value and admire them”.

With a philosophy like this and the joy of seeing your work come alive on a published page, it’s no wonder St Cuthbert’s girls love being a part of this publication of growing national importance; you can enjoy their pictures and words below. For more information visit www.toitoi.nz In Issue 19 Victoria Shangxin Chen, age 12 at the time of print, had two pieces of her art published, ‘Poppies at Heart’ and ‘Home’. In the same issue Zara Bennett, also age 12 was the author of ‘Walking to School’.

In Issue 20 Jecholeah Sun, age 11, was the artist of ‘Morning Feeding’ and Aamani Patel, age 10, was the artist shown in ‘My Dawn Chorus’.

The latest Issue 21 includes two Junior School girls Ava Kennedy-Grant, age 11, who was the artist for ‘A Leap of Faith’ and Sonia Reddy, also 11, whose artwork is published in the ‘Lonely’ story.

Friendship Albums A recent donation to St Cuthbert’s Archives is a lovely friendship album belonging to Marjorie Cerutty who attended St Cuthbert’s from 1921–1923. Entries in the album show it was in use for at least 40 years from 1917–1957.

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Friendship albums can contain signatures, drawings, personal messages, quotations, poetry and small pieces of verse, and worldly wisdom collected from friends and other mementos like the autographs of famous or admired persons.

This album was given to Archives by past pupil Christine Savory. The book had been given to her by her aunt, Mrs. Edith Desgranges who was a great friend of Marjorie Cerutty.

Rabbit by Eileen Hunter (SCC 1919-1923) dated 5/4/1922

Christine’s granddaughter, Tamsin Savory is Year 7 at St Cuthbert’s, so Christine thought it was a timely gift.

Form 1.2 1922 Signatures

MAKING GIRLS AMAZING

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Amazing Friendships FIRST friends NEW friends FIRM friends LIFELONG friends 14

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As an Old Girl, the mother of an Old Girl, and throughout my career at St Cuthbert’s, I have witnessed firsthand the wonderful lifelong friendships which develop through our school community. Supporting and nurturing the development of deep and lasting friendships for our girls is something about which I am passionate. Good friendships sustain us throughout our lives, and the deep connections the girls make with one another right from the early years are an important part of every girl’s journey through the school.

Some of my very best friends are women I met when I was a student myself at St Cuthbert’s. No matter where we are in the world, we always maintain that sense of connection to something really special. I have really enjoyed reading about the different year group friendships in this issue of the magazine, and how they have maintained their friendships over the years. I was particularly moved by the beautiful poem written by the class of 1962 reflecting on their lasting connection to one another throughout their life.

At St Cuthbert’s we have created an environment with a strong sense of sisterhood, and we really saw this in action during our two lockdowns. Our older students led a ‘Big Sister, Little Sister’ initiative as a way of supporting younger students during this period. The reflections from both the Year 13 girls, and their Year 7 Little Sisters, show what a special experience this has been for them.

Ms Justine Mahon — Principal

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Good friendships sustain us throughout our lives, and the deep connections the girls make with one another right from the youngest age are an important part of every girl’s journey through the school.”

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AMAZING FRIENDSHIPS

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In the Junior School, we recognise that each girl who passes through our doors brings her own story into the life of the school. We play a pivotal role in allowing the girls to develop their sense of personal identity. I believe school should be a place of stability offering a sense of belonging so that our girls have every opportunity to feel connected and strive for personal success.

Whilst I am committed to academic progress in the Junior School, I am equally as interested in how our teaching can forge those much-needed meaningful, human bonds. Our small classroom spaces are crucial for young girls needing to feel part of a community, where their voices are heard in a trusting environment. They learn to rely on their friends and their teacher, to solve problems together and move forward.

Belonging is much more than merely fitting in – it’s about feeling cared for. It’s knowing that your teachers and friends understand your talents and allow you the space needed to create magic with these talents knowing that they will complement the class as a whole.

When children feel safe, and know that they belong, they become open to learning and can succeed at every level. By the time a girl is ready to leave our Junior school, she will not only be able to recognise her own strengths and talents, she will also move forward with a powerfully bonded group of friends who want to celebrate these successes together and be excited about their worlds opening up.

Kerry Oldman — Head of Junior School

FIRST friends A sense of belonging starting at age five Our Junior School team has many areas of expertise including supporting key transitions – one of the most special of which is starting school at the tender age of five. Year 0 teacher and Deputy Head of the Junior School at St Cuthbert’s, Nikki Boyens, provides insight into what friendships look like for our newest school members.

In Term 3 we had 17 new entrants start and in Term 4, another nine students joined the St Cuthbert’s community at age five. Starting school is a time of significant cognitive overload as students navigate their new world, five days in a row. It is also a time of immense social growth. While many people may think of children having or needing a best friend or a tight social group at this age, the reality may be different to what you might expect.

“At this tender age, play is all about openness, inclusivity and acceptance,” says Nikki.

“We encourage group play and getting to know and collaborate with all members of the class – it’s the foundation of some really important life skills.

“We may still see children observing, before stepping in to play, or students choosing to play alongside or parallel to others rather than being immersed in group or one-on-one play, and this is absolutely acceptable.”

Parents are often interested in learning who their child is connecting with and how friendships are progressing. While a parent’s first thought may be who their daughter played with during their day, Nikki says a more important question to ask is what your child did – this shifts the emphasis from the focus on friendships, to a spotlight on the activities the child has engaged in.

The St Cuthbert’s motto of ‘By Love Serve’ starts from the beginning. A smile, warmth, being a good friend and engagement are role-modelled by teachers which assists our girls to make connections. Kindness, learning from others and reaching out are all encouraged.”

Assemblies offer an opportunity to recognise wonderful elements of our students’ character – all students are awarded a certificate at one of these assemblies throughout the year and teachers are able to give each child a beautiful synopsis and celebrate that child for her individual attributes and strengths.

At this age and stage, the focus on friendship development is based on interacting with as many girls as possible. This is achieved through learning groups which are changed regularly

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AMAZING FRIENDSHIPS

so girls have the opportunity to sit with others. A teacher may set up ‘play dates’ in the classroom which means asking groups of girls to undertake different activities and encourage working together. It is a balance of teacher-led guidance and hands-off time.

At break times the classes come together to eat meals before heading out to play.

Our new entrant classes provide our youngest members time to adapt to school life as well as opportunities to integrate with other classes and role models. For example, the Year 6s come in and read with our fiveyear-olds, and they join in the Jump Jam dance sessions with older girls.

Nikki concludes,

“Our new entrants flourish in an environment where they feel safe, confident to be themselves, and happy. We surround girls in a buoyant, positive and caring atmosphere where girls thrive.”

AMAZING FRIENDSHIPS

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“These girls are nuts!”

NEW friends Meet Year 7 girls Peanut, Doughnut, Cashew nut and Coconut – better known as Imogen Chaddock, Lilli Reid, Scarlet Forster-McAuliffe and Charlie Bamford but to one another, they are simply “the nuts”. And as all great friends at age 11 and 12 know, if you’re a tight group you need a name, and, after much brainstorming, they’ve called themselves the “nuts”.

These girls met each other through their Year 7 Homeroom earlier this year and have swiftly become great friends. This time last year they hadn’t even heard of one another as each of them was not only from a different primary school, but also from a different area.

Imogen joined from the North Shore, Charlie came from Kohimarama, Scarlet from Titirangi and Lilli was living in Sydney, Australia. Imogen recounts a funny story when Ms Elgar, Head of Pastoral Care for Years 7 and 8, took one look at how the girls were

getting along and correctly predicted “you’re going to be best friends as you live so far away from each other”. How right she was!

Each of the girls chose St Cuthbert’s for different reasons – Charlie’s Grandmother was an Old Girl, Imogen’s sister is in Year 10, the school was highly recommended to Lilli as a returning Kiwi, and Scarlet loved the academic opportunities it would bring her.

The girls still live in different parts of Auckland and all bus in each day, not together but it’s still a shared experience they say brings a bond to their group.

The girls all said that their Homeroom helped them become friends quickly and that their teacher, Ms Helen Withy, gives really good structure to their sessions. “Our first two days were filled with games and that helped us get to know each other…and then we went straight into poetry!” they say with mock sad faces.

Lilli started a little later than the other girls as she was relocating from Australia but said the Homeroom has helped her settle in.

“At the start I was nervous about making friends, but everything has fallen into place and feels very natural”.

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AMAZING FRIENDSHIPS

The tight four friends were disappointed to not be with each other for every activity at camp but said they we found ways to find one another and make visits to their cabins.

It was at camp that they came up with their collective group name, Imogen says “We are the “nuts”. We tried to find a group of four to name ourselves after but couldn’t settle on anything. At camp, Charlie kept saying “oh nuts” when something went wrong and that’s where it all started. “We gave each other ideas for names and then selected one each of us liked, but since then we’ve swapped names around and gifted them to each other for fun.” Scarlet, who has a self-proclaimed ‘grown up taste in nuts’ started as Pistachio but now goes by Cashew; at camp, Imogen walked into a wall so quickly earned the title Walnut but is presently going by Peanut; Lilli was briefly Hazelnut but due to her “absolute love of all junk food” is now Doughnut and Charlie has been Peanut, then Doughnut and is now Coconut. “It’s hard to keep up! This summer the girls plan on meeting up lots and are going to make bracelets which represent their special club name.

It was the Homeroom which has brought

LEFT TO RIGHT: Scarlet aka Cashew nut, Imogen aka Peanut, Charlie aka Coconut, Lilli aka Doughnut

them together and when asked about it they say

and be ourselves…plus she sometimes brings in chocolate!”

• “I have friends I can always sit with and talk to”;

• “In our Homeroom we know we can make mistakes and laugh about it; I feel so supported there.”

• “Our teacher is always checking our work and helping us improve, she makes our Homeroom feel like a place we can rely on where no one judges us, and we can relax

• “It’s good we have a big group like our Tutor class and then smaller groups within it, we feel at home here.”

FIRM friends

The student led ‘Big Sis, Lil Sis’ programme has been a huge success establishing many amazing friendships including ‘big sisters’ Year 13 girls, Jeri Misa and Harriet Cook and their ‘little sisters’ Year 7 girls, Sienna Coates and Elizabeth Walker. So, what’s it like having such a great friend in another year at school?

Read the story continued on the next page...

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LEFT TO RIGHT: Sienna Coates and Harriet Cook

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As the girls greet each other before our interview with big hugs and warm smiles, it is clear the strong friendships they have made. The way the girls have supported each other through such a hard year is an absolute inspiration.

The ‘Big Sis, Lil Sis’ programme was initiated by the Year 13 Prefects during the first lockdown as a way of supporting each other across the Senior School. Several lockdown video calls later, the girls now spend time together in person where they bond over common interests, share insights into their experiences at St Cuthbert’s, and laugh with one another at events such as shared lunches.

Elizabeth has loved having Jeri as her big sister, who has supported her not only emotionally but also academically.

“It’s really great as I am new to St Cuthbert’s and she has made me feel so welcome. It is so nice to have Jeri as my ‘big sister’ as she helps me, like when we were doing speeches she supported me with ideas, and she has also shared more with me about what you do when you are older at St Cuthbert’s like Kahunui and learning to take responsibility” Elizabeth says.

Jeri adds “I really liked talking to Elizabeth about her speeches and helping guide her 20

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as she structured them. It was really cool as her topic was about Donald Trump and his leadership, she did a great job – it went really well.”

Harriet and Elizabeth spent time bonding over sport, especially Water Polo, something the girls both love. Harriet shares “We would video call quite a bit during lockdown and we both have similar interests – we play Water Polo and so we would talk about that and catch up on the gossip and our tactics for games.”

Sienna continues “It’s great having a ‘big sis’ as you have someone in the older years that you can talk to. Harriet and I have catchups and when we go to visit Tutor groups, I go to see her and we talk about sports. Harriet is so fun and nice, I’m always so happy to go see her. Last year I saw her around as she was one of the Water Polo coaches and this year I was lucky to get her as my ‘big sis’. I think we will definitely continue to be friends moving forward.”

We asked the girls what friendship means to them.

“Friends are really important as they help you with everything especially at school. It’s so nice to be around people that you find fun, and friends that always look after you and treat you really nicely.” — Elizabeth

“I think friendship is the core of your emotional intelligence- your EQ is measured by how you treat your friends, and it’s a foundation for your personality, your ethics, your morals, something that holds you as a person together. Our friends have lots of influence on us. The way we are, the way we treat others and how much ambition we have, is mostly influenced by friends.” — Jeri “Friends are important as you can tell them things that you can trust them with, and they are really fun to be around. Having a Year 7 Homeroom is great as you get lots of people to make friends with and hang out with.” — Sienna “Friends are a big part of my happiness, and I also think it’s very important to have a strong group of friends for their support, especially this year as everyone is going through struggles with Covid and things being cancelled and disappointments, and it’s really helpful to have a strong group of friends behind you who can relate to what you are going through and to help each other out.” — Harriet So true girls, we couldn’t have said it better ourselves. Thanks for showing us what true friendship means!

LIFELONG friends

Three different peer groups share with us their lifelong friendships made at St Cuthbert’s…

When asked about St Cuthbert’s and friendships, I can wholeheartedly say that my friends from school are some of the longest standing and most loved that I have. Some began with detention in Mrs Batistich’s Form 1 Maths class, others from being classmates, attending Swim meets or Hockey trials together.

These friendships were cemented through school, university, and later when we worked overseas.

When the time came we were each other’s bridesmaids and sometimes godparents.

Most of us are living and working in New Zealand now, but for those who never returned, we keep in contact through social media. Most of us do our best to attend school reunions or support Old Girl events.

Our last decade reunion was the greatest catchup our year had had, with a few girls travelling back to New Zealand for it.

At school events we are able to meet girls from other year groups and more friendships and connections can be made. I find it amusing to be one of the oldest on the committee where the niece of one of my school friends is our Treasurer and my children’s favourite babysitter is the Secretary.

Our timing at school may have been different, but there is a shared feeling of kinship regardless of age and stage in life. This closeness is evident in the way my daughter, sister and niece also treasure their St Cuthbert’s friendships, and by the way the Bridge Day and Club 50 ladies interact when they get together. It is a mystery how the school does it, but St Cuthbert’s friendships seem to stand the test of time.

Georgina Robertson President, Old Girls’ Association

Class of 2017

By Jess Marvin I attended St Cuthbert’s from Year 7 through to Year 13 (2011–2017). Currently, I am in my third year of university, studying a Bachelor of Commerce and Science in Dunedin. St Cuthbert’s taught me many things during my time spent there – I learnt to take responsibility for myself, to be independent and resilient.

The teachers encouraged every girl to strive for their personal best, teaching us diligence and determination.

The many co-curricular opportunities that St Cuthbert’s offered allowed me to meet new students, helping me form everlasting friendships. Being involved in Stage Challenge for most of my Senior School years allowed me to become close friends with girls from all year groups. Being a part of the First XI Football team helped me create a special group of friends who I am still close with today. There were many other ways the school nurtured friendships: Junior School Committee, sports coaching, peer support, Kahunui – to name a few. All of these require teamwork and collaboration, which I believe was integral to forming friendships during school.

The Vertical Tutor Group system helped me as a Senior student to develop leadership and responsibility skills. Spending time with girls of all ages meant that I could form strong friendships not only from my year group. We were encouraged to ask for advice, help each other with school work, and act as role models to the younger girls.

Friendships are important as they provide strong support systems for each other, teach you how to communicate, respect others and solve problems. One of my best friendship memories from St Cuth’s would have to be the History trip in 2018 (Year 13). I started the trip with a few close friends, but after the month-long trip around Russia, Germany, Austria, Poland (and more), the whole group had become so close. We shared so many memories during this trip that I will forever remember.

Learning these lessons in school helped me going forward into university. Leaving home, family and friends behind to study in a different city was challenging. I was in Selwyn College in my first year, with 160 other students. This unfamiliar environment was pretty overwhelming – everyone went to different schools, some lived on farms, some lived in the city, all studying a range AMAZING FRIENDSHIPS

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— Continued from previous page of different degrees. However, at the end of my first week there, I had already met and bonded with the friends I am living with today.

Taking on the values and lessons I learnt from St Cuthbert’s significantly helped in being able to adapt to new and unfamiliar situations.

I felt confident, independent and was open and willing to meet new people.

Three years on, my school friends are still some of my closest friends today. Recently we celebrated a school friend’s 21st birthday.

It felt like nothing had changed, even though I hadn’t seen some of the girls in over a year. The friendship I have with these girls is special, which I know I will value for many years to come.

The culture that St Cuthbert’s embodies made it easy to make long-lasting friends, as we all shared the same values. The determination to succeed, self-confidence, and resilience were the key values I took from school and I still stand by them today as a St Cuthbert’s Old Girl. Standing by these values has allowed me to form everlasting friendships which I know I will cherish forever.

Class of 1999

By Anna Poole (née Fleet) and Ainsley Allen I spoke to someone the other day, of a similar age to me, who was not in contact with any of her school friends, “they were all lovely people” she said, they had simply just lost touch. I restrained my almost immediate instinct of gratefully bragging about my incredible group of school friends I’m in touch with almost daily and thankfully realised that this was a fortune maybe only a few experience, “Oh, that’s a shame…ah, did I tell you about our new kitten?”.

I started at St Cuthbert’s so long ago, it is easier to recall the year I finished (1999), than

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the year I started. From pigtails and pinafores in J1, to free periods and our own Common Room in Form 7; thirteen years of beginning, developing, testing, treasuring and cementing friendships, some of which I consider family to this day, twenty-one (ahem) years after leaving school.

We all travelled, lived overseas, some for many of those 21 years, but whenever we got together, my group of closest friends – time and distance vanished as quickly as the ‘chips and dip’ on the table we gathered around.

And now, at this time of uncertainty and general life challenges, as the years move on – parenting, work/family/life balance… grief – we are 100% there for each other.

A few of us recently went away together for the weekend, a group of seven St Cuth’s mates (plus one other delightful friend we met through the years) – and if I was to equate our friendship in a few words, it would be love, honesty, support and laughter…with each other, and at ourselves!

Through the years I too have lost touch with some of my close school friends who made my time at St Cuthbert’s so special (funny!), however I know they also could reiterate my words about their very closest friends today. It is a common thread from my year, friendships that were built to last.

Who knows what brought a few of us together some 34 years ago, me, Ainsley, Sarah, Steph…as we started our journey at St Cuthbert’s, and those in the years that followed, Aimee, Rosie, Kate, Libby – but to this day, if I met any of them at a playground as we watched over our kids and we started chatting, I’d want to be their friend. We are all different, but we share a love of a good cheeseboard, 80’s music, school anecdotes (thanks to Ainsley who handles all memories

and photos from those days) – and, of each other. — Anna --When I look at my J1 photo, so many of my friends in adulthood are there in that photo. That’s not to say I haven’t made new friends – I have…lots of them, and lots of those appear in the subsequent school photos from the following 12 years!

And how on earth would you know when you make your way through the gates in J1 that these people are going to be there with you when you walk out to graduate your final year of school; or when your own kids walk through the gates on their first day of school?

I don’t have an answer to that, but my best friends have done just that, without prompting or reminding, and I have done that for them too. These moments and memories have woven their way through my entire life.

School isn’t just about learning, it’s also about making memories that will be remembered forever. My 4th form Maths class with Fleet and Rose, won’t be remembered for the algebra we learned (whoops) but for the strange competition we created…singing the most annoying song imaginable until all three of us couldn’t get it out of our heads!

Why do I still remember that 24 years later?

It was silly and fun, and one of the reasons I adored going to school each day. We made each other laugh and we made each other better, although we might care to forget the clogs, wraparound sunglasses, and A-line skirts with thigh-high socks (to name a few embarrassments)…we can’t all be perfect!

These friends and friendships have accompanied me through university and around the world. I’m not sure what the rest of my life has in store, but I’m quite certain these girls will still be with me. And now their families will be with me too and I’ll be with theirs. — Ainsley

Class of 1962 Our Class of ’62 decided to reflect on their time at St Cuthbert’s and their lifelong friendships by writing a very special poem.

As we were leaving lunch at Palmers Cafe, a lady approached our large group of 70-year-olds asking where we had all become friends as we seemed to have been getting so much pleasure from one another’s company. This is what we could have told her:

1959

We’ve been friends for years and years Through times of happiness and tears School-girl bonds can last forever So now each month we lunch together We gossip, laugh and we recall Memories precious to us all.

Many now live far away Australia, Europe, U.S.A. Zoom kept these friends in touch with us We handled lockdown without fuss.

Phone calls, emails, FaceTime too Ensured their loving thoughts got through.

Inkpots, dusters, blackboards, chalk…..

No one was allowed to talk Unless the teacher said we could (But naturally we always would)

1958

1962

School isn’t just about learning, it’s also about making memories that will be remembered forever...

We changed our shoes eight times a day Wore gloves and hats the “proper” way The pranks we played were fairly lame Harmless jokes – a fun-filled game.

Lovely memories of our teachers Despite their quirks and odd-ball features Most were kind; a few were bores (At least one smoked behind closed doors) Vocab, grammar, nouns, declensions We learnt for Mac or got detentions Whitebait taught us mathematics But few of us became fanatics.

Herbie, Biddy, Ruth and Bloss And of course, the brilliant boss….

1962

Each morning on the stage we saw A figure whom we held in awe But as we got to know her, Vi (The name that we all knew her by) Was, we realised, in the end No longer scary, more a friend.

The things we learnt at school were great But teaching methods tend to date Problem-solving’s now essential Computer-growth is exponential But whether now or in the past St Cuthbert’s values always last.

We hope that girls still learning here Will cherish things that we hold dear Friendship, service, fun and games Times may change but LOVE remains.

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A Reflection on Friendship

by Elisabeth Bell, Chair of the Parents and Friends’ Association

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Young children have such a wonderfully straightforward idea of friendship. “Sarah played with me today; she’s my friend.” “Isabelle took my apple, she’s not my friend anymore!” Slowly, children learn that friendships are the give and take relationships that we work at, and they are as important to us as eating a healthy diet and exercising regularly.

For those of us lucky enough, friendships build from childhood and can ride the waves of life into adulthood. For the rest of us, it can be a challenge to find friendship in new cities, new workplaces and new schools.

When I first arrived at St Cuthbert’s as a new parent, like many, I had to start from scratch: new school, new challenges, lots to learn and lots of unknowns. Then I remembered at both the Open Day and the new parent Orientation there were lovely women who were parent volunteers serving us coffee and happily answering the plethora of questions that we had. I felt they understood exactly how I was feeling at that moment. I became involved with the Parents and Friends’ Association, knowing this is the vehicle that helps all of us parents build friendships within the school.

A few years on, I am now the Chair of the Association and loving being a part of the dedicated, active and vibrant committee. It turns out that there are many likeminded parents who are like me, all passionate about bringing parents together! This is the sole aim of the Parents and Friends’ Association. In our common bond, we have all become good friends. We help other parents by holding events that enable the community to come

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together and friendships to flourish. We encourage volunteering as a way to get involved and get to know the teachers and other parents – an excellent example of this is the group of fabulous Class/Year Group Coordinators that are ably led by committee members Jacqui Lockington and Zarina Ginai.

One of the things I really enjoy is working with fellow Parents and Friends volunteers behind the scenes to create special experiences for our community. So many times, at committee meetings, we have lively brainstorming sessions about what new events and fundraising activities we can execute for our students, parents, and others who have a connection with the school. There is something really exciting about taking these initial ideas and turning them into reality with a great team.

One of the standouts of these events was last year’s Year 13 Leavers’ Soiree. It was very special and emotional for all of us to see our Year 13 girls with their

parents and all their friends to celebrating the end of their college years. Seeing all of them enjoying their many years of friendship at St Cuthbert’s was hugely heart-warming and gave me a deep satisfaction.

With the global pandemic, we can really see and feel the value of true friendship.

Even when we could not get together as a committee, we had meetings via Zoom and had virtual communication throughout the lockdown. Many parents also communicated with me and other members of the committee when they had questions about the school, which we were happy to help with. Also, to know that the school is behind us supporting us with technology and communication, it meant that we never felt alone, that we are still a part of this big, welcoming and inclusive St Cuthbert’s community.

In regard to friendship, the school has given me so much in embracing me as a new parent from the beginning. So, in my role, I want to do the same for other new parents. This year has been tough for all of us in different ways, but it also taught us the meaning of community and friendship. We can feel glad we have these in our lives.

“

It turns out that there are many like-minded parents who are like me, all passionate about bringing parents together!”

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St Cuthbert’s Asian Friendship Group

by Nancy Zhang, President of the Asian Friendship Group As a visiting family on Open Day at St Cuthbert’s, I noticed something different at this campus.

Parent helpers served visitors at a table in front of Clouston Hall. A nice lady greeted us in Chinese and shared stories of some fun school activities.

She also invited us to join their Friday walk at Cornwall Park. During our conversation, we were passed warm green tea. This made me feel comfortable and welcomed by the diverse school community. For new parents, this conveyed a general feeling that they wouldn’t be alone at St Cuthbert’s. This was my first experience of the Asian Friendship Group (AFG).

The more I am involved at St Cuthbert’s and in the AFG, the more I can support my daughter.

My daughter and I have had more interactive conversations than ever. I am glad to watch her transform from a sweet young girl into a confident young lady at St Cuthbert’s.

After my daughter became a St Cuthbert’s girl, I joined the AFG immediately. We walk in Cornwall Park every Friday; we laugh and relax during our walk as well as afterwards at the cafe. We meet with our Principal to discuss our children’s school life. We also proudly present Chinese culture at the Chinese New Year celebrations and fun Mooncake Festival parties.

Lots of connections and friendships are created.

At the AFG, we help parents with efficient communications in their languages and, during the challenging Covid-19 lockdown period, we bonded together like a big family. There was tremendous support from AFG families who have left the school as well. Most of all, with St Cuthbert’s as our common denominator, we build lasting friendships.

As a mum of two, working full-time in an IT company, my time has always been a ‘struggle juggle’. I believe the time spent with my kids is invaluable, and it goes so fast.

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On the other hand, I have been achieving more hands-on experience in leadership and communication. I am proud of working alongside volunteers on a Christmas Farm Fun Day, making my first delicious Mooncake, and organising the first Chinese Fashion Show at school.

AFG has naturally been added into my life, bit by bit. It has helped me gain valuable friendships and camaraderie and has provided important support to lots of school families. When a family is new to St Cuthbert’s, they will never feel alone.

At AFG, we work together to build a better experience for everyone.

Making Family Memories “St Cuthbert’s helped me believe that I am capable of doing anything, if I’m willing to put in the mahi and I have my village around me. Excellence is possible, but it looks different for each of us and we need to make room for everyone to succeed together.”

“

— Andrea Fua, Old Girl

No woman is an island. We’re connected to our families, workplaces, and broader communities.

This is especially the case with three inspiring Old Girls, doing good things in the government sector, sports, and the arts and culture arena. Diplomat Jennifer-Lee Pritchard, storyteller Andrea Fua and sportswoman Sulu Fitzpatrick, share what it means to draw on the strengths of family, culture, and community while being immersed in exciting careers.

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Putting service first For Jennifer-Lee (2008), family memories are being made in exciting places around the world. As a foreign diplomat, Jennifer-Lee has lived in Thailand with her partner Nigel, and her daughter Emma-Rose (aged four). Son, Zion, was welcomed into the world in March 2020. JenniferLee was pregnant with him the entire time she was working in Bangkok during what was a busy year

‘By Love Serve’ can be equated to the Samoan proverb: “O le ala i le pule, o le tautua – the path to leadership is through service. Love is not a feeling, but a choice and action; service is one of the best ways to show your love in action”.

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Continued from previous page... in Thailand. Working for the New Zealand Embassy in Bangkok has seen her assisting in New Zealand’s trading relationships with Thailand as well as Cambodia and Laos, as well as helping to manage the high-level visits due to Thailand hosting the ASEAN Summit in 2019.

Working in foreign affairs has been a fulfilling fit for Jennifer-Lee. “I’ve looked for opportunities that are unique ones, which was why I was attracted to this one. There are lots of things that you could do and be a part of, that you can’t do anywhere else.

What’s attracted me to policy is that there’s a thing in me that you have to give back to the community, serve the community. And so in terms of work, that’s always been one of the key things I’ve wanted in a job. Working in policy has a broad impact too – it’s an opportunity to shape or influence decision makers who are making decisions for the whole country and the communities that we live in.”

Always keeping the past and the future in mind, Jennifer-Lee says that for her, “success is not being really rich or becoming the CEO of anything. It’s making the most of the opportunities that your family or whoever went before you gave you – and creating new opportunities.”

Jennifer-Lee and her family will move to Taipei for two years from March 2021, where she will be learning Mandarin as a full-time

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student as part of her work as a diplomat.

During her studies, Nigel will be a stayat-home dad and primary caregiver to the children. Following that, from early 2023, Jennifer-Lee will represent New Zealand at the New Zealand Embassy in Beijing, New Zealand’s largest offshore post, working on New Zealand’s trading relationship with China, our largest trade partner. The family will live there for three years.

fave (and only) brother, Anthony Sio Kapeteni, wife to my high school sweetheart, Sione Ottley Fua, and m m to our precious and feisty girl, Serena Leutefuiono Fua. I was born in Aotearoa and raised in Manurewa, ‘found myself’ while working in Melbourne five years ago and am now living and working in Te Upoko o te Ika, Wellington. My villages in the beautiful islands of Samoa are Afega, Upolu, and Sale’aula, Savaii.”

Even though globe-trotting has been a notable feature of her career, Jennifer-Lee, who identifies as Samoan and is also part Chinese, says, “I still think of South Auckland as home.”

Andrea’s desire to embrace entrepreneurship and celebrate her roots led her to start Vaka Interactiv with three good friends in November 2016. In true entrepreneurial spirit, the creative technology business started via Facebook Messenger, Zoom and Google Drive, and then the CEO’s family home in Papakura, Andrea’s living room in Mangere, and at the Pacific Business Trust office. Its current incarnation is in Cuba Street in Wellington – Vaka Interactiv was one of nine companies selected for a fourmonth residency at the Mahuki Accelerator Programme, hosted at Te Papa Museum in 2017.

It takes a village Balancing the competing needs of family, work, friends, and community participation is challenging for all of us. It’s important to recognise and celebrate the ways that we gain strength and support in reaching our goals. For Andrea Fua (née Kapeteni) (2010), family ties are at the centre of her dreams – “My career is ultimately for my family and only possible because of my family. I have learned the importance of your village/family foundation.”

“I’m a child of the ocean, of migration, of movement – I consider Te-Moananui-aKiwa home,” Andrea says. These migrations encompass Samoa, New Zealand, and Australia. “I am the ulumatua (firstborn) of brave Samoan migrants Fata Loia Kapeteni and Tupefou Serah Milford, big sister to my

As Chief Operating Officer, Andrea and her team consult to iwi and hap , museums, and government on using technology for cultural tourism (the Culture Lens package).

Culture Lens is a world-first in interactive storytelling portraits. Paintings come to life and use the roots of oral storytelling to captivate viewers at places like Auckland’s Spark 5G Innovation Lab, at the New Zealand Maritime Museum, and in the Chiaroni Gallery in Invercargill, as well as at overseas events.

A shared journey Learning through opportunities has also shaped Sulu Fitzpatrick’s life. She has Samoan affiliations to the villages of Afega and Sagone. Sulu is no stranger to the sports court, playing for the Northern Mystics as an 18 year old at St Cuthbert’s in Year 13 (while also being Deputy Head Girl), being selected for the Silver Ferns at 19 years old, Southern Steel, playing for the Northern Stars and Central Pulse, acting as Fast5 Ferns captain, and being a member of the NZA netball team.

Sulu (peer year 2010) says that sports has taught her “resilience and so many life lessons through the successes and failures. Sports is a vessel that I’ve been blessed with, to do my best and give to others.”

and represent them to the best of my ability.

This journey is shared.”

This includes her fiancé Andrew and his two sons Harley and Mason, and Sulu’s twins Tevita and Theresa. Sulu is also a part of her church community, Samoan/Pasifika community, her netball community, the University of Auckland, and the Old Girls of St Cuthbert’s.

“Community for me is a family; in every capacity, it is about serving that community and doing your best for it; Sulu reflects, being a giver and representing your community to the best of your ability by considering what you can do to make the community better

and help the people in it.” For Sulu, ‘By Love Serve’ means “it’s understanding and serving our own purpose in life with love and compassion. No matter where we find ourselves, we can always lend a helping hand or caring heart.”

Knowing that we are all part of a broader network of family, friends, community, and St Cuthbert’s means that we have others who care about our growth, however that looks.

As Andrea says, “We are all in similar Vaka, and we can learn from each other, inspire each other, and support each other on our different voyages. E l t fa’amauga se tagata – no man or woman stands alone!”

Being a competitive sportsperson has both its physical and mental challenges. Sulu says “mentally staying focused and coping under pressure is a constant challenge and cognitive conditioning is really important in being able to compete at a high level.

Physically understanding my own strengths and crafting them has been a learning experience.”

Navigating between career and family, and the challenges and successes, has been made possible because of the village that Sulu is immersed in. “Family has been the greatest blessing for me and the backbone of my sporting career and life,” Sulu says. “It has taken a village to get through this journey and everything I do now is to repay my family

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Amazing Girls of St Cuthbert’s We were very excited to introduce a new series this year ‘Amazing Girls of St Cuthbert’s’ curated by our Year 13 Prefects. The series profiled girls from across the school on social media and in our weekly Evergreen newsletters, celebrating how the girls live by our school motto ‘By Love Serve’. We are so proud of all our Amazing Girls of St Cuthbert’s and can’t wait to profile more of our girls in the future! Here is a snapshot of the series, as well as one of our amazing teachers!

Ava Schaumkel, Year 5 Ava started St Cuthbert’s at the beginning of the year.

Despite the restrictions that came through lockdown, Ava quickly found her place in our Junior School and is becoming a valued member of the Jump Jam team, as well as her classes’ Term 3 Values Representative. Ava is always helpful to her classmates and loves trying new things, embodying our Junior School’s ‘give it a go’ approach. Ava said, “I’ve found St Cuthbert’s really good, I’ve made lots of friends, I have a nice class, and my teacher is a very kind and encouraging person”.

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Olivia Merrilees, Year 9 Olivia (pictured below right) has led a huge number of projects within our school community and beyond. One of Olivia’s proudest achievements is when she organised a Spellathon last year for Years 7 and 8 alongside Hannah Piper (pictured below left). Together they raised an extraordinary $15,000 for EGG – Educating Girls Globally. She was also a part of creating the ‘Bags for Girls’ initiative which provides bags of personal hygiene products for girls in New Zealand who cannot afford such necessities.

Ruby Van Rooyen, Year 9 Ruby is involved in many of St Cuthbert’s’ music groups.

She plays the saxophone in two bands, sings in the choir and was the leading role in last year’s musical, ‘Honk!

JR.’ Ruby believes that the strong musical community at St Cuthbert’s has been crucial to her development. “In the future I aspire to be one of those girls I looked up to when I was just starting out. I don’t aspire to win specific prizes or get into specific leadership roles. I want to be a role model for someone, a person who helps bring others out of their shell, just as I came out of mine.”

Cate Tipler, Year 10 Cate is a passionate and forwardthinking student who focuses her time and energy on global, environmental, and humanitarian issues. Cate is part of the Global Citizenship Committee, the Debating Team and is also part of the studentled newspaper, Margin. These school activities alongside her keen activism have demonstrated for all what ‘By Love Serve’ truly means.

Leafine Cronin, Year 12 Leafine is a member of our Samoan Cultural Group and an incredibly talented dancer having performed by herself in front of the school for Samoan Language Week. Leafine says embracing and expressing her culture at St Cuthbert’s allows her to meet new people and develop a sense of sisterhood. She is pictured below ready to perform for her cousin’s wedding, where she had the privilege of wearing both traditional Tongan and Samoan cloth and performing in front of her grandmother.

Zoe Robinson, Year 13 Throughout the Level 4 lockdown, Zoe worked as a cleaner in Auckland Hospital. She lent a helping hand to the community as she witnessed the impacts of the pandemic up close.

Zoe says “It’s hard, but wholeheartedly aiming to help, love and appreciate people is what makes this world a better place. I’ve been on the receiving end of ‘By Love Serve’ in my community and I cannot describe how amazing it felt that I had people that cared for me and looked out for me.”

Bella McDonald, Year 13 Bella is the Student Leader of Kapa Haka at St Cuthbert’s. Inspired by many of the student leaders from years past she is a kind, compassionate face for so many students. Bella says “Being a leader for our Kapa Haka during Covid-19 lockdown became more than just leading a performance, it became being an elder sister and a shoulder to lean on for so many others.”

Amazing Teachers of St Cuthbert’s Mr Ian Torrie Congratulations to our Head of Subject: Chemistry, Mr Ian Torrie, who has been awarded the prestigious Peter Spratt medal. This award recognises significant and long-term contributions to Science education in New Zealand.

The Peter Spratt medal has been awarded biennially by the New Zealand Association of Science Educators since 2008. The medal is awarded to office holders of Science teacher committees; those who organise Science fairs and other events; and contributors to examination and curriculum panels who have supported Science teachers across New Zealand.

Ian has been at St Cuthbert’s in our Science Department since 1993, and has been Head of Subject: Chemistry since 2000. Ian’s talents have been recognised on previous years, he won the Denis Hogan Chemical Education Award in 2009, ISNZ Honours Award for Chemistry leadership in 2013 and NEiTA National Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2014.

Ian says “What I enjoy about teaching are the ‘light-bulb moments’ and when a student says something like, “so chemistry isn’t that hard after all”, and you realise you have made a difference.”

Congratulations Ian, we are so very lucky to have you at St Cuthbert’s, inspiring our girls and instilling in them a love of Chemistry everyday!

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12 2020 has been a golden year for St Cuthbert’s with eight of our girls in Years 12 and 13, receiving the prestigious Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award at the time of publication.

We spoke to Award Leader for St Cuthbert’s, Helen Fraser and students Harriet Cook, Rachel Denny, Ella Greenwood, Olivia Haskell, Hayley Minturn, Sophie Monks, Noor Randhawa and Chloe Tattersfield about what it took to achieve the Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award, and why the experience is such a rewarding one.

Our Golden Girls: Celebrating our Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award Recipients The Duke of Edinburgh Award is a global education framework, challenging young people aged 14 – 24 to dream big and discover their potential. By creating opportunities for students to learn a new skill (or develop an existing one), get physically active, give service to their communities, and take part in an adventure, the Award challenges students to leave their comfort zones as that’s when the good stuff happens! This, in turn, helps students build self-confidence, greater resilience, and sets them up for success.

Students design their own Award programmes, set their own goals and record their own progress.

The only person they compete against is themselves, by challenging their own beliefs about what they can achieve. Gold is the third and final level of the Award, which takes a minimum of 12 months to complete. Students can use their existing day to day extra curriculum activities towards the Duke of Edinburgh activities. The Award is comprised of three levels and four sections – Skills, Voluntary Service, Physical Recreation and Adventurous Journey. Participants complete all four sections at each level in order to achieve their Award. At Gold level, participants also complete a Residential component.

Award Leader for St Cuthbert’s The Duke of Edinburgh programme, Helen Fraser assists our girls in achieving their goals. Helen says: “I believe that not all learning happens in the classroom. Getting involved in the Award is a personal challenge and not a competition against others; it pushes the girls to their personal limits and recognises their individual strengths. With aspects of the Award being work through in groups, the girls are also expanding their friendships.

Having your Duke of Edinburgh Award looks great on tertiary study applications, scholarships, CVs and resumes. The Award shows commitment and achievement, as well as dedication to a variety of activities. It also gives our students the opportunity to talk about themselves and their passions outside of the classroom.”

We asked our girls to share with us how they achieved their Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award, and the highlights of their experience.

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Harriet Cook, Year 13 I received my Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award for the completion of five things. The first was a year of a new skill, I umpired Water Polo and Flippaball games which was very daunting at first but once I got the hang of it, I really enjoyed it! The second was a year of Physical Activity, I regularly train for the Premier St Cuthbert’s Water Polo Team and I am in several club teams which made things simple when it came to picking something to do for my physical activity. The third is Service; for this I coached Years 3–8 in Flippaball, Minipolo and Water Polo. With lockdown happening half way through my Duke of Ed Gold, I had to adapt and did a new skill of painting over lockdown which I am already passionate about and my new Physical Activity was running which was a struggle but it definitely got easier as it went. The fourth aspect of Duke of Edinburgh Gold is the ‘Adventurous Journey’ and the preparation leading up to it. For this, I did a one-day training course, a practice three-day tramp in the Kaimais and a four-day tramp at Te Aroha and the surrounding ranges.

For my residential project I went for a three-and-ahalf-week trip to America to play Water Polo which was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life to far.

Duke of Edinburgh has taught me many things about myself and the way I react in challenging situations. I loved this experience, even walking for hours in the rain with a 12kg pack on, and I am proud of myself for accomplishing it.

Rachel Denny, Year 13 I found overall, completing the Bronze, Silver, and Gold awards was very rewarding and found working towards a goal made me much more motivated. The skills that I improved in over this time were teaching swim lessons at SwimTastic and progressing on my PADI open water dive course. I continued playing Water Polo for the Physical Recreation part of the award and for the Volunteer work I helped out for NZ Guide Dogs, Remuera Vets, and Guardian Angels. When I went to Outward Bound NZ last December, I was able to complete my Adventurous Journey as well as my Residential Project to complete my Gold Award.

Every tramp completed was so satisfying and the group of people with whom I to experienced these tramps were awesome.

I’d say my highlight of the whole experienced was going to Outward Bound as it really pushed me to limits I didn’t think I could reach. When I was at Outward Bound, we did many challenging activities like sailing, hiking, and running a half marathon which all pushed me to perform at a level I didn’t believe I was able to do. Through Duke of Edinburgh, I have also had the opportunity to do lots of volunteer work. I had the chance to volunteer for Remuera Vets, NZ Guide Dogs, and Guardian Angels. The sense of giving back to the community was very rewarding.

Olivia Haskell, Year 13 I really enjoyed completing 52 hours of Service at the Elizabeth Knox Home and Hospital because not only was I giving back to the community, but I was able to connect with another generation which was so knowledgeable and interesting. I completed my 52-hours of Physical Recreation by swimming in a squad which proved to be great exercise.

For Skills, I choose to do Speech and Drama lessons each week, working towards completing an exam at the end of the year.

I also managed to complete an eightday kayak around the Hauraki Gulf which ended up being a total of 110km for my Adventurous Journey. This was an amazing experience which opened me up to the beauty of our country. But I think that my greatest accomplishment for this award was the Residential Project, as I was accepted into the Walsh Memorial Flying school, where I learnt how to fly a plane, passed a written exam and went solo allowing me to gain my Wings. I feel more accomplished through my achievements. I certainly recommend the Duke of Edinburgh Gold Challenge.

Ella Greenwood, Year 13 I have been working up to my Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award since I started my Bronze in 2017. My Voluntary Service has included four years of coaching Years 4, 5 and 6 Hockey teams, at St Cuth’s. I also completed a range of skills including a year of Spanish, Design and driving lessons over the course of three years. The physical recreation I have been

involved in has been Hockey, a sport which I have played for over nine years now. For my Adventurous Journey I went on a kayak trip around the Hauraki Gulf for three days and finished off with my Residential Project on the Spirit of Adventure. This was a 10-day voyage where we sailed from Christchurch to Nelson in December last year.

The thing that I found the most fun/ rewarding about this experience was the range of activities that I was involved in which really pushed me outside of my comfort zone and taught me a range of new skills. Spirit of Adventure was definitely the most challenging of my experiences which I am very grateful for. It was really rewarding to see how much I developed over the course of the 10 days as I started off very hesitant and nervous since I didn’t know anyone. However, by the end of the voyage, I had made some of the best memories with a wide range of new friends whom I still keep in contact with now.

Hayley Minturn, Year 12 I decided to sign up for the Duke of Edinburgh Award as it sounded like an incredible opportunity to develop new skills, work on a

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Continued from previous page... physical activity, serve in the community and challenge myself on tramping expeditions. I chose Water Polo as my physical activity to pursue under Head Coach Olly Gibb. It not only has enabled me to stay fit, but I have enjoyed learning many new skills, gained game awareness and have had the opportunity to compete against some incredibly good players both in New Zealand and in the United States.

Tap Dancing was the skill of my choice. It offered me the chance to not only learn many new difficult technical skills but to have fun at the same time. I gained two Diplomas, enabling me to teach in the future.

Serving in the community was a highlight for me. I visited the Elizabeth Knox Home and Hospital weekly completing a range of activities from companionship through to baking and performing for the residents.

Throughout lockdown, I continued my service by sending poems and video messages in the hope that it would lift the spirits of the residents. Tramping expeditions took place in a variety of locations from the Waitakere Ranges through to the Hunua Ranges and finally the Kaimai Ranges. An additional week-long residential project was also required to attain the Gold Award. I stayed at the Tongariro Hillary Outdoor Pursuits Centre to complete this challenging but extremely exciting residential project. My biggest challenge was caving. I have never particularly felt comfortable crawling through tight dark spaces. The friendships I made were very special and I continue to keep in touch with the students from all around New Zealand.

The Award has helped me to become more resilient, provided me with leadership opportunities, problem solving and decisionmaking skills to help me with life in the future.

I strongly recommend every girl in the school to sign up and have a go.

Sophie Monks, Year 13 In order to complete your Gold Award, you need to have a physical recreation, skill, service and adventurous journey. My Service was baking for Guardian Angels, a charity which helps and supports terminally ill children.

Each week I would bake something different for them such as slice and biscuits and would send them to different families. Another Service I also did was Netball coaching which I have done for three years. I love being able to coach the younger kids as it makes me so happy to see their improvements throughout the year.

The second thing I received my award for was learning to drive which was my skill. As I got my learners in May, this meant I got to 34

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learn to drive. Each week I would go for drives with my nana and she would teach me new skills which eventually resulted in me getting my restricted!

My physical recreation was Netball. I play Netball for both school in Senior A and my club Stonefields and am in Premier 2. The last thing I completed was my Adventurous Journey which was the Mind, Body and Soul course for Outward Bound. This involved 21 days doing many different activities such as kayaking, 70km tramps, high ropes, rock climbing and many other things. This allowed me to reflect on my current life as although it was a very physical course, we spent a lot of time focussing on the mental side of things as well.

The thing I found that most fun about doing my Duke of Edinburgh was learning to drive and getting the opportunity to try new things. What was most rewarding about the experience was finally getting the badge and certificate at the end as it showed me that all the hard work and long hours that I put in finally paid off.

Noor Randhawa (Year 13) I received my Gold Award for volunteering consistently with my local pools as a Swimming Instructor which has been an incredible learning opportunity over the past three years and I’ve also been helping to lead the Junior School choir ‘Black Watch Juniors’ giving Service. Also being a committed member of the premier school choirs to develop my vocal skills, I would say the adventurous journeys have been the most memorable. I went on a seven-day Kayaking Expedition in the Hauraki Gulf and had the pleasure of attending New Zealand Business Week in Palmerston North for my residential project. All incredible activities to have the opportunity to experience.

I think the chance to challenge myself not only physically but also mentally in the adventurous journey’s has been incremental to growth outside a classroom and in the practical environment. By far the skills acquired at NZ Business Week will stay with me and I believe that the resilience learnt throughout the tramps and expeditions will positively influence development in the future for the better. I highly recommend the Duke of Edinburgh award; it is incredibly rewarding and an amazing accomplishment highlighting your commitment and passion for your community.

Chloe Tattersfield (Year 13) Completing my Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award has been such an exciting and rewarding experience. For my Recreational Activity I played Water Polo, for my Skill I played Pool, and for my Service I coached younger girls in Flippaball and Water Polo.

One of my highlights of my Gold Award was completing my residential project as a trainee on the Spirit of New Zealand. This was an awesome experience as I got to meet new people, build friendships, learn new skills and explore our beautiful country.

13 Being at one with the environment:

Kahunui Life Skills experience Every Year 10 girl spends time at our Bay of Plenty outdoor campus – Kahunui – a truly transformative experience she will remember forever.

Now into our second decade of Kahunui, the campus is evolving with a focus on making the most of the amazing location in which the campus is based.

St Cuthbert’s is the only girls’ school to offer a life skills experience on a separate campus, which is designed to advance all levels of girls’ fitness – social, physical, emotional, and intellectual.

Our girls emerge with new-found resilience and self-confidence, and a fresh appreciation of their home and family.

Principal Justine Mahon elaborates:

“Kahunui is a unique and very special part of what we offer at St Cuthbert’s to develop well-rounded young women. The experience helps girls become aware of just how resourceful they are, how they can achieve whatever they put their mind to, how they can feel the fear and do it anyway, and how to be at one with the environment.”

Acting Director of Kahunui, Gail Morrison is excited to be taking Kahunui into its second decade, and has initiated a “walking in front of, walking beside, walking behind” approach, to further build the girls’ confidence throughout this wonderful experience.

The focus during the first week is for Kahunui’s team of instructors and support staff to ‘walk in front of girls’ teaching them life skills.

This includes settling the girls into the routines

of Kahunui, how to manage a house, cleaning routines, how to safely store and prepare food and and survive an overnight camp.

During the second week, the focus is for the girls to manage their own house. The instructors adopt a ‘walk beside’ approach they allow the girls to utilise their skills, to effectively erect their own tents, cook on an open fire and manage in the outdoors.

The final week is focused on the instructors ‘walking behind’ allowing the girls to demonstrate their skill set. They are encouraged to take ownership, independently cook meals both in their houses and the outdoors with silent supervision and support to strategize solutions.

Based in the Bay of Plenty, there are so many natural resources at Kahunui, and the team have been working hard on several great initiatives to ensure our Year 10 girls truly feel part of the community.

Kahunui team member Aroha Wikotu has deep links to the iwi of the valley, her father Ritchie Wikotu is the kaumatua, and a longterm employee and supporter of the campus.

Aroha is leading a programme at Kahunui that provides girls with an understanding of their role in the kaitiakitanga/guardianship of the land of Kahunui and teaches the girls the medicinal MAKING GIRLS AMAZING

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Continued from previous page... quality of many native species. Rongo M ori is the traditional healing system of M ori. It focuses on the oral transmission of knowledge, diversity of practice and the spiritual dimension of health. Rongo M ori encompasses herbal remedies, physical therapies and spiritual healing. The Rongo programme is being developed further with planting of an area with the native plants most commonly used for healing, and the girls are being taught to understand the necessity and importance of preserving the environment for future generations. The programme also includes implementing and maintaining extensive trapping, reduction of food waste and effectively managing recycling.

The campus now also has arrangments with the Bay of Plenty Regional Council to plant riparian strips along the Kahunui stream and Waiotahi River with a range of native species. This includes the management of the river pathway with the building of gabion baskets, large steel baskets which need to be filled with river stone in the spirit of ‘By Love Serve’. Moreover, to date, the Intakes have already planted over 2000 trees.

Gail says “We are excited about shifting

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our focus from the classroom to the land and assets we have available to us at Kahunui with the development of our ‘Footprint projects’.

Each Intake will be actioning the excellent research/data collated from previous Intakes and will implement initiatives including planting native trees/vegetable gardens, trapping lines, stacking firewood, grubbing thistles and managing recycling effectively.”

Moving forward, with the money raised from this year’s annual appeal for Kahunui, the school will install a new greenhouse and a streamwater irrigation system to allow the girls to grow more of the fruit and vegetables they eat on site. The students will dig in and sustain a more substantial kitchen garden at Kahunui next year to supplement their herb gardens at the front of each house.

The new greenhouse at Kahunui will make a huge difference to the quality and quantity of what the students can produce.

It will greatly extend the growing season for them on both sides of spring, allowing for tomatoes to be grown nearly year-round, and will protect plants from harmful diseases, pests and bad weather. The new rainwater tanks and streamwater irrigation system will also boost the edible garden output in a sustainable way.

Our Year 10 girls have shown great resilience this year with many interruptions to their Kahunui Life Skills experience due to Covid-19. It’s our honour to share Natalie Lamb’s speech from Intake 6 which was read out to parents at the end of their experience around the fireplace where the girls started their journey.

From Natalie Lamb: Intake 6 and ‘By Love Serve’ recipient: I have been surrounded by ‘Kahu’ for a large part of my life. My sister went to Kahunui in 2017. I remember mum and dad helping her pack her big red and blue checkered bags. I remember waving goodbye to her when she drove away on the bus. I remember seeing her for the first time after those four weeks and giving her the biggest hug.

So, I’ve heard all the stories, the crazy, the terrifying, the amazing and hilarious stories. I’ve heard the stories also from the girls who came to Kahu last year and earlier this year. A common theme; Kahunui changes you. But being here these last few weeks I now know that you don’t change down at Kahu; you learn. I’ve learnt that I’m terrible at kayaking. I’ve learnt that I really enjoy cooking and baking. I’ve learnt that sharing a room with three other teenage girls is not for me. I’ve learnt that I feel others emotions really deeply. I’ve learnt that adults are not some God sent, perfect beings and that the only person that can read my mind is me. I’ve learnt that my family is quite possibly and almost certainly the most important thing in my life. Yes, I’ve learnt how to tie a few knots and how to squish everything into a big pack, but I’ve also learnt more about myself in the last 20 days than I have maybe in my entire lifetime.

I’ve been reading a book (I know, crazy stuff). And one quote I’d like to share with you from the book is “we are the choices we make”. And so, I have been asking myself during Kahu, who am I if I am the last person to volunteer to clean those trangias? Who am I if I offer help to Miss Moyes when she needs an extra hand? Who am I when I am late to the Rocks almost every morning? Who am I when I talk to that one person I consistently see alone? Who am I when I am disappointed in myself? Who am I when I am proud of myself? Who am I? Who will I turn out to be?

There’s one last thing I’d like to say. If you can remember all those long weeks ago, the very first day we arrived at the beautiful Kahunui campus and I said a k rero in te reo M ori, I have no idea how many of you were listening or how many of you understood what I was saying, but there is one part I’d like to repeat. He iti hau maranga e tu te p hokahoka. Which means, just like the rainbow after the storm. Which is what Kahunui has been. A rollercoaster, yes. But a rainbow too. So kia ora to everybody that has helped me get here and has given me the opportunity to learn about and question myself.

Thank you.

Ng mihi, Natalie

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Online Scholars’ Assembly

The power of embracing all of who we are Our 2019 Scholars were recognised at our very first online Scholars’ Assembly during Auckland’s August lockdown. A highlight of the event was the powerful speech by Old Girl Asena Tolungamaka, who spoke about embracing and celebrating our uniqueness.

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I do know that you are unique, you are special and the world needs someone exactly like YOU – in all your glory, your strengths, your flaws, your weirdness, your highs and your lows. This world is waiting for you to impact it if that’s what you want to do, and your time at St Cuthbert’s is preparing you to do exactly that.”

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Our annual Scholars’ Assembly is an opportunity to recognise and celebrate our girls’ impressive academic results. Due to lockdown, this year’s assembly was held online for the very first time, and although we were unable to see the girls smiling faces, the event was an extremely special one that will have a special place in St Cuthbert’s history.

Our 2019 results were very impressive, the NCEA Level 1-3 girls’ Excellence and Merit endorsements were 30 percentage points higher than other decile 8 – 10 schools, 37% of our IB girls attained a mark of 40 or more out of 45 compared with 14% worldwide, and we had two top national scholars in NZQA Scholarship, the highest examination possible at Secondary School level. Cybella Maffitt and Joy Tong were acknowledged in a special awards ceremony at Parliament House, earlier in the year where Cybella received the award for Media Studies, and Joy received her award for Latin.

Our girls are supported by our inspiring and dedicated teachers who really go the extra mile to help students discover their unique strengths and passions, and it is important to acknowledge their role in these achievements as well that of our amazing parents.

While exam results are one measure of a school’s success, St Cuthbert’s is committed to unlocking every girl’s potential. An integral part of delivering a world class education, is ensuring that girls leave school with resilience and confidence in who they are. We were absolutely thrilled to have Old Girl Asena Tolungamaka as our guest speaker at the Online Scholars’ Assembly.

In Principal Justine Mahon’s words “Asena was an absolute star at school everyone loved her because of her sensitive, caring, and inclusive approach. Hugely capable, with a maturity beyond her years and a burgeoning sense of social justice, Asena was an outstanding Prefect in her final year. She showed initiative and enterprise in the way in which she approached all projects and was generous spirited in the way in which she encouraged others to shine.”

Asena represented St Cuthbert’s in top competitions in Netball and Athletics and was a pivotal member of choirs and Kapa Haka, all while finding time to umpire and coach younger students. She was awarded a Vice Chancellor’s Scholarship to study Law and Arts at Auckland University and is currently Foreign Policy Officer for the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Asena’s speech was extremely touching, reminding us of the power of embracing all of who we are. Please read on for her powerful speech in full.

You might not be a brown kid from Mangere. Or you might just be. But I do know that you are unique, you are special and the world needs someone exactly like YOU – in all your glory, your strengths, your flaws, your weirdness, your highs and your lows. This world is waiting for you to impact it if that’s what you want to do, and your time at St Cuthbert’s is preparing you to do exactly that.

I don’t speak theoretically, I speak from experience. The more I learnt and experienced at St Cuthbert’s, the more I grew to learn about myself, where I grew up and the mark I wanted to make in the world. Growing up in Mangere where unused potential and poverty were everywhere but going to school at St Cuthbert’s where I had a quality education, countless opportunities and a supportive network at my fingertips; I knew I was incredibly fortunate and wanted to use this education and these opportunities to positively impact Mangere and the people in these communities whose voices are often unheard or silenced.

Kia ora, M l e lelei & hello everyone! Firstly, congratulations to all our Scholars. Your hard work, perseverance, and work ethic especially during a global pandemic is incredible.

I hope you celebrate and reward yourselves especially our two top Scholars. If you didn’t get an award today, that’s okay. You all have beautiful lives ahead of you so keep at it and keep going.

The reason why I’m incredibly excited and a little bit emotional to be speaking to you all today is for the simple but significant fact that St Cuthbert’s College changed my life.

You see, I started St Cuthbert’s as this taller-thanaverage, brown kid from Mangere. Where everyone else’s parents were driving Range Rovers and Jeeps, my dad dropped me off to school in his Bongo van. I stood out here whether I liked it or not. And when you’re transitioning into a new school, I didn’t want to stand out – I just wanted to fit in.

However, as I’ve grown up and seen more of the world, the things about me that made me feel different – being brown and being from South Auckland have become some of my greatest strengths. And that is what I wanted to talk about today.

My time at St Cuthbert’s taught me amazing life lessons that put me on the path to experience truly oncein-a-lifetime moments. From being given an award by our Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern in my very hometown of M ngere to having a yarn with Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters in Vanuatu on the Pacific Mission, to working at New Zealand’s embassy in Hawai’i, one of the most important lessons I learnt at St Cuthbert’s which enabled me to experience all of this, was the power in embracing all of who I am.

I didn’t truly grasp this while I was at school but everything I was learning since I started in Year 7 was preparing me to do just that. From my speech lessons to experiencing Kahunui to Mrs Ali’s Writing class to Mrs Foote’s English class (where I got told off a couple times for being too loud); every nugget of knowledge was something that added to the buffet of life skills that I would later utilise at the most opportune moments – whether it’s having to say a speech in front of hundreds of people to publishing articles about social justice issues that gain public exposure and traction, or beginning at university and already being at an advantage because of my time here; every lesson was valuable. Even the ones which I didn’t think were useful at the time – the lessons I had to learn through pain. The friendship dramas, the family issues and the problems to do with boys (which I thought was the end of the world) – even these experiences during high school were actually just making me stronger, wiser and more resilient. And I needed to be all of this to take on the world that I’m taking on now.

I know we’re living in a world that can make even the strongest person nervous and anxious, but the beauty of experiencing this is that it will shape you, it will grow you and it will teach you lessons that you’re going to use to change this world.

I know it’s even harder because you have to deal with so much, in addition to a global pandemic. I remember what it was like just to be a teenager trying to get through high school so I can only imagine what you’re feeling right now. But trust me when I say you’ll be more than okay. So, keep at it, keep going and keep being exactly who you are.

That’s all you need in this world. And this world needs you.

M l ‘aupito. T n koutou, t n koutou, t n koutou katoa.

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Meet our new Associate Head of Performing Arts – Oliver Gilmour

We are very excited about welcoming to our St Cuthbert’s community, Oliver Gilmour, our new Associate Head of Performing Arts. Oliver shares with us why he believes Performing Arts is a hugely important and reflects on the special events that were able to take place this year, as well as those planned for 2021.

Performing Arts has the power to convey the deepest emotions and feelings which is brilliantly captured in Hans Christian Andersen’s words, ‘where words fail, music speaks’.

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It has been a privilege to join the St Cuthbert’s Performing Arts Faculty as of Term 2 this year. I previously taught Music and Social Studies at another private school and had oversight of both Curriculum and Co-curricular Music opportunities in the Middle College (Years 7–10). At St Cuthbert’s, I am Associate Head of Faculty for Performing Arts and I’ve recently taken on a pastoral responsibility as Acting Deputy Dean of Durham House. It has been a really enjoyable five months becoming familiar with the St Cuthbert’s way of life and the impressive range of opportunities available to our girls in Performing Arts.

Performing Arts is a hugely important part of education in schools today. As our education landscape continually changes through technological advancements including online learning, our students, more than ever, need positive experiences in the Performing Arts to shape them as young people. The skills that can be taught in this area are plentiful.

Performing Arts teaches creativity, risk-taking, resilience, empathy and perhaps most critically, collaboration through working positively with others.

Research suggests that students who are involved in Performing Arts can achieve higher results and have more academic success in other areas of their schooling, and indeed, their tertiary years. Performing Arts has the power to convey the deepest emotions and feelings which is brilliantly captured in Hans Christian Andersen’s words, ‘where words fail, music speaks’.

St Cuthbert’s girls are fortunate to have access to a wide range of Performing Arts activities through Music, Dance and Drama, both in the classroom as part of our academic programmes and in a co-curricular capacity. Despite many Performing Arts events both inside the School and in the wider community being cancelled this year due to Covid-19 alert level restrictions, the Instrumental Showcase was a wonderful celebration of music-making from our orchestras and bands. We were fortunate to host this event on August 11, the night before the second lockdown. It is my belief that Performing Arts is integral to the culture of a school and should permeate the entire community and not be confined to the faculty buildings.

This has most certainly been the case as we have enjoyed numerous musical items at assemblies and ‘Arts In The Atrium’ performances. The recent class plays in Drama and the Dance Showcase were a fantastic display of some of our talented students. Plans are in place for a 2021 School Musical which will once again be a fantastic opportunity for our musical theatre girls. These opportunities are critical for young people to build connections with others and enduring friendships can be made.

If there was ever a time for Performing Arts to thrive in a school, it is now, as we face such uncertainty and challenge with the global pandemic. Let us continue to celebrate what Music, Drama and Dance can bring to our lives.

St Cuthbert’s shines at the SGCNZ Sheilah Winn Shakespeare Festival 2020

St Cuthbert’s excelled at this year’s SGCNZ Sheilah Winn Shakespeare Festival, which was held as a virtual event for the first time. We spoke to Drama and English Teacher, Debbie Waalkens, about St Cuthbert’s exceptional results.

Can you share with us more about this amazing festival?

There are two divisions in the SGCNZ, one where directors and actors perform a scene, and a section for those who are interested in the creative opportunities around Shakespeare, such as costume design, poster design, music composition and essay writing. The girls achieved wonderful results in both sections.

How does this special festival involve all girls in Performing Arts?

This festival is open to all Years 9 –13 students whether they do Drama as a subject or not. Girls who have a talent for or interest in music, dance or art, the technical side of the production, as well as acting, can find an area they can be involved in.

The St Cuthbert’s Shakespeare festival has been going since at least 2001 and we have been involved in the national festival since then. It began small with just two groups and over the years has become so popular we have up to 250 girls and 65 groups involved. We have had many winning scenes and a number of girls have been chosen nationwide to perform at the Globe Theatre.

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It looks as though our girls really rose to the occasion with the new virtual format! What do you think the girls learnt from this experience?

As Shakespeare acting is open to all girls from Year 9, and directing to all students from Year 11, the girls build upon their skills year upon year. Year 9 students begin with little understanding of Shakespeare’s language but many develop a love and understanding of both the language and his plays as they continue to be involved. Girls also develop an understanding that Shakespeare’s storylines are still relevant today.

The directors have the opportunity to set their scenes in any time period, country or social situation they like as long as it is true to the story and language. This allows the girls to develop design and creative skills as seen by the success in the creative sections where St Cuthbert’s girls were either first, or placed in every section in the New Zealand wide competition.

The Senior girls also benefit from learning great leadership and organisational skills as they learn to direct younger girls, while the younger ones love the opportunity to work with older girls with the ultimate aim for it to be fun.

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How do we celebrate and learn about Shakespeare at St Cuthbert’s and why is it important to do so?

Shakespeare is celebrated in so many ways at St Cuthbert’s. The girls study Shakespeare in English and Drama. They can perform Shakespeare from Year 9 and can direct and interpret Shakespeare from Year 11. From Year 9, girls can help backstage and on the technical side of the production. This year, Years 7 and 8 are taking part in a play called ‘Shakespeare on Trial’.

Girls can also compose music for Shakespeare productions. This year, student Grace Mora won the supreme award for her composition of music. She attended the National Shakespeare Schools Production in September where the top 46 students from around the country created a production. 24 were chosen to go to the Globe Theatre in London next year, of whom Grace is one.

The girls are so lucky as, early on, they realise that Shakespeare is very accessible, and they can explore the bard in whichever way they like. William Shakespeare is still the most famous playwright in the world and all students should experience both his performances and his language. He was such a wonderful storyteller.

2020 Cultural Honours

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A huge congratulations to our Shakespeare Competition winners…

Winners of the SGCNZ/Adam Foundation Shakespeare Competitions for Poster Design, Static Image & Video Title Card SGCNZ/Adam Foundation Shakespeare Poster Competition 1st Prize: Geneva Ryan (Year 9) ‘Romeo and Juliet’.

2nd Prize: Amelia Barrett (Year 13) ‘Macbeth’.

SGCNZ/Adam Foundation Shakespeare Static Image Competition 2nd Prize: Connie Wing (Year 13) ‘Macbeth’.

3rd Prize: Renee (Yi Ran) Zhang (Year 13) ‘Macbeth’.

SGCNZ/Adam Foundation Shakespeare Video Title Card Competition 1st Prize: Renee (Yi Ran) Zhang (Year 13).

SGCNZ/Dawn Sanders Shakespeare Costume Design Competition.

Commended: Hiro Han (Year 9).

SGCNZ/Morrison Music Trust Shakespeare Music Composition Competition (two sections) 1st Prize: Music composition inspired by a Shakespeare play; Grace Mora (Year 13).

Supreme winner over both sections: Grace Mora (Year 13).

Auckland Central Shakespeare Globe Centre New Zealand University of Otago Sheilah Winn Festival in 2020 NSSP Runner up: Helena Haldane (Year 12) for ‘Twelfth Night’.

Best Stage Design: ‘Twelfth Night’ directed by Debbie Waalkens.

Best Communication with the Audience: ‘Twelfth Night’ directed by Debbie Waalkens. (Eva Matheson (Year 13), Nellie McKegg (Year 13), Helena Haldane (Year 12), Cate Sharma (Year 13), Jeri Misa (Year 13).

Best Adult Director: Rita Stone for ‘Measure for Measure’ Stella Cossey (Year 13), Renee Cossey (Year 13), Maddy Lamb (Year 13), Meg Hails (Year 13), Noor Randhawa (Year 13), Hannah Fan (Year 13).

Best Comedy Duo: Maddy Lamb (Year 13) and Hannah Fan (Year 13) in ‘The Comedy of Errors’.

Best Ensemble: ‘The Comedy of Errors’. Maddy Lamb (Year 13), Hannah Fan (Year 13), Nellie McKegg (Year 13), Sarah White (Year 13), Arabella Cryer (Year 13), Hannah Went (Year 13), Amelia Barrett (Year 13).

Each year our Cultural Honours Awards are presented to girls for an exemplary level of achievement, commitment, and service to the Arts and Culture of St Cuthbert’s.

Due to Covid-19 restrictions, parents were unable to attend this year, so we held our first online Cultural Honours. The girls attended the ceremony in person, receiving their awards and having the chance to walk proudly across the stage. The ceremony was streamed to families later that evening, enabling parents to watch this with their daughter, all in the comfort of their own homes.

The ceremony began with the P t tara (conch shell trumpet) sounded by Year 13 student Bella McDonald and included stunning performances by our Year 7 and 8 Kapa Haka Group and dance group ‘The Company’.

Congratulations to all our girls who were recognised at this momentous ceremony, always a highlight of the year.

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Thank you!

Our St Cuthbert’s community’s generosity secures new dance studio A special thank you to our generous donors: Irene Chen and Adam Wu Eileen Deng and Shane Kwok Yan Gong and Tao Zhang Helena, India and Sylvie Haldane The Hawkesby Family Ann Louise Jordan Pui Sim Mic Leung and Yuet King Chow Giri Mahadevan

Thanks to our school community’s generosity we will be adding a new Dance studio to our exceptional Performing Arts facilities in time for 2021. A new sprung floor will be laid on top of the existing floor in PAC 1.01, as well as a wall of mirrors and a movable ballet barre so the space is perfectly equipped for our dancers. We spoke to Director of Development Holly Palmer and Head of Performing Arts Judy McIntosh to find out why it’s so important to have exceptional facilities for our girls to practise in, and why donors are such an important part of our school community.

This is such an exciting initiative. Why was a new Dance studio an important project to raise funds for?

Holly: The Dance programme at St Cuthbert’s has grown in recent years and is now offered as an option from Years 9 to 13. All Year 7 and 8 students also experience Dance as part of their curriculum. Given the increasing popularity of the programme and with our new Dance teacher joining this year, we wanted to make sure our girls have the best facilities available to study and practise their craft.

Allan McFall and Karen Anderson Parents & Friends’ Kirsty Pearce and John Wright Dong Ming Qin Eric Rao and Amanda Li Andrew Shiu Robin Stoney and Philip Bullen Paul and Saraid Thompson Hannah Warren Gui Zhi Yang Anonymous (2)

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Judy: Having an actual Dance space, complete with sprung Dance floor, wall-to-wall mirrors and a new sound system will extend the programme and lift the quality of the performances and classes.

Dedicated spaces, with fit-for-purpose technology, will both inspire and encourage our young dancers to give their best at all times.

How did you raise the money?

Holly: With the help of generous Robertson Circle patron and parent, Mrs Gretchen Hawkesby, and the support of the Parents & Friends’ Association. Fundraising is a team sport, and it is a wonderful thing to have parents like Gretchen in the community. Her daughter, Jemima is a keen dancer in Year 12, and Gretchen had already heard of the need for a sprung Dance floor at the school.

The Parents & Friends’ Association (P&F) were similarly enthusiastic and spread the word among the school’s parents. Several members of the P&F, including Asian Friendship Group President, Nancy Zhang, promoted the Dance studio and our fundraising efforts among family, friends and within school networks. We are very thankful!

Why do you think it’s so important to have premium facilities for our girls?

Judy: Philosophically, you could argue that Socrates taught under a tree without even a book, but experience tells us that students lift their game when performing in a state-of-the-art modern, clean, functional space, purpose built for them to excel in.

The environs tell them ‘they deserve to be here’ and it encourages them to bring their ‘A’ game.

Holly: I think we all want to see our girls explore their passions and flourish. When the students are able to use the latest equipment, feel at home in dedicated spaces, and learn from experts who love what they do, they are more likely to find the spark of inspiration that motivates them to become lifelong learners in their areas of interest. It’s also a huge advantage for them to leave St Cuthbert’s knowing they have used the tools and experienced the facilities that they would find at university or in industry – they can enter those spaces with confidence.

relationships, in an environment that is welcoming. Dance encourages a young woman to think outside the square, to use her body as self-expression and to create meaning and stories without words. In a world where young people are being bombarded with noise, sound bites, conflicting issues, rules, expectations, the opportunity to find freedom and sometimes peace through movement is vital. Communication through expression that is not words, brings creativity and joy. Without this we live in a very bleak, hard world.

Why are donors such an important part of our school community?

Holly: I am acutely aware, even as I walk on my short early morning journey from the Carlton Road Carpark and down to my

office in the Robertson corridor, that what I see, experience and value every day exists because of our donors. The St Cuthbert’s community donates not only financially, but they also gift their service and expertise.

They mentor our girls, invigilate our exams, advise our school leaders – and even launder the table cloths after our events! The very fabric of our school is made from the care and generosity of generations of donors.

Every day I am grateful to work with these kind individuals and families and learn about why they choose to lift up this school and its students.

To our donors – thank you for everything you’ve done for our girls! Every gift mattered in this fundraising effort, and I thank you for joining together during uncertain times to make this happen! I can’t wait to host you all for a special opening event next year!

How does Dance provide our girls with a way of expressing themselves and why is this so important?

Judy: Now more than ever, our students need a safe place to experience Music, movement, friendship, close teacher

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The Resilience Project Resilience is the ability to bounce back from challenges, and for the students of St Cuthbert’s Athlete Pathway Programme, or APP as its known about campus, there have been no shortages of challenges in 2020.

Resilience is all the more important in these times of Covid uncertainty, and the team behind APP quickly observed they had to bring greater focus to the overall wellbeing of their students. APP has always been about more than just sporting excellence and, during the March Level 4 lockdown, the team realised their students would benefit from a structure to build the cornerstones of resilience – empathy, emotional literacy, mindfulness and gratitude.

Anna Stanley APP Head, who is also a mentor for the Tania Dalton Foundation, heard of a high-calibre motivational project which was gaining traction in Australia – The Resilience Project.

Anna was impressed with the tools they had to help teach children positive mental strategies and has blended them with her own experiences as a

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professional sportswoman making St Cuthbert’s the first school in New Zealand to roll out this proven scheme which Anna says “builds not only resilient athletes but, importantly, resilient individuals”.

Anna says it’s incredibly important to help sporting students deal with their emotions and found teaching from The Resilience Project has opened up engaging conversations in her classroom. She has been leading classroom-based mentoring sessions around worry, social media, disappointment, and girls’ feelings overall. Anna has seen her students open up, share with each other, be grateful for what they do have, and has also seen an improvement in the emotional support students are providing for one another. She finds that the resources help them develop positive, growth mindsets which are tools for life, not just in the Sports Arena.

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Our role in the APP is ensure our athletes at St Cuthbert’s are provided with the necessary tools and resources to achieve success and ultimately enjoyment, in the sports they love”.

APP is available for students from across Years 8 – 13. This year we have record numbers with 120 girls taking APP as one of their optional subjects. It is led by Anna Stanley and Kaushik Talukdar with a great deal of support from our Sports Department whose coaches work in the APP Code sessions. Anna says she’s particularly grateful to Oliver Gibb, Holly Nixon, Victoria Methven and Tori Vao. Oliver has a wealth of knowledge in Water Polo and takes these girls and swimmers in specialist training sessions; Holly Nixon is New Zealand Football’s Women’s Development Manager and brings specialist coaching to our keen footballers; Victoria and Tori are both hugely passionate about Hockey and are always up for challenge of a coaching session with our Hockey girls. The APP team sees their students six times, over a 10-day cycle, during which they have sessions in the gym for strengthening and conditioning with Kaushik; Resilience Mentoring sessions in the classroom with Anna; and practise their chosen codes with our Sports Department in the pool, on the Netball courts, on the Hockey turf, or Football on the fields.

Anna Stanley, former Silver Ferns captain, describes why APP is a key differentiator for our students, “We have many talented sportswoman at St Cuthbert’s who participate in a range of sports. However, we live in a generation where athletes are exposed to a lot more competitive sport from an early age – the load is significantly greater, and expectations seem to be higher.

Our role in the APP is to ensure our athletes at St Cuthbert’s are provided with the necessary tools and resources to achieve success and ultimately enjoyment in the sports they love”.

Kaushik Talukdar is also a former sporting superstar, favouring Cricket over the Netball courts, and he is currently pursuing his PhD in youth athletic development at AUT. He is the Head of Strength and Conditioning at St Cuthbert’s, and in line with APP’s vision of “Sport For Life”, his goal is to help young athletes remain injury-free in an environment where the physical demands of sports have grown over the years. He notes that as young athletes go through a period of accelerated growth during adolescence so teaching sound movement skills to develop mobility, speed, agility, strength, power aerobic and anaerobic fitness, is key to long-term athletic development.

For more information visit theresilienceproject.com.au

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Our inspiring 2020 Sherilyn White Scholarship Recipient,

Violette Perry

At just 17 Violette Perry is a calm and strong energy to be around. She is considered, poised, has a rich family history she’s proud of, and has already achieved so much both academically and in sports. Violette came to St Cuthbert’s last year, in Year 12, from Christchurch as the recipient of a Boarder’s Scholarship. She is also this year’s recipient of the Sherilyn White Memorial Scholarship which is available for girls in Years 12 and 13 to help them pursue their sporting dreams.

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Violette takes her academic studies seriously knowing that to secure a place at the Ivy League College of her dreams (she had six interested in her and recently accepted Yale University) academic work needs to come first, sports second.

Violette has been inspired to follow her dreams and study by both of her parents who have supported her move to Auckland and encouraged her to take whatever opportunities present themselves. Violette is particularly inspired by her parents’ careers and says she is motivated to work hard and, as her father often encourages her, to “take whatever opportunities are at her fingertips”, something her paternal grandmother could never do. Violette reflects on her M ori side and remembers her grandmother didn’t have the opportunity to attend primary school, let alone university, having had three children by the age of 17. Out of her 30 cousins, only two went onto university, one of whom was her sister who recently started Medical School at Otago.

Sports are an integral part of Violette’s life and, in particular, her love of and success in Athletics where she specialises in Discus,

Javelin and Shot Put. Violette really comes alive when she talks about her favourite code of Discus: “I’ve loved Discus since I first threw one in primary school. As a nine-year-old I secured the longest distance Discus result and broke a 20-year Canterbury record! I just did it for fun at first, then realised I loved the sensation of watching it go. It’s so satisfying as you can tell how far it is going to fly just by watching it in the first few seconds…by the time you’re feeling it leaving your hand, you just know”.

Violette is also part of the St Cuthbert’s Premier Netball Team. Her mother and maternal grandmother were so excited last year when they travelled to Auckland to watch Violette play at the North Island Champs.

In addition, Violette plays Water Polo in Auckland and was picked for the Under-18 squad which was supposed to attend the FINA championships in Israel earlier this year; sadly cancelled due to Covid-19. Violette has previously played for the Melbourne team in the in the Australian Youth Championships. Her Aunt who lives in Melbourne, saw Violette’s

talent and got in touch with the team who then interviewed her. She played in Melbourne for a summer and loved it as she learned so much from the former Australian Rio Olympics team coach who was supporting that team.

It was during a stop-off in Auckland en route to Australia where Violette was participating in the Track and Field team for the NZ Secondary School Athletics Competition, that she became interested in St Cuthbert’s Water Polo. Violette met with Principal, Justine Mahon, and became convinced that St Cuthbert’s was able to give her the opportunities to help her realise her chosen future. Violette became a Boarder last year and says it was easy to make good friends quickly which has helped immensely with living in another city to her family. She credits the Boarding staff for helping feel at home and recommends Boarding to any student wanting to focus on their academic studies and balance this with Sports trainings. Violette says “I’ve become much more independent through Boarding and I can already see it has prepared me for life away from home when I go to university in America. I now know how to look after myself a bit more and can better balance my studies with my sports training”. Being based on site has meant that Violette has time to tutor girls in Year 10, after school each Tuesday in Maths and Science. She does this in the library through the Academic Tutoring programme and finds it very fulfilling.

Violette also credits being part of so many Sports teams for helping her to fit into St Cuthbert’s so easily and says “Getting to know people in my year group was really easy and I’ve made many friends; the Year 12 girls here are so mature and welcoming to me”. As we walk outside to take Violette’s photo she receives friendly catcalls from her friends “Yes Violette, own that photo” they tease!

Violette is now focusing strongly on her studies and one of the appeals of going to Yale is not only the incredible opportunities it brings

and the wonderful facilities she’ll be able to train in, but also the fact that she doesn’t need to have a finely-tuned direction for study.

Violette says “Ivy League Colleges are different to other schools as it’s the academic subjects which are important, and I know I have to secure my place academically before they will even consider my sporting dreams. Ivy Leagues don’t have pure sports scholarships, first they secure high academic standards. I’m grateful to Head of Careers, Rhonda Vink, who is helping me to apply, to pull the right application documentations together, and has put me in touch with these universities.”

Unlike her older sister who knew from early on that she wanted to be a Doctor, Violette says she still doesn’t know her future career path.

She says, “the wonderful thing about Ivy League Colleges is that in the first semester, they allow students to try different classes and see what appeals, so students can make their decision on which subject they will major in during or after the second year”. Violette is considering both Engineering and Economics paths but says she’s open to more after the ‘give it a go semesters’.

Violette says the Sherilyn White Scholarship is a great assistance to her financially and has allowed her the possibility of being more prepared for an Ivy League College. Violette knows she’ll have to work hard and save hard between finishing her NCEA exams in December and joining her university of choice in August 2021 and says she is incredibly grateful for the assistance this scholarship and the Boarding scholarship brings.

It was important to Violette that we pass on her deep gratitude to all of the St Cuthbert’s families who have looked after her during her time here.

We wish you every luck Violette and have a feeling we’ll be hearing about your future successes, both academically as well as in the sporting arena, for many years to come!

“

St Cuthbert’s is a really, really, good school and the teachers they have here are simply incredible. The way they structure their academic schedule and mocks is different to other schools and works really effectively, it’s preparing me well for the finals ahead”.

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Junior School Sport Flippa Ball

Futsal and Football

Junior School had six teams progress in both Flippa Ball and Mini Polo. The girls train at the St Cuthbert’s Aquatic Centre on Friday afternoons and have picked up game experience by playing amongst teams.

Futsal is a new addition for Junior School and it’s great to see our youngest girls gain confidence in ball skills during these friendly five-a-side indoor games where they learn quickly to chase back and give goal scoring a try.

The girls have all been very enthusiastic, positive, willing to learn new skills and generally had lots of fun each Friday in the pool.

Football for Juniors starts from Year 1 and they train at the Junior School astro-turfed courts each Wednesday morning which the girls just love as their Senior School coaches make learning Football skills very fun. We were proud of our Year 3 and 4 team who played at Ellerslie Football Club, on Saturday mornings where they were guided by their ‘Big Sisters’ who volunteer from our Senior School.

SPOTLIGHT ON JUNIOR SCHOOL SPORT

SPOTLIGHT ON JUNIOR SCHOOL SPORT

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Continued from previous page

Hockey

Gymnastics Over 60 girls across Years 3-6 have enjoyed training with professional instructors from Tristar Gymnastics on-site in the Senior School gym each Monday lunchtime, since Term 1. Our Year 5 and 6 girls attended the Remuera Zone Gymnastics Competition held at Tristar Gymnastics on October 19, had a great time competing in a friendly atmosphere and brought home some significant ribbons.

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Years 4 – 6 are generally new to Hockey but quickly take to the game. Hockey continues to grow in popularity as we see our youngest players quickly becoming hooked on the sport. The Junior girls train together on a Wednesday afternoon with two or three Senior School student coaches from our top teams. They are all overseen by two Black Sticks players who are also St Cuthbert’s Old Girls, Julia King, Katie Doar and Madi Doar whom the girls find inspirational. In fact, in these Covid times, the Sports teams have had to make a rule that no matter how much they look up to these inspirational players, our Junior girls can’t keep hugging their Senior girl volunteer and Black Stick coaches, such is their popularity! The girls played for school in the Club Competition throughout the season with some games continuing into the school holidays to make up for Covid cancellations.

22 Frances Melville Meet one of our student Hockey coaches,

We sat down with Year 11 student, Frances Melville, who volunteered this year to be a coach for one of the Year 7 and 8 Hockey teams.

I have played Hockey at St Cuth’s ever since I joined the school in Year 6. I really love the game and currently play in the school’s 3rd and 4th XI teams.

I decided to coach this year as I remember I really enjoying being coached by Senior girls when I was younger.

I have found the whole experience wonderful.

It’s been great to get to know the younger girls and so rewarding to see them develop as players, as well as a team. I also think the younger girls like having an older girl at the school that they can say “hi” to during the day.

The team culture, which was led by Madi Doar, was fantastic; I feel I learnt a lot from her about how to encourage the girls to really play as a team, and not as individuals.

Initially, I was a bit nervous about being a student coach, because I knew I was going to have to give feedback to the girls about how they were playing and ways in which they could improve their game.

I really feel that this experience has given me the confidence to give constructive feedback, and it has also helped increase my personal game knowledge. I often found myself saying to the girls that they needed to do something differently, realising that I too needed to do that differently in my own game!

I would really encourage other girls to give student coaching a go. It is a great way to give back to the school and to support younger girls being involved in sport. I am definitely going to do it again next year, and hopefully we will get a few more games in!

St Cuthbert’s Supporter’s Hoodie!

Supporter’s Hoodie available at Black Watch House or online, at stcuthberts.school.nz/uniform You can pay through your school account, or by credit card, and choose whether you ‘click and collect’ from the shop on campus, or have them delivered to your home.

SPOTLIGHT ON SENIOR SCHOOL SPORT

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Senior School Sport Equestrian In Term 3, we had seven of our school Equestrian squad receive a master class in the art of show-jumping from NZ Olympic legend Blyth Tait. Blyth has competed at four Olympics himself, won four medals and been appointed MBE for services to Equestrian Sport.

Blyth’s encouraging and positive coaching style left our riders with increased confidence and feeling more assertive for their future events.

One of our school Equestrian riders says this sport is like no other – you must be in tune with your horse and responsive to everything they are telling you, much in the way they must be responsive to everything you tell them. You need to be flexible and giving, yet still strong.

Apart from balance, coordination, and fitness, it requires immense focus and patience. Being responsible for a horse requires responsibility, caring, and compassion. Sure, there are sizeable costs involved in owning a horse but the benefits are immense!

Futsal and Football Futsal, five-a-side indoor Football, is growing in popularity and is played by many of our Senior School Footballers which has led nicely into complementary skill development to aid their Winter Football season. St Cuthbert’s has four teams across Years 7–13 including a 7 and 8 team, an under-15 team, our 2nd XI and our Premier team.

A reduced season didn’t dishearten the girls who, their coaches say, have shown great resilience throughout. They have concentrated on continual improvement by regularly attending their trainings which are held by a new coach and the girls feel his new approach is going well.

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Hockey Hockey remains popular with seven teams across Years 9–13 and four teams in Years 7 and 8. Whilst the season was cut short, the girls still trained together every week. We were able to hold one Parent Shield game against Dio. Our First XI team were able to finish the Auckland Final, playing a full round of games and taking out first position. The game was nail-biting as we won after a very equal battle taking the lead in the final moments in a sudden death shoot out…the goalies had to work very hard that night!

Many of the girls were excited to hear that their compromised season could result in game time with the Upper North Islands Competition which was held at North Harbour Hockey Stadium, in the second week of the school holidays. Our 1st XI came 1st and our 2nd XI came 3rd.

Overall, like many sports, it’s been an interrupted season but the Sports Department were really impressed with the girls’ great attitude, and their commitment to trainings despite not knowing if they’d ever have game time.

Water Polo We had six teams in our Year 7 and 8 season but, sadly for this age group, they missed out on a great deal of game time, although they maintained their after-school training sessions. St Cuthbert’s arranged a competition of Year 7 versus Year 8 but before you think this is unfair, the Year 7s actually won – a Burger King lunch, much to their delight!

Years 9 and 10 have just completed their trials and are looking forward to their Term 4 season with the Prem squad kicking off their season too. And we are all keeping our fingers crossed that the Years 7–10 tournaments will go ahead!

SPOTLIGHT ON SENIOR SCHOOL SPORT

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2020 Wearable Arts The girls’ creativity blew us away once again at the annual Wearable Arts competition.

This year, the girls created their Wearable Art in their Years 8–13 Vertical Tutor Groups, and our Year 7 girls made the gorgeous trees that were used to decorate the runway in their Homerooms.

There were six categories to which the girls could submit – Avant Garde, Box Dress, Circus, Flamboyance, Futurist and Isolation.

The Category Winners were: 1st Iona IAMIL 2nd Melrose MEHWD 3rd Durham DMJOL Box Dress 1st Lindisfarne LEBRW YKWAH 2nd= York Iona IADYE 4th Dunblane DEMUL Circus Circus 1st Kelso KOSTN 2nd Melrose MEGLA 3rd Durham DMWAR Flamboyant 1st York YKTIP 2nd Lindisfarne LEATT IALAR 3rd Iona Futurist 1st Melrose MEOCR 2nd Dunblane DEMCA YKREN 3rd= York Iona IAYEL Isolation 1st Iona IAKAH 2nd Elgin ENOWE 3rd Kelso KOBRT Year 7 1st= Dunblane and Lindisfarne 2nd Elgin 3rd Iona

Wildcard Lindisfarne LEATT Wildcard Elgin ENOWE Wildcard Melrose MEGLA Wildcard York YKWAH

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We never fail to be impressed by the ingenuity our girls show in creating their Wearable Arts costumes. With the additional challenge of less time to work on the projects, their innovation was next level this year”.

— Fiona Cottam, Deputy Principal and Head of Senior School

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So much to be thankful for – our inaugural

We couldn’t think of a better time to introduce a new day to our calendar – St Cuthbert’s Gratitude Day, a day for our school community to be thankful for all that is good in our lives.

St Cuthbert’s Gratitude Day was a very special way to take a whole day to celebrate and give thanks.

As you’ll see on the following page, giving thanks and giving back is not new to St Cuthbert’s. Our school has a long history of sharing as a community for the benefit of future St Cuth’s generations.

Gratitude Day is a global event with its roots in Hawaii, 1965. The United Nations recognised it by a special resolution in 1977. Since then, World Gratitude Day has been intended as a time the entire world could stop and be thankful to one another. The inaugural St Cuthbert’s event included many activities designed to share the message of gratefulness across the school including an appreciation Chapel service, bows around the school celebrating amazing donations from our community including the Old Girls’ Association and Parents and Friends’ Association, a thank you morning tea for staff hosted by students. In addition, our Junior School wrote thank-you cards to family members.

Take your philanthropy tour...

Look out for the big red bows on campus today!

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Rose window facing west Chapel organ Rose window facing east Old Girls’ Chapel Sundial Terry Stringer sculpture Liquid amber trees Birdbath Flagpole Cups and prizes display cabinet Small oak cabinet Quatrefoils Waikato Old Girls’ table Joan Holland Auditorium piano Auditorium leavers’ plaques Frances Hodgkins artwork Frances Compton Library Bews Bell Oak chairs in Clouston Hall Lectern in Clouston Hall Dux and Scholarship boards Cabinets of curiosities Metal seating in Middle School Junior School staging area Junior School sports courts Performing Arts Centre Costume room Melrose ‘Window of Memories’ Violet Wood Dining Hall lectern Table tennis table Tree-lined seating area Centennial Centre for Wellbeing CCW bleachers leavers’ plaques Netball and tennis courts Hockey turf

Donations to St Cuthbert’s over the years Did you know that our Old Girls’ Association has donated the following?

• The Chapel was donated in 1993 to commemorate the 75th Jubilee of the Association.

• The Chapel organ was donated in 2019 • The Terry Stringer sculpture, ‘Faith, Hope, Love’, was donated in 2002 • The ‘Window of Memories’ on the front of Melrose was donated by the Old Girls’ of 1955 – 1965.

• The Waikato Old Girls donated a table in 2019 which sits in the Atrium. It features a Dr Seuss quote “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.”

Did you know that our Parents & Friends’ Association has donated the following?

• In 2016, they kindly funded the stage area in the Junior School, seating in the Year 7 Homeroom area, and tree-lined seating near the Tennis courts • Frances Hodgkins’, ‘A Musical Evening’, was donated in 1965 • The west-facing window above the Chapel Altar was donated in 1993 • Too many prizes to individually mention have been generously donated to the school over the years.

The first-ever donation to the school the Mount Eden College Lower School Relay (Swimming) cup by P. Moors and the most recent prize for Chinese from the Asian Friendship Group in 2019

Thank you to our Goodie Bag sponsors Griffins, Hedgerow and Tasti!

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“

As Jacques Cousteau once said, “People protect what they love”. So, by chatting with students and sharing my love of nature, I felt like I might have inspired even just one student to volunteer some time towards looking after the planet and that felt great.”

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26 Our Year 13 girls were buzzing with excitement after the inaugural St Cuthbert’s Year 13 Virtual Careers Breakfast that took place on 4 June. We were overwhelmed when 50 Old Girls, parents, and members of the community enthusiastically responded to the Careers and Development teams to be Careers hosts, thereby helping us match volunteers with the variety of ambitions and aspirations of our Year 13 girls.

Amazing mentors help make inaugural Careers events a success The diverse backgrounds of our amazing group of volunteers ranged from a Professor of Paleoecology to a pioneer of breakthrough MRI Imaging Technology.

One student commented to a Careers Breakfast mentor, “Thank you so much for taking the time to talk with us about your role as a Medical Physicist – as someone who is looking into medicine, it really opened my eyes to all the opportunities that I hadn’t previously considered.

I especially enjoyed hearing about the Brain Imaging Technology you developed.”

It was 7.30am on a Thursday morning, normally a time when our Year 13 girls would be getting ready to come to school. Instead that morning, they were all dressed and ready to have their breakfasts in front of their laptops while listening first to a talk from Futurist, Frances Valintine who opened the Careers Breakfast event. The well-received plenary focused on what the future holds, how we need to be flexible and creative to keep up with changing trends, and the need to embrace new and multiple opportunities that come our way. Following this future-looking direction, girls then participated in small group virtual breakout sessions hosted by their careers mentors, experts in a field in which they aspire to work.

“Going virtual” creates exciting possibilities – our careers hosts even joined us from as far away as Australia and Canada. We are enormously grateful for the time and effort put in by this valued group of experts. The advice and career paths they shared with the students will surely be invaluable to them as they take on their next journey after leaving school.

Careers Breakfast speaker, Jodi Pretscherer, Membership and Events Manager at Sustainable Coastlines, said, “I wanted to take part in

the Careers Breakfast so the girls had the opportunity to chat with someone who worked in the Environmental/Charity sector. It is hugely rewarding to wake up every day and know you are making a difference. As Jacques Cousteau once said, “People protect what they love”. So, by chatting with students and sharing my love of nature, I felt like I might have inspired even just one student to volunteer some time towards looking after the planet and that felt great.”

The Virtual Careers Evening, held jointly with Auckland Grammar School across three evenings one week later, were of a similar vein where there was a main guest speaker each night – Caroline Rainsford, CEO of Google NZ; Greg Cross – Founder of Soul Machines; and Elizabeth Geor, Industry Manager, Chief Cultural Officer of Google NZ. There were numerous virtual breakout rooms afterwards, moderated by the Prefects, to allow students from the two schools to engage in deeper conversations with universities and experts from many different industries.

Rhonda Vink, Head of Careers at St Cuthbert’s, said, “Connecting our Year 13 girls to our alumnae, parents, and community members, provided a wonderful opportunity for them to hear about the realities of the workplace and to be inspired as they begin their last few months of school life. Students were able to focus on their futures and open their minds to possibilities and do this in a very comfortable environment with their parents or caregivers. Reimagining the event as a virtual one, gave everyone a chance to do something different – we feel that it was hugely successful and a great model for everyone involved. Reflections and comments from the girls have been positive and full of enthusiasm.”

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The Solar Lights Project We have been so impressed by the way our girls have not only supported one another this year but also others, both near and far. Two of our inspirational Year 13 students, Amber Waymouth and Hannah Went, share with us an incredible project they initiated – the Solar Light Project.

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Covid-19 has impacted all of us. Whether it be adapting to online learning or not seeing our friends for weeks, we’ve all faced challenges because of the pandemic. Now put yourself in the shoes of someone who is not only dealing with the serious economic impacts of the virus, but tropical cyclones and having to rely on dim, expensive kerosene lamps for light. This is the harsh reality for many people living in rural Fiji.

Being fortunate enough to live in a place where electricity is a guarantee, living without it is almost incomprehensible to many of us. Many rural villages in Fiji lack access to electricity meaning that people are unable to carry out tasks after the sun goes down and children are prevented from doing schoolwork.

With New Zealand’s close ties to Fiji as a fellow Pacific nation, as well as the special place it holds in many of our hearts from happy times spent there, both of us are incredibly passionate about this extremely pertinent issue and felt that we were in a position to

help those in need of electricity in rural Fijian communities.

Hannah won the Anne Murray scholarship for her plan to help bring electricity to rural Fijian villages in need by providing them with solar lights. She then enlisted Amber to help her execute her project and carry out further fundraising for more solar lights. Together, we came up with the idea of the Power Free for Fiji Challenge, where participants went without some form of electricity for forty hours in exchange for sponsorship. The challenge took place over the July holidays and, thanks to the wonderful enthusiasm and commitment of the girls that took part, we managed to surpass our fundraising goal of $5000 in order to send 1000 solar lights to Fiji.

Both of us found going without electricity incredibly difficult, not realising how integral it was to our lifestyle, from eating to communicating. It’s very hard to do anything

without light, so the experience really reaffirmed for us why our project is so important.

The strong focus on service and emphasis on embodying the school motto ‘By Love Serve’ throughout our time at St Cuthbert’s has been a significant part of the inspiration behind the Solar Lights Project. The desire to give back to the community and finding joy in helping others are things that have only grown by being at the school. Both of us recognise how lucky we are to live in New Zealand and attend St Cuthbert’s, so we felt it was only right to give something back.

Central St Cuthbert’s values such as kindness, charity and selflessness are at the heart of our project, and the fact that the school supported our project with such enthusiasm shows how service is a central part of being at St Cuthbert’s.

Working together to do something good for others is an amazing experience. It definitely has strengthened our friendship as we have had to plan, organise and combine our strengths to get our project underway. It’s extremely rewarding to

do something that is bigger than yourselves, and both of us have had an incredibly eye-opening time working on the Solar Lights Project.

If you are a student at St Cuthbert’s, getting involved in Service Projects is something that you should definitely consider. You become more socially aware of issues in your own country and around the world, and it opens your eyes to new perspectives and ways of thinking. There’s always new ways in which you can give back, so if you have a brilliant idea for a service project, don’t be afraid to pursue it!

We envision the Solar Lights Project growing from just solar lights to solar panels and other solar powered technologies, and expanding to other countries in the Pacific. We hope that the project will become something that is continued at St Cuthbert’s as we believe it has the potential to help so many people and it is an issue that we are incredibly passionate about.

By Amber Waymouth and Hannah Went

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Being fortunate enough to live in a place where electricity is a guarantee, living without it, is almost incomprehensible to many of us.”

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28 Despite an uncertain year with a lot of cancellations of Old Girls’ reunions and events, the newly developed Old Girls’ website helped us feel connected to the Old Girl community. Thank you to Justine Mahon, the Communications Team, the Development Office and the committee members who helped us realise this vision.

If you have not yet visited the new website, please have a look and give us your feedback.

We are updating and improving the site regularly. It enables Old Girls to find out what events are happening locally and at the school; to find lost friends and make professional contacts; and to keep up to date with general Old Girls’ news.

The Old Girls’ website ushers in a new form of connectivity within our community.

To make the most of this opportunity, I would ask that all Old Girls complete the questions in the Profile section on the website. You don’t need to be in the work force to answer the questions, we need just as many profiles from non-workers or stay-at-home mums.

A few hundred responses have come in so far and we would love to see more. Please submit your details to us at the ‘Find An Old Girl’ page.

It is always a privilege and pleasure to welcome members of the Association back to the school for Club 50 and Bridge Day. We were extremely sorry to have had to cancel these events this year. Our committee sent the Club 50 ladies a note, tea and biscuit to let them know we were thinking of them. A very warm thank you to our kind anonymous donor for her generous support in this. Please see a snapshot of the responses we received on page 68.

One of the rare events we were able to hold was the Making their Mark awards ceremony. Three Old Girls were recognised for their contribution to the community during exceptional times. Dr. Susan Morpeth (1981–1992), Juliet Moses (1978–1990), Bridget Snelling (Carnachan) (1990– 1998). The prestigious Old Girls’ Honours Award was also presented. This year that award went to Janine Smith, MNZM for achieving an outstanding level of success in her chosen field. Please turn the page to read the inspirational words from Janine and the other award recipients.

The committee and I are look forward to being able to host events next year and to have the opportunity to meet with you again.

The decade reunions will be a big party – not to be missed, as we combine this year’s decade reunions with next year’s. On top of our annual event calendar, we hope to bring you a series small-scale events held by members of the committee within their specialty, such as a Q and A session with published authors.

The names of Old Girls who sadly passed away this year are on page 72. We send our love and condolences to their families.

Some families wrote beautiful notes to the committee, where they told of the full lives their relative had lived and how St Cuthbert’s was never far from their thoughts.

We encourage families to investigate scholarships on offer at the school, so that generations of Old Girls can continue to attend. These scholarships are on page 73 with contact details.

Thank you to those who have helped this year in keeping the Old Girls community connected. Thank you to those who sent in messages of support and gave help with your time or financially. It has been encouraging to see that the spirit of our members has not been dampened by the challenges we all faced this year.

We have loved hearing how the Year 13 girls reached out to old girls or helped in the community during lockdowns. We know, when we celebrate their Graduation Ball on 11 December, that we are welcoming wonderful new members to the St Cuthbert’s Old Girls’ Association who will follow the tradition of ‘By Love Serve’.

Wishing you all a very happy and safe holiday with your families.

Kind regards Georgina Robertson — President, Old Girls’ Association OUR CONNECTED COMMUNITY

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Honouring our Outstanding Old Girls This year’s awards include the Old Girls’ Honours, and a special Making Their Mark in Extraordinary Times award, which recognises Old Girls who have made a considerable impact on our community during the challenging events of 2019 and 2020.

We are so proud of our inspirational Old Girls for demonstrating ‘By Love Serve’ in their lives.

We welcome your nominations for this award for 2021.

Nominations close 7 May, 2021 – find out how to nominate a fellow Old Girl on our website oldgirls.stcuthberts.school.nz

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awards, participates in advisory boards in the tertiary education sector, and has mentored women through the University of Auckland, Equal Opportunities Trust and women in their governance roles.

Janine is an alumna of the University of Auckland, AUT, and London Business School where she is President of the Auckland chapter. She is also a member of the Institute of Directors, ArcAngels and Global Women.

Janine’s values have influenced and shaped her thinking, taking her through her life journey and career. These she defines as:

Old Girls’ Honours Awardee 2020: Janine Smith The inspiring Janine Smith (1972) is our Old Girls’ Honours awardee for 2020. Janine brings impressive energy and dedication to the areas of governance and commercial enterprise with a deep understanding of business, people, and process. Her wideranging knowledge and expertise arise from her experience as a CEO, Director and Chair with public listed companies, state-owned enterprises and not-for-profit organisations in the commercial, arts, and education sectors where she has been a company director for over 25 years.

In 2003, Janine became a founding member of The Boardroom Practice, which specialises in advising and training boards and senior managers in governance. Janine has a Bachelor of Commerce degree with majors in finance and marketing and a Master of Philosophy (Hons 1st class) in governance, completed in 2010, in which she researched the characteristics and factors of both effective and ineffective boards. This was one of the first studies of its type in the world. In the 2015 New Year Honours, she was awarded an MNZM (Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit) for services to Corporate Governance.

Giving back to the community in the spirit of ‘By Love Serve’ takes many forms for Janine. She has been a judge and convenor of many major New Zealand business

Vision – As a leader you need to have a vision to lead people. For yourself, you also need a vision to know what you are aiming for, so you can set your goals, focus your efforts, and ignore distractions. Not only will you be more successful, but your life will have greater purpose and meaning.

Attitude – As a leader you need a can-do attitude, a glass half full, not a glass half empty. A positive attitude and outlook on life, commitment, and integrity will make a difference in your success.

Learning – Learning is about both academic learning and life learning. It is important that you remember to continue to gain both formal and informal education.

Understanding – An understanding of yourself and others is part of your emotional intelligence. An important factor for succeeding in life. Be aware and look, watch and listen to others. Know how they affect you, and how you affect them. You will achieve greater success with this awareness, as life is about people.

Enjoyment – Your future work will be very much a part of your life so it’s important that you have a job that you have fun in and like. People tend to be more successful when they are doing something they enjoy.

Stamina – A journey takes time. In your life journey, you will experience both success and, at times, failure. You will require resilience, courage, determination, and stamina for this journey.

Making Their Mark Awardee Bridget Snelling

Making Their Mark Awardee Dr Susan Morpeth

Making Their Mark Awardee Juliet Moses

Bridget Snelling (née Carnachan) (1998) holds dear to her, the values of her time at St Cuthbert’s, applying them in her everyday life, staying in constant contact with her school friends and constantly practising ‘By Love Serve’.

“Talk to people about what they do, and how they got there – there are many different paths”.

Juliet Moses (1990) commits herself wholehear tedly to advocacy and representing others. Juliet is an active member of the Jewish community and undertakes several voluntary roles. Juliet does important work in educating about and fighting antisemitism, raising awareness of Judaism and the Jewish people, and working with and supporting other groups of faith. Among many important activities, Juliet is the spokesperson for the New Zealand Jewish Council, the representative body of New Zealand’s Jewish community; a trustee of the Astor Foundation, a human rights NGO; and Honorary Solicitor to the Auckland Chevra Kadisha Burial and Benevolent Society, an organisation that provides an essential suite of services to the Auckland Jewish Community. Juliet is also a partner at TGT Legal, a leading boutique trust and private client law firm.

Bridget co-founded the nationwide charitable initiative ‘Friends In Need’ with her sister and fellow Old Girl, Rachel Paris, as New Zealand prepared for Level 4 lockdown. Concerned that elderly and vulnerable New Zealanders would struggle to access essential services, or might be particularly anxious or isolated, the sisters set up ‘Friends In Need’ to match people in need with a volunteer in their immediate neighbourhood who could provide daily check-in calls and/or make contactless deliveries of essentials.

As part of supporting Covid-19 economic recovery efforts, Bridget also created the e-commerce marketplace, ‘Peddle NZ’, which is devoted to helping NZ businesses sell to Kiwi consumers and the world. Bridget is currently Head of Business Marketing at ANZ Bank New Zealand and is regarded as one of the country’s pre-eminent business marketers.

Bridget encourages students to “not put so much pressure on yourselves, thinking that you’re getting things wrong, or right. Even things that don’t work out as you hoped, teach you a lot about yourself, and help you to make different decisions next time around. Enjoy this stage in your life – it’s all ahead of you and there are so many experiences to have.”

Susan is a Middlemore Hospital Clinical Microbiologist and Infectious diseases Physician. Susan is playing a key role in the Covid-19 pandemic in New Zealand, by leading the New Zealand arm of the international ASCOT trial. She is also chairing a subcommittee of the international trial steering committee that is designing an antiviral arm of the study.

Susan is involved in the NZ Microbiology Network, which has a role in advising the Ministry of Health about the national response to SARS-CoV-2, and is involved in the Middlemore Hospital Covid-19 response, which includes a contribution to the Auckland regional response.

Her PhD research on pneumococcal disease was carried out in Kilifi, Kenya, at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) – Wellcome Trust Research Programme (KWTRP), where she was located from 2009 to 2015.

Susan encourages students to “work with people who are kind and who inspire you. Life is also much more enjoyable when your work is interesting.” Keeping in mind the bigger picture is likewise important.

“Life isn’t all about work – the cliché that no one dies wishing they’d worked more is a cliché for a good reason – so is the one about enjoying the journey.” Take the time for big decisions as well: “You don’t have to decide now, what you are going to do for the rest of your life.” Susan also says, “People will tell you to be confident – that’s not always easy to do – but that’s okay, because pretending to be confident is just as effective.”

Juliet says, “When I look around the world, I still think Aotearoa New Zealand is one of the best places to live. But I know we have a lot of work to do to keep it that way and make it even better for everyone here. We face huge uncertainty and disruption, the likes of which most of us have never known, and those conditions are ripe for fear of the unknown, putting up walls to feel safe, and othering and mistrusting people whom we perceive as being different.”

The country felt this on March 15 last year, “when Kiwis were confronted with the harsh reality of where that can lead, with our Muslim community paying a most terrible price. We may never have a complete vaccine for the mutating virus of hatred and bigotry, but I believe we must always strive to build bridges, not walls.”

“We are privileged,” Susan reflects. “See the world (when there is not a pandemic) and try to walk in another’s shoes.”

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By Love Serve More than just a school motto, ‘By Love Serve’ is infused into the ethos of life at St Cuthbert’s and, after 105 years, the concept still has relevance and currency for our students and Old Girls.

Regardless of when we went to St Cuthbert’s, this motto means something important to us. We have all been taught to recognise how fortunate we are and that we each have a responsibility to give back to our community, as well as the importance of Faith, Hope and Love.

In the words of two of our Old Girls:

“ ‘By Love Serve’ is more than a motto; it is a proverb for all of life’s stages. It serves in times of joy and in times of tribulation. At its heart is selflessness.

It is to help others without expectation of gratitude or reward. It is to serve others without the feeling of subservience. It leaves no room for the vanity of grandstanding. Instead it gives a profound meaning to life and brings quiet joy, deep satisfaction and purpose.” Margaret Merilees “Whilst at school, I could never have imagined just how relevant the sentiment behind ‘By Love Serve’ would become to how I see the world and what my values in life are. To me, ‘By Love Serve’ is about keeping respect, integrity and empathy as guiding principles in my words and actions. It’s about choosing to adopt a mindset of gratitude and recognising that we all have the capacity to give in different ways. Generosity and kindness cost us nothing, but their impact can be priceless to those on the receiving end.” Simran Saseve-Dale Our new website is a place for us to connect and share our stories, including how ‘By Love Serve’ takes an ongoing role in our lives. Visit oldgirls.stcuthberts.school.nz/ for more.

Visit our new Old Girls’ website!

The new Old Girls’ website is your place to connect with the wider Old Girls’ community. Submit your profile, connect with other Old Girls, see what events are coming up and how you can get involved.

How do you visit the website?

1. Open your internet browser on your phone, laptop or tablet – either Google Chrome, Safari or Firefox.

2. In the search bar at the top, type in the following link: oldgirls.stcuthberts.school.nz/ 3. Have a look around the website and connect with old friends.

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Club 50 Each year the Old Girls’ Committee host a Club 50 morning tea for a special group of Old Girls. Club 50 members are Old Girls who graduated 50 years (or more) ago and they love coming back to school. When the 2020 morning tea was cancelled for the first lockdown, our Old Girls’ Committee baked 150 biscuits and posted them to 70 of our Club 50 Old Girls to let them know we were thinking of them in isolation.

Some of the lovely thank you notes from our Club 50 girls included: “A warm thank you! I would like to say that ‘By Love Serve’ is alive and well as evidenced by the lovely gift that arrived in my letterbox today. What a lovely thought when we all missed the special Club 50 event we so look forward to. It is special to know we are important in the scheme of things.

Please pass on my warmest thanks to the organisers and the cooks. Delicious!”

“Today I received a wonderful surprise parcel in the mail – homecooked biscuits from the Old Girls Committee. This was totally unexpected and a real treat which is what we need these days after coping with Level 3 lockdown etc. It has been a sad time having cancellations of social functions which I have been looking forward to attending but hopefully we can enjoy a better year next year. Your parcel really made a difference and was a very thoughtful idea. Many thanks again.”

Thank you to a very generous Old Girl for providing the postage costs of these tasty morsels. This special Old Girl wishes to remain anonymous; we thank her for her consistent support of the Old Girls’ Association and we are very grateful for her involvement.

Old Girls’ NEWS Claire Eeles (1985) Based in San Francisco with her husband Chris, Claire is President of Emerging Businesses at RH (formerly known as Restoration Hardware).

RH is one of the leading omni-channel luxury furniture and lifestyle retailers in North America – publicly traded (NYSE, RH), with over 4,000 employees and 80+ large-format stores across the US and Canada. Claire is responsible for leading RH’s Interior Design services business, in addition to the company’s B2B sales teams, supplying furniture to many of the leading luxury hotel, resort, and residential developers around the world.

Prior to joining RH, Claire was based in Beijing, China, as Chief Operating Officer of China’s largest Western-style luxury furniture retailer, Markor Home, responsible for developing four new home furnishings retail brands for the Chinese market. Claire also lived for several years in Vancouver, Canada, working as President / Chief Operating Officer of a large building products manufacturer and distributor.

Claire was also one of the first non-career diplomats to take up the diplomatic posting of New Zealand Consul General representing New Zealand’s political and trade interests in Western Canada and the US. Like many St Cuthbert’s Old Girls, Claire is a member of the NZ Global Women network of women business, political and community leaders. She has also been a KEA (Kiwi Expats Abroad) Business Adviser for many years, sharing her experience in building and growing businesses in the North American market with many NZ business leaders.

Michelle Kwong (1989) Business leader Michelle Kwong has been the Global Head of Capital Risk Analytics & Advisory at Credit Suisse, since 2014.

Previously she was Managing Director at the New York Stock Exchange responsible for strategic investments, deals structuring and execution including mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, and partnerships between 2009 and 2012. In addition, she worked with business leaders on international listings and regulators including Fed, SEC and CFTC, for approval of new business ventures. Prior to this, Michelle worked as Vice President at Goldman Sachs & Co. for nine years (2000–2009).

Caroline Barron (née Barley) (1993) Author

Caroline’s debut book ‘Ripiro Beach: A Memoir of Life After Near Death’ (Bateman Books NZ) is on shelves now, and sold over 1000 copies in its first two weeks on sale.

Capturing a zeitgeist of women embracing each other’s tender stories, she uses her own life story—including near death, trauma, motherhood, and whakapapa search—in the hope that others are encouraged to do the same. Caroline owned top New Zealand model agency, Nova, through her twenties and early thirties, returning to writing in 2015, completing a Masters in Creative Writing at the University of Auckland. Caroline is also a developmental editor and trustee of the Michael King Writers’ Centre.

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Rochelle Ade (1995)

Healthy home investigator Rochelle Ade’s PhD (generously supported by the St Cuthbert’s Old Girls’ Association Violet Wood Advanced Studies Grant in 2017) has recently been confirmed by the University of Auckland. Rochelle measured the indoor environment quality of old, new, and green-certified homes against international healthiness thresholds. Her findings have significant policy implications for government and the private sector, championing green certification as a mechanism to provide healthy housing.

Dr. Jo James (1997)

Reproductive Biology researcher Dr. Jo James leads a research team in the Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department at the University of Auckland. She works to better understand how the placenta functions to deliver nutrients and oxygen from mum’s blood to her growing baby, and why this sometimes goes wrong leading to fetal growth restriction, a condition that affects around 3000 babies a year in New Zealand.

Jo’s research team combines lab-based experiments, medical imaging tools, and virtual computational models of human pregnancy to improve the ability to predict which babies may be at risk of growth restriction in early pregnancy, (allowing doctors to monitor these babies more closely), and to develop new treatments to improve the placenta’s ability to nourish these babies and give them the best start to life. Jo also enjoys teaching reproductive biology to science and medical students, and is a passionate advocate for women in STEM.

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Virginia van West (née Pidgeon) (1998) Kiwi excelling in London Virginia left NZ at the end of fifth form to train at the Hungarian Ballet Academy in Budapest, after receiving a TVNZ Young Achiever’s Award for Ballet. She also studied at the NZ Ballet Academy and the Ecole Supérieure de Danse de Cannes Rosella Hightower in France. After an ankle injury, her career direction changed and she entered corporate travel management, working in Paris and London. She now works in the technology sector managing a small international team at SAP Concur, is a member of the NZ Business Women’s Network in London, and enjoys catching up with St Cuthbert’s Old Girls at their events. Virginia has an eight-year-old son and two stepchildren now attending university.

Amy Sing (née Eamrungroj) (2005)

Accelerating vaccine production globally Amy is Head of Segments Excellence and Projects at Merck Life Science, a US$7 billion Life Science company. Previously she was the Chief of Staff to the CEO, Associate Director of Global Strategy, and prior to that worked in management consulting at McKinsey & Company and Booz & Company. Amy went to Northwestern University in Chicago and obtained a Bachelor in Chemical Engineering and Economics and an MBA. She has lived all around the world – Thailand, Malaysia, Melbourne, Sydney, South Africa, Chicago, and New York City – now living in Boston, USA with her husband, Gary Sing, whom she recently married with family and close friends attending via Zoom!

Urvashi Singh (née Vaash) (2010)

Alex Malcolm (2015)

Vaash is currently a Lawyer at Russell McVeagh specialising in technology and telecommunications and fellow Old Girl, Liz Blythe, is her supervising partner. Alongside her full-time job, she has been volunteering at Empower Youth Trust for almost three years. Founded by Young New Zealander of the Year 2017, Rez Gardi, Empower is a not-for-profit organisation working towards empowering, educating, and enabling refugee youth in New Zealand to access new opportunities and pursue meaningful paths of their choice. Vaash attributes her sense of service to her time at St Cuthbert’s, especially as Service Committee leader in Year 13, and has volunteered with various not-for-profits since graduating in New Zealand and overseas.

Since graduating from St Cuthbert’s in 2009, Alex studied adventure tourism management, which led her into working in tourism. This has included working on live-aboard dive boats on the Great Barrier Reef, Ningaloo Reef in Australia, and Fiordland National Park. She has also been a hiking guide in Central Australia and the Abel Tasman National Park. Alex has recently been working in outdoor education and leading leadership/ personal development trips between Southeast Asia, New Zealand, and Australia.

Empowering youth

Latafale Auva’a (2011) Foreign Policy Officer

Whilst studying a Music and Law degree, Latafale pursued a career in modelling and represented Samoa at the Miss World Pageant. She won Gold and Silver medals for Touch Rugby at the Pacific games 2015 and after a short stint in Family Law, has now started a new position as Foreign Policy Officer with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade working under the Pacific Development Group in the Partnerships Unit.

Outdoor adventurer

Towards the end of last year, Alex launched a tourism business, New Zealand Water Journeys, which offers multiday journeys through New Zealand’s unique waterways, but this is temporarily on hold due to the impacts of Covid-19. We are lucky to have Alex currently working as an outdoor instructor at our Kahunui campus.

Ella Strode-Penny (2015) Accounting Achiever

Since graduating in 2015, Ella went on to study a Bachelor of Commerce at Victoria University, majoring in Accounting and Finance, with a minor in Commercial Law. Since starting a graduate position at BDO in business advisory, she has been studying towards her Chartered Accountancy. She was recently awarded Candidate of the Module for receiving the top marks in New Zealand for her first paper with CAANZ.

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Family Notices In memorial We sadly farewell the following Old Girls Margaret Atkin 1942 Lalarie Tasma Baar (née Morgan) 1940 Janis Bell 1952 Mary Beveridge (née Macky) 1948 Joan Fulljames (née Stewart) 1945 Eleanor Gray (née Carswell) 1958 Ila Murray (née Rowan) 1942 Christina Riddell (née McIvor) 1948 Eunice Ryan 1945 Pamela Stoddart (née Gilberd) 1949 Davina Webb (née Blackwell) 1990 Betty Knox Williams (née Donald) 1942

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Limited Edition St Cuthbert’s Jewellery Shop online: www.orsini.co.nz/st-cuthberts

Send your news to alumnae@stcuthberts.school.nz. We love featuring the stories of Old Girls: snapshots of overseas adventures, notable achievements, reminiscences of school years, and more!

Jean’s great aunts were the Misses Bews who founded Mt Eden College in 1895, which was the predecessor of St Cuthbert’s. Her daughters Joanne Wills and Dinah Walker, as well as her daughter-in-law Jane Hughes (née Simmons), also attended the school.

In Jean’s words she shares the lead up to her last day at St Cuthbert’s: “We were in our final year of school but they were uncertain times – the worry of the world at war and the excitement of a future outside the school gates. My father had dug a trench in the back garden and we knew what to do if New Zealand was attacked. At school we had been instructed to shelter under Melrose House in case the bombing started.

Jean Hughes (née McKenzie) – Obituary (1937–1941) Lifelong friendships were the lasting legacy of Jean McKenzie’s years at St Cuthbert’s College from 1937 until 1941. Until her death in 2019, her school friends were a close-knit group of women who supported each other and shared years of firm friendships. She was an enthusiastic supporter of the Old Girls’ and enjoyed attending their events.

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We were excited about the end of school celebrations – my dear friend, Boarder Nola King, was looking forward to wearing her white Sunday frock to the Boarders’ party the following weekend when the girls were to have their farewell dance.

We arrived at school on Monday 8 December 1941 to the instruction from “Cloudy” our affectionately nicknamed Head Mistress, Miss Clouston, that the school be evacuated after the surprise Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbour in the early hours of that day. This was my last day at St Cuthbert’s College. The end of school celebrations was abandoned, we packed up and left school abruptly.”

Spotlight on Student Scholars The Old Girls’ Association Scholarship recipients for 2020 are embracing every opportunity given to them and asked us to pass on their grateful thanks to all the Old Girls who contributed to their scholarships.

Anita Iese is our 2020 Kathleen Goulding Scholar Committed to having a strong connection to her community, Anita knew that St Cuthbert’s was the right place for her. “I always yearn to be surrounded by people who push themselves to achieve as much as they possibly can, and to be around likeminded people,” Anita says. Her background in Student Council meant that she could be a role model for her peers. Sport, another passion, has meant challenging herself and expanding her horizons. “I enjoy developing skills of leadership, respect, responsibility, compassion, perseverance, and being a team player. I believe that with a smile on your face, you can achieve anything, no matter how tough.”

Sinaitakala Langi is our 2020 Centennial Scholar With a strong background in academic pursuits including languages (Sinaitakala has studied Chinese and Te Reo M ori), she’s also played a part in cultural leadership.

While at Pakuranga College, Sinaitakala was recognised with the All-Round Pasifika Leadership Award twice. Many Old Girls are in Sinaitakala’s family, including aunts, cousins, and great aunts. Sinaitakala’s goal is to become an engineer and she is excited about St Cuthbert’s supporting her in this journey. “Within a few months of being here, I have felt as though I had always belonged.

The St Cuthbert’s sisterhood and community welcomed me with open arms and with so many opportunities to connect to others.”

Congratulations Anita and Sinaitakala, on earning these scholarships. We couldn’t be more excited to have you here at St Cuthbert’s.

Violet Wood Advanced Studies Grant 2021 The Violet Wood Advanced Studies Grant 2021 Grant is a wonderful opportunity to support your professional development. It is available to Old Girls in postgraduate study in any field including Academic, Music, Sport, or Art. The $5,000 grant is intended to help with costs and enable you to further your education through postgraduate study. It can be used to cover general or specific costs, such as paying for course fees, purchasing equipment, and travel costs.

Previous recipient Olivia Jennison says, “It was a real privilege to be awarded this grant and to reconnect with the school. This grant has been incredibly supportive in my doctoral studies, as although the pathway to becoming a Clinical Psychologist is rewarding, it is also lengthy and unfunded.

Undoubtedly, Covid-19 has changed the way we work and support our communities, where everything from family dinners to business meetings happen over videoconferencing. As a result, my doctoral research into a psychological video conferencing programme is even more pertinent due to Covid-19 bringing restrictions on face-to-face contact and the pandemic’s impact on people emotionally and financially.”

The application form is available at our website: stcuthberts.school.nz/old-girlsassociation/scholarships/violetwood-grant/ Or mail to: St Cuthbert’s Old Girls’ Association PO Box 26 020, Epsom Auckland 1344 For any questions, contact the Alumnae Office on 09 520 4159 ext. 7607. Applications must be received no later than 31 January 2021.

(Special conditions apply.)

OUR CONNECTED COMMUNITY

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Join us

at an upcoming event Friday 19 March Decade Reunion Cocktail Party: Peer Groups 1994, 1995, 2004, 2005, 2014, 2015 6.30pm, St Cuthbert’s College and other locations (TBC).

Peer Years 2004 and 2005 will open their time capsule.

With our 2020 Decade Reunions postponed due to Covid-19, we will combine two Decade Reunion years in March 2021 for Old Girls whose third form/Year 9 year ended in a ‘0’ or a ‘1’ or who left St Cuthbert’s in a year ending in a ‘4’ or ‘5’ in the seventh form/Year 13 (or who would have left seventh form/Year 13 at this time): 1944, 1954, 1964, 1974, 1984, 1994, 2004, 2014 and graduation/class years 1945, 1955, 1965, 1975, 1985, 1995, 2005, 2015.

Saturday 20 March, 2021 Old Girls’ Lunch – special welcome to Peer Years 1944, 1945, 1954, and 1955 12.30pm – 1.30pm, at St Cuthbert’s Boardroom, Robertson Building.

Old Girls’ Chapel Service 1.45pm – 2.30pm, in the St Cuthbert’s Old Girls’ Chapel.

Old Girls’ Association Annual General Meeting 2.30pm – 3.30pm, in the Joan Holland Auditorium.

Afternoon Tea 3.30pm – 4.15pm, outside the Old Girls’ Chapel or in the Boardroom (weather dependent).

Decade Reunion Dinner, Peer Years 1964, 1965, 1974, 1975, 1984, 1985 6.30pm, Violet Wood Dining Hall.

For the most up-to-date event dates, please check the new Old Girls’ website: oldgirls.stcuthberts.school.nz/events/

Orsini Italian Luncheon March date tbc, Non Solo Pizza Parnell

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Meet your new Local Coordinators Sydney Local Coordinator Amy Zhang Amy started at St Cuthbert’s in 2011 in Year 7. Her favourite memory at St Cuthbert’s was going to Kahunui, where she made many long-lasting friendships. After graduating in 2017, she moved to Sydney to pursue a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Commerce, majoring in Finance at the University of Sydney. In her first two years at university, Amy was the Head Student Ambassador at St John’s College, a popular residential college amongst Old Girls. She has been working as a paralegal while completing her studies and hopes to become a Lawyer one day. As a volunteer caller in the ‘St Cuth’s Together’ program, Amy has enjoyed checking in with Old Girls in Australia during Covid-19. Her

passion for promoting positive mental health and wellbeing, began as a Kidsline telephone counsellor and has continued in her work on an Allianz industry and community project.

Amy has set up a new Facebook group named “Sydney Old Girls (St Cuthbert’s College) Alumnae.” If you live in Sydney, please check out this closed group and become a member.

Amy welcomes all Sydney Old Girls to join.

Thank you to Sarah Wynyard, the outgoing coordinator for Sydney. She dedicated her time with great energy and was a force in bringing the Sydney Old Girls together.

Fiji Local Coordinator Kya Lal

Tonga Local Coordinator Ana Tupou Panuve

Connect with other Old Girls Branch contacts Your Local Coordinators play a vital role in connecting Old Girls outside of Auckland back to the school and with each other. You’ll find a friendly group ready to welcome you to any of the national and international locations listed below. Please contact one of our local coordinators below if you would like to catch up with Old Girls in your area.

BAY OF PLENTY Contact: Dearwyn Caulfield Phone: 0274 935 037 Email: pdcaulfield@xtra.co.nz BRISBANE Contact: Trish Cotterell Email: trish07.cotterell@gmail.com

For your new Fiji Local Coordinator Kya Raina Lal (2009), climate change advocacy infuses many areas of her life. A Lawyer by trade specializing in Environmental Law, Kya’s current PhD research focuses on law and the impacts of climate change in the Pacific.

It was in her late teens that Kya became more involved in frontline activism. Kya first started attending the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations in 2014. Kya says that contributing in a positive way can take many forms. “It can be through charity and volunteer work, writing articles, speaking at conferences and workshops, through aspects of your day-to-day job and what you buy and what you eat and many other ways.”

As a Boarder, Kya credits St Cuthbert’s with nurturing her life path. “I was lucky to have so many great female mentors at the school both in the academic staff and Boarding staff who really helped guide me and advise me on my interests, which led to me going to Law School and becoming involved in climate advocacy.”

One thing that St Cuthbert’s is known for, as any Club 50 member will attest, are the lifelong friendships. Kya wholeheartedly agrees “I think the most important part of my St Cuthbert’s experience, which has led to me being where I am now, are the friends I made during my time there. In particular, my Boarding school friends, who in the last decade and a half, have been a ready-built support network for one another.”

Kya is excited by the opportunity to expand St Cuthbert’s Pacific presence and welcomes those in the area to get in touch.

Ana was a boarder at St Cuthbert’s from 2008 to 2010. After St Cuthbert’s, Ana went to the University of Auckland (UoA) in 2011 and graduated in 2014; there, she studied a BCOM double majoring in Economics and Management. Ana is currently applying to study for her Masters and hopes to do her PhD soon after that.

Ana returned to Tonga after graduating from UoA where she started as an Economist at the National Reserve Bank of Tonga in 2015 and is currently Acting Senior Manager of the Economics and Research Department.

In this capacity, Ana has represented Tonga at the Spring and Annual Joint IMF-World Bank Group Meetings held in Washington D.C. every year since 2017. She also spent a year working as an Analyst in the Financial Markets & Exchange Control Department developing the domestic markets in Tonga.

Ana is a qualified swim instructor and volunteers at a local swim club. She has held the role of Treasurer of the Tonga Swimming & Aquatics Association for the past three years and is also an inaugural board member of the Tonga Women’s Rugby Association.

As well as this Ana participates in publicly funded projects pushing for representation of women in different areas of work. Ana is the eldest of four children and has a younger sister who is also an Old Girl (as well as their mother), and a one-year-old daughter, Wakana.

Tonga is a small place so it would be great to have Old Girls come together not only to reminisce about memories, but to possibly contribute to the current developments at St Cuthbert’s.

BEIJING Contact: Jennifer Ma Email: jenniferjinma@littleoasis.cn DALLAS Contact: Clair Robinson (née Menzies) Email: clairmenzies@gmail.com FIJI Contact: Kya Raina Lal Email: kya@lpblawyers.com LONDON Contact: Kate Turner Phone: 44 78374 57882 Email: katemacsween1@gmail.com LOS ANGELES Contact: Amanda Wong Phone: 1 310 963 3302 Email: kiwi_esq@hotmail.com NEW YORK Contact: Ashleigh Hunt Email: ahunt@cgr-law.com PERTH Contact: Marg Shorter (née Hartnell) Phone: 08 9388 2221 Email: margshorter@westnet.com.au SYDNEY Contact: Amy Zhang Email: amyzhang35@gmail.com TARANAKI Contact: Elizabeth Utting (née Gray) Phone: 06 927 4909 Email: Johnandelizabeth.50@gmail.com TONGA Contact: Ana Tupou Panuve Email: ana.tupou@panuve.com WAIKATO Contact: Catharine Stuart (née Murray) Phone: 07 827 1766 Email: bandcstuart@gmail.com If you would like to set up a new branch in your area, please contact alumnae@stcuthberts.school.nz 75

Sharing the love for sports over generations This year, Old Girls are coaching in Football, Hockey, Water Polo, and Netball.

Tinei Nua (2015) is thrilled to be back on the netball courts. Tinei, who is currently studying physiotherapy at AUT, says, “St Cuthbert’s gave me so many opportunities, so coming back allows me to give back in the best way I know how. From 2016–2019, I coached the younger teams in the school. This year I was very excited to have the opportunity to coach the Senior A team. My team are a great bunch of girls who are willing to learn and try new things, which makes my job very easy and enjoyable.”

Ava Collins, who graduated in 2019, is making her new home in New York, where she’s been awarded a full Football scholarship to St John’s University. This year, Ava has coached the Years 7 and 8 ‘A’ Football team. Ava says,

“I love coming back into the school environment to coach as it reminds me of not that long ago when I was being coached. Football at St Cuthbert’s has the ability to be one of the top sports and I feel I can help push the girls to find a passion for the sport!”

Julia King (2010) is in the Black Sticks Women’s programme currently training for the Tokyo Olympics and Hockey Pro-League. She has just completed her Bachelor of Science Degree majoring in Psychology. As the Junior Coach developer for the Years 4 – 6 Hockey teams and student coach developer, Julia brings tremendous expertise to the game. Julia says, “It is great to see the new students coming through the school and to be able to input the knowledge and passion I have for the game.”

Photo credit Norrie Montgomery

One of the benefits of being an Old Girl is the lifelong connection back to St Cuthbert’s. Each year the Old Girls’ Association funds a coaching programme bringing Old Girls back to support and mentor a range of sports teams. Students and Old Girls are united in their love of sport, and our Old Girl coaches love sharing their knowledge and skills.

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