clubs in action

Our teachers and Senior School girls have worked together to create 12 free clubs for our Junior School girls which run before school or during lunchtimes. There's a huge variety of activities girls can choose between to ensure they are not only entertained but learning new skills or further exploring their interests and creativity. There's a Glee Club for budding singers, Book Club for avid readers, a Kapa Haka Club, a German Language Club, Badminton Club, Gymnastics Club, Netball Club, Chinese Dance Club, Wushu Martial Arts Club, Maker Space Building Club and even a Mindfulness Club!

Kapa Haka

Ms Boyens has established our Junior School's first ever Kapa Haka Club to help instill a love of taonga tuku iho (the Māori treasures passed down) from a young age.

Years 5 and 6 Netball

Maker Space Club

Year 5 and 6 take part in their lunchtime Netball club led by Ms Knight with extra coaching tips given by Senior School students who kindly volunteer.

Ms Hadfield and Ms Harris run the 'Maker Space Club' on Tuesday lunchtimes which encourages girls to design, build and create new things so they can explore their inner engineer, builder and architect. It's great to see the girls' imaginations run free through building.

Filler ?

Foundation Fitness

Little Dance club

Year 10 student, Alisa Rao, has long loved dance and decided to set up a lunchtime Dance Club with her Year 10 friends Grace Merrilees and Victoria Jagusch

Each Friday Alisa builds the Junior School girls' confidence and gradually increases their dance skills. Alisa starts each lesson with fun games to the backdrop of our girls’ favourite music. Once their energy is up she brings their focus to specific dance moves, each session building on what the girls have learned the week prior. The atmosphere is electric and fun, and the girls just love catching Alisa’s eye. Alisa, Grace and Victoria have a wonderful rapport with all of the girls in this very popular class and we can’t wait to see it go from strength to strength!

Interview with Alisa:

What made you come up with the idea of a Dance Club for Junior School?

When I joined the Junior School, I was a shy Year 3 girl who could not say more than two sentences worth of English. This resulted in me not receiving any roles in particular activities that involved dance and drama. This is why I wanted to offer Years 2 – 4 an opportunity to explore artistic expression, as well as build a positive community, and I love dance so I also set it up simply because I wanted to! What’s your own dance experience?

Unlike most of the other dance girls, I started dancing ballet in China when I was quite small. I then started artistic ice skating and then I decided to try ballet at Mount Eden Ballet Academy (MEBA) when I came to New Zealand. Still to this day, I am at MEBA dancing almost every day of the week across many different dance styles.

What do you enjoy most about the Dance Club?

I just love seeing the excitement on the girls’ faces when they arrive and how they are always asking about what we will be doing. Their excitement reminded me of what it felt like to be their age when all I wanted to do was show everyone my splits or my new ballet shoes.

How do you know Grace and Victoria who help you out?

We’ve been friends since Year 7 and I’m so grateful that both of them dance; they are both so good in their areas and help me so much with the Dance Club. Victoria goes to my dance studio so we see each other around quite often when we are dancing and Grace has known my dream about expanding dance at St Cuthbert’s since Year 8!