New-comers bring home Silver and Gold!

Over the first three weekends of term 3, The Auckland Jazz Festival took place at the Birkenhead RSA. Westlake Girls High School made its debut appearance in the competition, entering two ensembles: The Westlake Girls Jazz Band, directed by music teacher Jono Howan, and a six piece student-led combo known as ‘The Crimson Collective’ led by Y12 Student Piper Donaldson.

The competition was a fantastic experience from start to finish. Brilliantly run and filled with high-energy performances, it gave our musicians a valuable opportunity to connect with the wider music community and hear the inspiring work happening in other schools across Auckland. Beyond their musical talents, our students represented Westlake Girls with pride and enthusiasm, supporting every group that took the stage.

The competition has wrapped up and final results were announced this week:

• Westlake Girls Jazz Band: Secured a Silver Award in the Big Band category.
• The Crimson Collective: Came away with a Gold Award in the Combo category!

The Crimson Collective’s Gold award is an especially remarkable achievement. As a student-run group in their very first year performing together, their commitment and focus as a team paid off on the big stage.

We are incredibly proud of all the students who took part. Their hard work and enthusiasm made this event a massive success. Congratulations to everyone involved – we are already looking forward to returning next year!

Choralation, the premier mixed voice choir between Westlake Girls and Boys Schools, were invited to perform and record a bracket of waiata that were used by TVNZ for the live Matariki coverage broadcast on Friday 10th July. The choir collaborated with the Harmonic Resonators, a Tauranga based country band. Together the band and choir performed six waiata, including well known favorites like Po Atarau, and Te Iwi E, recording the performances in the beautiful Ōrākei Marae. Choralation’s bracket is viewable on TVNZ on demand at the following link: https://www.tvnz.co.nz/tvseries/matariki-herenga-waka (timestamp 1.15min)

At the start of Term 3, Choralation travelled across Tamaki Makaurau to be hosted at Macleans College for their annual collaboration with Macleans College Chorale. This exchange was introduced last year by their directors Fiona Wilson and Sarah McNabb, so that the singers have an opportunity to share music, develop vocal pedagogy and make new friendships, outside the pressures of a competitive environment. Singing games, shared pizzas, and blazer swapping were also part of the fun afternoon, before the choirs performed a concert of their own repertoire and three pieces they worked on together, to a full audience at the college. Choralation will be competing at the National Finale, along with Cantare (WGHS) and Voicemale (WBHS) in Christchurch at the end of August.

Cigno Voce, Taharoto Strings, and Kotahi Voices recently visited Milford School, Sunnybrae Normal School, and Northbridge Residential Village to share the joy of music with the local community on 29 July.

The community tour celebrated the diverse range of musical ensembles at Westlake Girls High School while strengthening connections with local schools and the wider community. Through their performances, students shared their passion for music and demonstrated the high standard of music-making across our choirs and orchestra. The concerts also gave younger students an insight into the many performance opportunities available through the Westlake music programme.

The tour provided an excellent opportunity for Taharoto Strings to refine their performance skills and build confidence as they prepare for the upcoming KBB Music Festival. Performing in different venues also allowed students to develop their stage presence and adapt to new performance environments.

We are grateful to Milford School, Sunnybrae Normal School, and Northbridge Residential Village for their warm welcome and enthusiastic support. We look forward to continuing to share our music with the community and inspiring others through performance.

What a way to wrap up Term 2! In late June, H1 transformed into a vibrant theatre space as our senior Drama students performed to full houses of proud whānau, friends, and staff.

• Year 11 (The Importance of Being Earnest – 23rd June): Our Year 11s kicked off the showcase with Oscar Wilde’s classic comedy. Tackling sharp satire, Victorian dialogue, and rapid-fire wit, the cast delivered fantastic comedic timing that had the audience laughing out loud throughout the night.
• Year 12 (After Kafka – 24th June): The tone shifted the following evening with a surreal, thought-provoking production by NZ playwright Angie Farrow. Exploring themes of identity and physical theatre, the Year 12 cohort demonstrated incredible maturity, holding the room completely spellbound.

A huge thank you to everyone who came out to support our performing arts students. Playing to whānau makes all the hard work worth it – congratulations to all our performers, crew, and staff!

During the Term 2 holidays, several Westlake musicians were busy in various national ensembles.

Year 11 student Afia Naushad is a clarinetist in the 2026 New Zealand Youth Symphonic Winds. The ensemble gathered in the capital for their winter intensive course that ran from Monday – Sunday. After rehearsing all week, NZYSW performed two public concerts at Wellington College and the newly re-opened city library. Members of the Royal NZ Airforce Band came in to mentor the young musicians over the week and helped improve the instrument technique and ensemble skills overall.

Michelle Hendra and Vydella Tamihana are members of the New Zealand Secondary Students Choir from 2025-2026. Their term 2 holidays were spent touring internationally to Asia. After a farewell concert in Auckland’s Holy Trinity Cathedral, NZSSC travelled to Hong Kong where they featured as one of the guest choirs at the World Choir Festival. After 9 days of performances and collaborations, they flew to Singapore to participate in the Voices of the World International Choir Festival. The choir shone with their repertoire of traditional choral canon, Māori and Pasifika songs which delighted international clinicians, delegates and visiting choirs.  NZSSC will finish their 2 year cycle with a final performance at the National Big Sing Finale in Christchurch at the end of August.

Fleur Perez, Miriam Hong and Isabella Howard are 2026 members of the Aotearoa Choral Academy. Co-directed by our own Head of Faculty, Mrs Fiona Wilson, this national ensemble met for the first time last holidays and spent a week at Willow Park Camp in East Auckland. ACA singers come from all over New Zealand to develop their vocal and choral skills and make new friends. After 5 days of rehearsing and learning, ACA performed a concert in Howick to friends and family.

Standing in front of an artwork in real life has power.

It is not just the scale that changes our perspective, but the interaction with it in a specific location adds to historic connections and the artist’s intentions become clearer and more relatable. 

On Friday August the 7th, Art History students visited Bastion Point Reserve, the traditional site of two Ngāti Whātua Pā systems. After discussing the importance of the land and position on the Waitematā Harbour, the stages of colonial effects on Māori culture in the Ōrākei area of Auckland as well as the famous 506 day land occupation protest, we moved on to view The Lighthouse, an artwork by Michal Parekowhai on Queens Wharf. Understanding the historic context of a contemporary artwork unlocked new perspectives and enjoyment in viewing the work.

Location number three was a new digital video installation by Lisa Reihana at the University of Auckland titled Māramatanga, which embodies ideas of enlightenment and growth for students and leaders, embedding the value of sustainable practice ideas for the future while being inspired by our multicultural present and past. 

A beautiful walk in the sunshine across Albert Park brought us to the Auckland Art Gallery where we viewed the Forever Tomorrow exhibition including Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn by Ai Wei Wei, a work that demonstrates the strong connection between contemporary artmaking ideas and historical, cultural and social traditions. The curriculum based classroom learning allowed students to decode and understand what they were seeing and to interpret other global perspectives.