On Friday 20 May, Cantare choir presented two performances to students at Murray’s Bay Intermediate.
It was the choir’s first public concert for the year and was useful preparation towards The Big Sing Auckland Regional Festival coming up in June.
It was great to include some soloist items from within the choir: Hannah Smith (French horn), Katie Brown (vocal), Caitlin Salud (original song).
The last two weekends have been busy for our Westlake singers and their Musical Directors, as the choirs have enjoyed camps previously cancelled from Term 1.
Cantare (directed by HOD Music Fiona Wilson) was the first choir out to camp, with Nota Bella (directed by Elise Bradley) and Cigno Voce (directed by Rachel Carson) travelling out the following weekend. All the choirs stayed at Houghton’s Bush Camp in Muriwai, and the weekends consisted of singing workshops, sectional rehearsals, games, delicious food, laughter and camp concerts to celebrate the diversity and many talents within each choir.
Each camp concluded with a videoed concert, so students could share their development with friends and family. Since camp, Cantare has performed at Murray’s Bay Intermediate and Nota Bella performed in Year 11 Assembly.
Music students enjoy annual camps because of the shared focus to work on music, the opportunity to build connections and friendships within their groups, and to stay away from home for a few nights. Our choirs are working hard towards the annual Auckland Regional Festival ‘The Big Sing’, held at the Auckland Town Hall in mid-June. It has been a challenging start to the year under Red Level with many rehearsals held outside, but the choirs are sounding fantastic and everyone is looking forward to sharing their music with public audiences very soon.
Special thanks to the Musical Directors, staff support (Ms Ruth Reji, Ms Linley McCallum) Vocal consultants and Accompanists (James Harrison, Cathy Bennett, Gnesyer Gomez, Libby Montgomery, Anny Yu and Rachel Fuller) who assisted with the organising and running for these camps to go ahead.
We would love to see our Westlake Community come along to support all our choirs in our annual Westlake Choirs Concert (which will be the first opportunity for the public to hear the state of the art acoustics of our new Events Centre), on Tuesday 7 June at 7.30pm in the Westlake Girls Events Centre. Gold coin donation entry and we would appreciate you wearing a mask!
We are very excited to bring you this year’s school productions “Antigone” and “Government Inspector”. Due to Covid restrictions earlier in the year, we are holding two shows with two different casts – one from the girls school and one from the boys school.
The season is:
June 29 – Jul7 9: 7.30pm
July 3: 4pm
July 9: 2.30pm
Both shows will be held in the WBHS auditorium. Ticket prices are adults $25, students $20, family of four $70. visit monitor.westlakeschool.nz to make your purchase! Why not see both?
On Monday 23 May, the WGHS World Vision 40 Hour Famine Committee attended a workshop at school to plan this year’s 40 Hour Famine.
Charlotte Gee from World Vision facilitated discussions about injustice around the world and, in particular, the disparity surrounding access to clean water. A sobering fact the students learnt is that every day 800 children die because they don’t have clean water.
The focus of this year’s Famine is on raising awareness and providing access to safe, clean water.
To sign up for this year’s Famine, hit the link and click ‘Join this Team’, or to donate click ‘Give Now’.
https://my.worldvision.org.nz/ss/bcvTFX/westlake-girls-high-school
By Elizabeth Beaumont
TIC Food Technology
Having good physical health is an essential contributor to adolescent mental health and wellbeing, with a number of contributing factors which can support this.
Eating healthily is essential as it provides nutrients for growth and development, the fuel for coping with the demands of the day and resources to do all the extras like sport, music, drama, dance and socialising. Evaluating where food is consumed, when and what types of nutrients are available from the food is a great start to assessing its impact on wellbeing.
Adolescents need more sleep than adults (8-10 hours), mostly due to the huge growth and hormone changes that occur. Their sleep patterns are also altered and they may be awake later and sleep longer in the morning. Adjusting to allow for catch up sleep on the weekends is perfectly normal.
Being active either inside or outside strengthens bones and muscles, helps to maintain weight and improves brain health. Increase incidental exercise where possible such as walking an extra bus stop on the way home, taking the stairs, walking while meeting up with a friend to chat. Playing social or competitive sport at school is also a great way to build relationships, feel a sense of belonging and get regular exercise.
Having strong and caring relationships with family and friends develops a sense of security and belonging. It provides adolescents with the opportunity to talk, be themselves in a safe and loving environment without the fear of being judged.
If you or anyone in your family have any concerns please feel free to get in touch with the school form teachers, Dean’s or guidance counsellors. You can find their details on our website.
Voices of Hope is holding a free mental health awareness event in Auckland during June.
Called “It’s Not Weak to Speak” the event will feature the co-founders of Voices of Hope, Genevieve Mora and Jazz Thornton.
It will be on Wednesday 15 June at the Diocesan School for Girls’ Art Centre and it is free to attend (register for tickets). All the information is linked on their website: https://www.thevoicesofhope.org/its-not-weak-to-speak-events
By Samantha Syme
Year 9
Over the weekend of 21/22 May, I attended the North Island Secondary Schools Inter-Schools Horse Trial in Taupō.
We arrived to a cold, windy and wet day on Friday. My horse Yogi settled in nicely and we got ready for the show the next day. It was a freezing cold night in Taupō.
Saturday was a nice sunny day, but still cold. I walked the show jumping and cross-country courses with my team. I had been put in as a draft rider with ACG Strathallan. Our dressage was scheduled for the afternoon, all members of the team perform dressage at the same time with four different judges scoring us.
My dressage was not as good as I wanted, however it was ok and gave us a reasonable score. After dressage it was time for Show Jumping. Yogi did really well and had a clear round with no faults. The rest of my team were also clear in the show jumping.
Sunday was sunny and cross-country day. The course was tricky with a few jumps designed to catch riders out. We were jumping the 80cm course and were the second-to-last team to go. This was Yogi and my first Horse Trial where we competed in cross-country the day after dressage and show jumping. After a few nerves from Yogi and a couple of refusals, he settled down. We made it around the course of 18 jumps. Two of my team mates were clear in the cross-country. Our team came 6th out of 14 teams competing in the 80cm class.
Yogi and I had a great time and really enjoyed representing Westlake Girls at the North Island Secondary Schools Inter-Schools Horse Trial.
Our annual Pink Shirt Day, in support of inclusiveness and anti-bullying was a huge success!
With a gold coin donation, students were able to go all out on the pink theme, with many of our Year 13s wearing PJs and dressing gowns! Even staff got into the spirit of the day (below).
A total $1,739.30 was raised, which will be donated to the Mental Health Foundation.
Photo above by Madison Carter, Year 12
By Anja Filip (pictured above hiking in Mt Pirongia Forest Park)
Akoranga Enviro Prefect and Project Leader
This year a new environmental project is starting at Westlake Girls High School. The “Adopt A Park” project is an initiative, which will educate, inspire and motivate Westlake students to become leaders, young conservationists and Kaitiaki (guardians) for the natural environment.
Working alongside Auckland Council, Westlake Girls is essentially ‘adopting’ Smiths Bush, next to Netball North Harbour and Onewa Domain.
In this process, a group of passionate Westlake students will be carrying out environmental work in the bush, in an effort to protect it. This will include rubbish clean ups, pest/predator monitoring and control, weeding, native plant ID, native bird ID, stream monitoring/testing and plant care. There will also be integration of topics related to the project in the school curriculum. Smiths Bush is of high ecological value and is the only forest remnant of its type in Auckland, so it is vital that it is looked after and cared for.
This is a unique opportunity for students (and staff) to receive environmental education, new practical skills, develop their leadership and find a potential passion and career path for the future. Environmental education is largely lacking in the New Zealand curriculum so this project is a chance for the Westlake Community to expand their knowledge around the biodiversity of Aotearoa, threats to te taiao and how we can help.
Whilst the project is at its beginnings, it will be continued for years to come, so that the future students of Westlake Girls can continue to expand their knowledge and skills and collaborate with one another to protect the wild things and wild places in the Westlake vicinity.
The group that is working on this project is called ‘Westlake Kaitiaki’ (Westlake Guardians) and we are looking forward to an exciting year ahead, filled with learning, education, action and fun.
The Westlake Girls Year 9-1 netball team enjoyed a pre-game treat when New Zealand Silver Fern and Mystic, Sulu Fitzpatrick, and her Mystic teammate Fa’amu Ioane, appeared court side at Harbour Netball during their team warmup this week.
Off to a strong start in the grading match against Westlake 9-2, and up 14-6 in the first quarter, the Year 9-1 team won 36-21.
Year 13 Health students have started off their year exploring different health issues such as Breast Cancer and Mental Health (Depression & Anxiety). This links in with their second assessment where they evaluate health practices currently used in New Zealand.
Students have been looking into western scientific medicine, traditional & cultural medicine, and complementary & alternative medicine.
To assist with developing their understanding of some of the many treatments that fall under the health practice of complementary & alternative medicine, Year 13 Health students were involved in a half-day workshop on Wednesday 4 May. Students were able to experience five different treatments – Reiki, Yoga, Mindfulness, Naturopathy/Nutrition and Reflexology, all which can be used alongside other conventional treatments for Breast Cancer and Mental Health.
Many of these treatments our students had no prior knowledge of, so this experience has been highly memorable.
Isabella Drummond is the voice of the future!
The talented Year 12 orator last featured in Te Reo o Te Roto when she made the finale of Ngā Manu Kōrero in 2021. And 2022 has started strong, with Isabella competing in Polyfest as part of our very successful Te Rerenga Wāna. But wait – there’s more! Isabella has now made it through to the national semi-finals of the Race Unity Speech Awards.
“The Race Unity Speech Awards are a platform for senior high school students to express their ideas on how we can improve race relations in Aotearoa,” says Isabella. “It is a nationwide competition where youth across New Zealand have the opportunity to challenge their oratory abilities and share their vision for race unity. I heard about this speech competition a couple years ago as a junior student, and I knew that I wanted to compete once I was a senior.”
Seeking out more information from Mrs Hodges – the teacher in charge of speech competitions at WGHS, Isabella registered and then set out to write her eight-minute speech.
All participants are given the same topic, which this year is “Ngā matimati nō te ringa kotahi – The fingers of one hand. “I interpreted this topic to mean that the suffering of oppressed groups in society affects the well-being and progress of us all,” says Isabella. “I talked about how we are all connected through our common humanity, and we are therefore linked like the fingers of one hand. ‘We are one team, one nation, one people’. I used the same speech for each heat/stage throughout the competition. I will also be using the same speech at the National Semi-Finals, on 25 June at Ngā Kete Wānanga Marea, MIT, Otara.
The first stage of the competition was competing in the Auckland heats. They separated all Auckland participants (20 students in total) into two heats. Four winners from each heat moved through to the Auckland semi-finals.
“I was the top speaker in my first heat, so I moved through to the Auckland semi-finals. From the Auckland semi-finals, they selected four students to move forward to the Auckland finals. I was again selected to move forward. At the Auckland finals I was very humbled to be selected as the runner up; placing 2nd in the whole of Auckland. Now the top 15 speakers from across the country compete at the national semi-finals. I believe this is something I can be proud of, considering there were 122 entries nation-wide.”
Isabella will be competing for a spot in the top six to progress through to the National Finals, which will be held the following day. We wish you all the very best and are proud that you are representing WGHS!
Our Westlake Girls Mountain Biking Team did well competition at the Auckland School Mountain Biking Championships series on Sunday 15 May.
Stella Beale was unfortunately unable to ride due to injury, but volunteered to assist the race organisers and was a great supporter. Holly Christiansen (Year 9) had to pull out before she completed the course, due to a health issue. Emma Clipstone (Year 13) won the Under 20 category (pictured top left) and Talia Hosking (Year 9) came second in the Under 15 category (pictured top left).
Talia, below
Holly, below left and Emma, right
It was a busy Sunday in Cambridge at the St Peter’s Inter Schools dressage competition recently. Everyone had a great day out catching up with fellow riders from around Auckland and the Waikato Region.
Representing Westlake for the first time, Samantha Syme and Valentino MF (pictured above right) rode strong tests to gain a 4th and helped their composite team place 6th in the Development competition.
Natalie James (pictured above left) in her last year riding for Westlake on Wild Thyme MI, placed with two third positions, helping her composite team place 4th in the Championship competition.
The competition was strong across the board from both dressage and eventer riders as this was one of the last competitions before moving into training over winter.
On Tuesday 31 May we are holding an evening for Level 1 NCEA students and parents/caregivers to provide you with the knowledge of how NCEA works, and how to get the best possible Certificate from the year. It will be held at 6.30pm in the Event Centre.
This evening was meant to be held in Term 1, however we were unable to proceed due to gathering restrictions.
There is parking available in the two staff carparks. We will be starting promptly so please be in and seated by 6.30pm. It takes about 45 minutes to go through all the key material. One of our Careers staff will speak for about 5 minutes at the end of the presentation. You will get two very useful handouts to take away that summarise the key information. There will be a number of other senior staff with great NCEA knowledge that can answer individual questions at the end of the presentation. Please bring a pen in case you want to add any extra notes to the handout.
There is no need to RSVP.
Nga Rangatira Āpōpō warmly invites you to our first Whānau Evening for 2022.
It will be held on Wednesday 1 June from 5.30 – 7pm, in the Staffroom, Gernhoefer Admin Centre, at Westlake Girls High School.
This event, for students and their whānau, has become one of the initiatives to engage with our wider community and further encourage parent/guardian involvement with your child’s learning. You will be introduced to our Māori Mentoring Programme and have the opportunity to meet our Mentors, as well as hear from some of our students. A light meal will be provided, and there is car parking available onsite.
We hope you can make it to this special evening. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out. We want to ensure the success of our Māori students.
Please RSVP to Rik Wilson, Head of Māori mentoring (Kaiārahi), by 3pm on Tuesday 31 May for catering purposes: [email protected]
Our fabulous Korean Night is being held on Friday 3 June at the Westlake Boys School Auditorium. It starts at 7pm and will conclude at 9.30pm.
The Westlake Korean Night is an annual event that aims to promote and share in essence what Korean culture is about to both the Westlake and wider community by exhibiting a diverse range of traditional and modern performances. Over the past 10 years, Westlake Korean Night has been extremely successful with an average of 1500 audience members every year.
Be in quick to purchase your tickets as we can’t guarantee door sales on the night.
$6 standard admission ticket + raffle
$7 standard admission + glow stick + raffle
$15 VIP – VIP Entrance + reserved seat + complementary drink and snack
CLICK HERE to make your purchase.
We will be holding a mid-year exam/assessment week for our senior students from Monday 20 June to Wednesday 22 June. The timetable is:
| Timing | Monday 20 June | Tuesday 21 June | Wednesday 22 June |
| 9.15 – 10.45am | 12ENGL 12ENGW 12ENGV |
13 STAT | 13EnGL 13ENGW |
| 11.30am – 12.30pm | 13CHEM 13MUSM |
13CALC 13CALX |
|
| 1.30 – 3pm | 11MATS 11MATX 11MATG 11MATN |
13BIOL |
Year 11s
Year 11 students have an exam on Monday afternoon. They only need to come into school for their exam and don’t need to be at school in the morning. All Year 11 students will be back in class on Tuesday 21 June.
Year 12s
Year 12 students have an exam on Monday morning. They only need to come into school for their exam and can go home afterwards. All Year 12 students will be back in class on Tuesday 21 June.
Year 13s
On Monday and Tuesday, Year 13 students only come into school to sit their exam. Year 13s taking English will sit their exam on Wednesday morning and then ALL Year 13 students are expected back in class from Period 3 on Wednesday 22 June onwards.
This is a private Facebook page and is a great place to hear from experts and those with lived experiences. If you are interested in joining, click the link and request access. Open to all.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/360577826016574/?ref=share
| Tuesday 31 May | NCEA Information Evening |
| Wednesday 1 June | Whānau Evening |
| Friday 3 June | Korean Night |
| Monday 6 June | Queen’s Birthday (School closed) |
| Tuesday 7 June | Choir Concert |
| Monday 20 June – Wednesday 22 June | Mid-year exams/assessment week |
| Thursday 23 June | Swimming Sports (competitors only) |
| Friday 24 June | Matariki (school closed) |
| Wednesday 29 June – Saturday 9 July | School Production Season |
| Tuesday 5 July | Open Night for Year 9 2023 |
| Friday 8 July | Chinese Night |
| Friday 8 July | End of Term 2 |
| Monday 25 July | Start of Term 3 |
| Thursday 28 July (3pm) | Junior mid-year reports issued via the Parent Portal |
| Saturday 20 July | Year 13 Ball |
| Thursday 4 August (3pm) | Senior mid-year reports issued via the Parent Portal |
| Friday 5 August | Gala Concert |
| Thursday 11 August | Parent Teacher Interviews |
| Friday 30 September | End of Term 3 |