Campus Life

St Cuthbert’s is bustling with fun events and activities year-round, providing the girls with many different opportunities to take part in. Such creative participation has positive effects on mental health and deepens the spirit of connection. We love seeing our girls give it a go, whether it be at our Epsom campus, online during StCuth’s@home, or at our residential life skills outdoor learning programme, Kahunui.

Epsom Campus

Our Epsom campus may have been lonely during lockdown, but while we were there, we made the most of it!

Clouston Hall was filled to the brim with House spirit as the girls took part in House Performances, a much loved, time-honoured competition for Years 8 – 13. Each House had a six-minute slot to perform a dance choreographed and led by the students. This year’s theme was inspired by the inaugural St Cuthbert’s Giving Day. Each dance needed to complete the following sentence “In these times our choice of the best gift in the world would be the gift of…” Congratulations to Melrose House who won the Beverley Parkinson Cup.

We love small group learning in the Junior School and make the most of the variety of learning spaces for our breakout groups. We also recognise the importance of play so girls can refresh in between lessons and that is why the Junior School has play spaces designed with each age group in mind – from the giant sandpit, gardens and Wendy house in the Year 0 area; to the astro-turf courts and playground fun for Years 1 – 4; to the Year 5 and 6 climbing area where girls can ‘graduate’ to greater physical challenges.

On the most delicious day by far, the atrium was filled with the aromas of yummy baked goods as we held our annual Fairtrade Baking Competition. We saw terrific entries from across the College with some particularly impressive cakes from our Junior School girls which will keep the Senior girls on their toes next year! Well done to all the girls who took part, your creativity absolutely blew us away.

StCuth’s@home

Our StCuth’s@home remote learning was a campus in its own right, and it quickly kicked into full swing during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Our Junior School Year 6 students enjoyed their lessons remotely and had the bonus of many fun activities over Zoom, including meeting gold medal Olympians and having special guests read their favourite stories.

The Year 13 Prefects launched a new fitness initiative ‘Cuth-Fit’ and sent activities to their ‘little sisters’ in the Junior School, including a St Cuthbert’s word search, lockdown bingo, and baking videos.

A highlight for us had to be the Year 10 photo competition, check out the photo of St Cuthbert’s newest (and fluffiest) student below!

Kahunui

Our Bay of Plenty campus, Kahunui, continues to provide very special experiences for our Year 10 girls. Some highlights...

During each Intake our girls’ driving skills are put to the test at Bryan’s Beach, Ohiwa. As the waves approach the low-tide mark, the blokarts are assembled in the sand dunes and rolled down coastal paths to the flat, hard sand. Here, the girls take off, literally!

Learning to make and nurture fire is one of the first steps to becoming a competent outdoor woman and our girls go from basic fire triangles (heat, oxygen, and fuel) to truly testing their fire lighting abilities. Every Intake is involved in checking, clearing, re-baiting, and re-setting our trapping lines. It is because of their hard work and involvement that we can keep our trapping programme up and running.

Moana, meaning ocean in Māori, is the name of our sea-kayak programme at Kahunui. The girls stop off at the beautiful Ohakana Island during their trip. The trees on this island are estimated to be between 700–800 years old and hide multiple rope swings within their leafy limbs!