Queen Margaret College

Best Wishes and Safe Travels, Voces Luce 💛

As Voces Luce prepares to depart this weekend, we send our very best wishes to the choir for an incredible tour ahead. The choir will represent Queen Margaret College and Aotearoa New Zealand in Austria and the Czech Republic, including at the Summa Cum Laude International Youth Music Festival in Vienna 🏰

✨ Something to look forward to – there will be a livestream of the Radiokulturhaus concert on Monday 6 July:

📅 Monday 6 July
⏰ 11.40pm NZ time

We’ll share the livestream link closer to the time.

It has been wonderful to see our community come together in support of this special journey, and we know Voces Luce will carry the Māia (Courage), Pono (Integrity) and Manaakitanga (Generosity) of Queen Margaret College with them.

🎶 To learn more about performing arts at Queen Margaret College, please visit 👉 tinyurl.com/2t4tdcef

🌏 International experience for Queen Margaret College basketballer Nahala Toeleiu

A huge congratulations to Nahala Toeleiu (Year 12), who has recently returned from China after competing with the New Zealand Under 17 women’s basketball programme in valuable international preparation matches ahead of next month’s FIBA U17 Women’s Basketball World Cup in Brno, Czechia, from 11 – 19 July 2026.

The New Zealand side recorded a win over China Under 17s and another over Taiwan University, giving the team strong high-level preparation before the global event 💛

New Zealand earned its place at the World Cup through the FIBA U16 Women’s Asia Cup Division A in 2025, qualifying alongside Australia, Japan and China.

🏆 Next step for the NZ Team – FIBA U17 Women’s Basketball World Cup, Brno, Czech Republic
📅 11 – 19 July 2026

This is a wonderful achievement and a fantastic reflection of the Māia (Courage) and Manawaroa (Resilience) Nahala continues to show on the international stage.

🏀 To learn more about sport at Queen Margaret College, please visit 👉 sport.qmc.school.nz/

Emerging artist success 🖌️

Congratulations to Annie McKirdy in Year 13 💛 whose work was selected for the Next Generation Artists platform at the NZ Art Show – a wonderful achievement for an emerging artist at such an exciting stage of her creative journey. The Next Generation Artists platform is designed to support artists as they begin their professional pathways 🚀

Annie had two works accepted into the show:

✨ Lace – Annie’s photographic work, which was also featured on the cover of the 2025 School Magazine, Te Karere
✨ Thorndon Houses – Annie’s Tetra Pak print (which was sold at the show)

We are likewise delighted to celebrate Elena Woo in Year 12 🌟 who also submitted a painting to the NZ Art Show. A huge congratulations to Annie and Elena!

🎨 To learn more about life and learning at Queen Margaret College, please visit 👉 qmc.school.nz/

A magical evening for our Year 13 students 💃

Our recent Year 13 Ball, themed 🌿 The Enchanted Garden 🌿 was a beautiful celebration for our senior cohort.

Students looked fabulous as they arrived with parents and partners for a special evening filled with warmth, elegance and connection. It was wonderful to share the occasion with special guests Jayne-Ann Young, Principal and Anna Lillis, Board Chair, and to see the creative vision of the Ball Committee brought to life so beautifully ✨

A heartfelt thank you must also be said to the Year 13 teachers for their support.

The night was a lovely reflection of the Whakaute (Respect) and Manaakitanga (Generosity) that are such an important part of life at Queen Margaret College.

💛 To learn more about life and learning at Queen Margaret College, please visit 👉 qmc.school.nz/

A standout result for Queen Margaret College at the World Scholar’s Cup 📚👑

💛 What an incredible weekend for Queen Margaret College at the World Scholar’s Cup Wellington Round, hosted at Queen Margaret College on 19 – 20 June. The World Scholar’s Cup brings students together across four events – Team Debate, Collaborative Writing, Scholar’s Challenge and Scholar’s Bowl.

A special congratulations to our scholars:
🏆 Overall junior champions – Isla Dalzell, Charlie Evans and Anabella Taylor
🥈 Overall junior runners-up – Chloe Xie, Sara Dhull and Cynthia Sun
🌟 Best overall junior scholar – Isla Dalzell
✍️ Collaborative Writing – Queen Margaret College had two first-equal teams, with an additional trophy being prepared – one for each team.

It was wonderful to welcome students from South Wellington Intermediate School, Aotea College, Scots College, Wellington High School and St Mary’s College for two days of academic challenge, collaboration and fun 🙌

Our students delivered an outstanding performance across the competition, reaching the podium in every event – debate, writing, challenge and bowl – as well as in the overall team and individual results. Hosting the Wellington Round made the weekend even more special, and it was wonderful to see so much energy, teamwork and scholarly spirit across both days.

This was a fantastic reflection of the Māia (Courage), Pono (Integrity) and Whakaute (Respect) shown by our students as they challenged themselves, supported one another and represented Queen Margaret College so strongly.

A huge additional congratulations to our teams that have also qualified for the next stage of the competition:
⛪ Christchurch Mini Global Round
📍 Avonside Girls’ High School
🗓️ 26 – 29 September

📚 To learn more about life and learning at Queen Margaret College, please visit 👉 qmc.school.nz/

A great honour for Jubilate 💛

Congratulations to Jubilate, which has been selected to take part in the Lower North Island Cadenza at The Big Sing – a wonderful achievement for Queen Margaret College.

Jubilate is one of 12 choirs selected for the festival, which will take place on 10 – 11 August at the Royal Whanganui Opera House in Whanganui.

Cadenza brings together outstanding secondary school choirs for two days of performance, workshops and a gala concert, making this selection a significant recognition of the choir’s musicianship and commitment 👑

Jubilate is Queen Margaret College’s choir for students in Years 9 – 10, directed by Mark Stamper, and this result is a lovely reflection of the Māia (Courage) and Pono (Integrity) the choir brings to its performances.

🎶 Event – Lower North Island Cadenza
📅 Date – 10 to 11 August
📍 Venue – Royal Whanganui Opera House, Whanganui

A huge congratulations to Jubilate on this outstanding result ✨

We would also like to wish all the best and safe travels to Voces Luce, Queen Margaret College's premier choir, for their upcoming trip to Vienna to compete in the internationally renowned Summa Cum Laude Youth Music Festival 🚀

🎶 To learn more about performing arts at Queen Margaret College, please visit 👉 tinyurl.com/2t4tdcef

📖 🏆 Readers Cup success for Queen Margaret College

Congratulations to our Queen of Hearts team, who achieved a fantastic fourth place in the Wellington regional Readers Cup competition.

Readers Cup is a Year 9 reading competition in which teams of four read a set of six books and then compete against other schools to answer quiz questions from the books.

Headed by Philippa Dixon, the team showed impressive dedication throughout the competition, and their result was a wonderful reflection not only of their reading knowledge and teamwork, but also the Manawaroa (Resilience) and Whakaute (Respect) they showed throughout the competition.

📚 Readers Cup – Wellington regional Year 9 reading competition
📖 Format – teams of four students read six set books
🏅 Result – Queen of Hearts placed fourth

A big congratulations to:
✨ Philippa Dixon
✨ Ripley Wynn
✨ Sabine Blumberg
✨ Evette Sofe

📚 To learn more about life and learning at Queen Margaret College, please visit 👉 qmc.school.nz/

What a Night for Voces Luce 🎼

Sunday evening, our Queen Margaret College community came together for a truly special Voces Luce Dare to Share Bon Voyage Concert – and what a triumph it was 💛

On a rainy Wellington night, the Hall was almost full as whānau, friends and supporters gathered for a beautiful evening of music, fundraising and celebration before Voces Luce departs for Europe this Sunday at 7.45am ✈️

The concert was a special one night only event ahead of the choir’s imminent tour to Austria and the Czech Republic, including taking part in the 🎹 Summa Cum Laude Youth Music Festival in Vienna.

From the moment guests arrived, there was a wonderful sense of occasion. Candles and flowers created a stunning setting, the silent auction drew plenty of interest throughout the evening, and Café Wien ☕🏰 added to the warm atmosphere – right through to the beautiful smell of waffles at the end of the night.

👑 Musically, it was an exceptional event. Celesta and Jubilate opened the concert beautifully, and it was a pleasure to see Jubilate and Voces Luce debut their new performance outfits before Voces Luce shared their full European repertoire.
Voces Luce were captivating throughout – poised, polished and deeply expressive. Their performance felt remarkably mature, and the standing ovation at the end of Irish Blessing was a fitting reflection of the impact they had on the audience.

A huge thank you to everyone who helped make the evening such a success, including our volunteers, generous sponsors and supporters of the silent auction.
Special thanks also to:

✨ Mark Stamper, for his outstanding leadership and conducting
✨ Heather Easting, accompanist
✨ Tejas Menon, guitar
✨ Tim Jenkin, flute

We are also delighted to acknowledge 👉 Zachary J. Moore, composer of The Gift to Sing, the commissioned work written to mark Mark Stamper’s 10 year anniversary at Queen Margaret College, which brought such a special dimension to the evening.

We now send Voces Luce off with our very best wishes as they prepare to represent Queen Margaret College and Aotearoa New Zealand in Vienna.

🎶 To learn more about performing arts at Queen Margaret College, please visit 👉 tinyurl.com/2t4tdcef

A huge night for Queen Margaret College hockey 💛

🔥 Massive congratulations to the Queen Margaret College 1st XI hockey team on an outstanding 3 – 2 win over Wellington Girls' College on Friday night. After being 2 – 0 down at half time, the team fought back to level the match at 2 – 2, before scoring the winner right on the buzzer in a remarkable finish.

Wellington Girls’ College was unbeaten in Premier 1 competition for the last eight years, making this an especially impressive result for Queen Margaret College.

🥇 Result – Queen Margaret College 3 | Wellington Girls’ College 2
📈 Standings – Queen Margaret College now sits second in Premier 1 after seven games

It was a fantastic reflection of the Manawaroa (Resilience) and Māia (Courage) shown by this team under pressure. A huge well done to all involved on a brilliant team performance.

🏑 To learn more about sport at Queen Margaret College, please visit 👉 sport.qmc.school.nz/