Kia ora,

Term Three has been another busy term for our school.  We hosted the International Girls Education Symposium with 350 delegates from across New Zealand and Australia.  It was a fantastic event where attendees were impressed with our school and community. The Board would like to thank everyone involved in delivering a sensational event, which included our staff presenting in workshops, a heartwarming powhiri, and performances from our Kapa Haka students and Cantare choir. Students and staff helpers were pivotal in making this event such a success.

There have been some incredible cultural evenings, and we are so proud of what our students and teachers have achieved in helping families come together to celebrate our wonderful community.  The Father-Daughter Breakfast was another successful event, with ex-student Lynley Allison as guest speaker. The Westlake Girls Rowing Squad organised the catering of the delicious food.

Our performance as a school continues to be exceptional both domestically and internationally. This includes our premier basketball team defending to hold the National Champions for three consecutive years after finishing third in the Secondary Schools World Championships in China.

The outstanding performances and gold medals in the Youth and Sacred categories at the World Choir Games in Auckland were promptly backed up by Teenage and Sacred winning trophies and runners-up in the Grand Prix at the Bali International Choir Festival. Liz O’Leary and April Ieremia (Basketball) and Fiona Wilson and Rachel Carson (Music Department) led these successes.

Our other staff successes include:

• The publication of Susana Tomaz’s paper for the OECD’s international study, ‘Innovation in Career Pathways in Five Countries’, that features the Westlake Girls STEAM programme.
• Danielle Johnson and her team for organising two very successful year group camps (Year 10 and just recently Year 9).
• Aarti Singh, Miriam Robinson and Charlotte Anderson have been granted one-year study awards.

As we move into Term Four, we wish our students all the best for their internals and end-of-year exams. The Board was pleased to see the results from the percentage of students achieving University Entrance last year, where Westlake Girls High School were in the top quartile across the country. This reflects the hard work put in by students and staff, and we are confident this trend of excellent results will continue.

Finally, a reminder of the importance of school donations. Please keep them coming in. These funds are essential to enable our students to flourish and achieve their full potential at our school.

Ngā mihi nui

Sujata Giri

Board Member