WGHS Newsletter Issue 11 - Westlake Girls High School

Issue 11 – 5 July 2013
Dear Parents and Caregivers
Christie Marceau Charitable Trust Presentation
Yesterday I had the honour of meeting Tracey, Brian and
Heather Marceau, representing the Christie Marceau Charitable
Trust. The trust was formed in 2012 after the Marceaus’ younger daughter Christie was tragically murdered in her home by
someone released on bail.
Tracey and Brian now live in Adelaide, however forming the
Trust was an important step in turning their tragic event into a
positive vision for young New Zealanders. Yesterday morning
in a special assembly, the Marceau family made a presentation
on behalf of the Christie Marceau Charitable Trust to Westlake
Girls, for our Drama department. They wanted to thank our
WGHS Stage Challenge Crew 2013 who compete tonight at the
Aotea Centre.
Tracey Marceau also presented us with a copy of Christie – all proceeds from the book go straight to the Charitable Trust. The
purpose of the trust is to support young people going to Outward Bound and The Spirit of Adventure. Christie used to say the events
in life can define you, destroy you or strengthen you. She was a very positive person and she loved life.
Stage Challenge 2013
Almost 100 Westlake Girls have combined their skills in dance, music, lighting and set design to create an 8 minute Stage Challenge
production in honour of Christie Marceau and what she stood for. I look forward to joining Westlake Girls staff and the Marceau
family tonight at the Auckland Stage Challenge Competition for 2013.
Warm Regards
Roz Mexted
Principal
Year 9 Student Shines at Essay Writing
Over the Queen’s Birthday Weekend Mira Yan, a Year 9 student, received a Commended award in the 2013 Globe Centre New Zealand University of Otago Sheilah
Winn Shakespeare Festival. This competition was essay based and is open to all
students with a special focus for senior students.
Jen Gale & Ashleigh McNaughton
Mira was overjoyed to receive such acknowledgement from the Master of Ceremonies, the National List MP Mr Paul Foster-Bell. Mira had worked hard researching
and practising her essay writing skills. Her chosen topic was symbolism in the play
A Midsummer Night’s Dream which she had been studying in class with the help of
her English teacher Mrs Mary Righton, and Mrs Allan.
NZQA Top Art Tour
Once again Westlake Girls High School hosted the group of Level 3
Art folios that make up the collection for the NZQA North Island tour for
2013. These folios are selected from the five Visual Arts Level 3
Practical Art subjects such as Sculpture, Painting, Printmaking,
Photography and Design with approximately 5-6 folios representing
each genre. The folios have all received Excellence and many of the
students who produced the work would have received Scholarship.
In this North Island travelling collection there were two Westlake Girls
folios by Gado Shiu (Sculpture) and Selena Yuan (Printmaking). Also
Gado Shiu, who was an International student at Westlake last year,
gained Excellence in Painting, and Selena Yuan gained Excellence in
Painting and Photography in 2012. For each folio NZQA had put
together background information on what the student is doing now.
Otago Science Technology Challenge
Three Westlake students attended the Otago Science Technology Challenge
held at AUT on 3 July which was a very rewarding experience. The first half
of the day involved several presentations from PHD students and lecturers
about different new technologies and how they are applied.
In the afternoon students identified a problem and how it could be solved by
using one or more of these technologies. They then developed a project plan
(with support from the lecturers) that was pitched to a panel of ICT industry
professionals which showed their understanding of these technologies.
Saunte Kohler, Meghana Magatala and Claire Wyatt won the prize for Best
Understanding of Technology.
Language Perfect World Championships
Language Perfect is a website that was developed in New Zealand but is now used in many countries to aid language students with
vocabulary learning. They recently held their World Championships in which 225,000 students from all around the world competed.
We congratulate the following students from Westlake Girls:
2nd in the world for Spanish:
Ye Rim Won
Elite Award:
Rhea Mahajan
Gold Award:
Erin Ramsay, Phelisia Nga
Silver Award:
Olivia McNeill, Jurie Houkal, Carol Lee, Isabelle Williams
Bronze Award:
Jillin Yan, Niki Cheng, Julia Vencatachellum, Kripa Ravi, India Baker, Ting Yee Chen,
Rachael Swasbrook, Charlotte Western, Jennifer Li, Sophia Mao, Katie Auckram
Credit Award:
Fiona Zhao
Table Tennis
The following Westlake Girls High School students have been selected to represent North Harbour at the upcoming New Zealand inter provincial
table tennis championships in July. Veronica Li, Jocelyn Lim and Tracy Zhang will be competing in the U18 Girls section.
Auckland Secondary Schools Ski And Snowboard Competition
On Thursday 27 June the first ever combined Auckland Secondary
Schools Ski and Snowboard Competition was held at Snowplanet. Events consisted of both Giant Slalom and Slopestyle. The
Westlake Girls team consisted of 7 skiers (Alex Jefferson, Lily Horne,
Hannah Lochore, Tayla Lochore, Samantha Chong, Laurelle Shanley
and Jemima Horne) and two snowboarders (Mallory Perigo and Kirsty
Gemmell).
The team did exceptionally well throughout the day with Alex Jefferson
winning Silver and Hannah Lochore winning Bronze in the Slalom Ski,
Mallory Perigo winning Gold in the Slalom Snowboard and Bronze in the
Snowboard Slopestyle and the team coming away winning the overall
top girls school of the competition. Well done to all the girls who participated and a special thanks to Miss Clemens for taking the team and Mrs
Lochore for helping out during the day.
Jen Gale & Ashleigh McNaughton
The Senior Girls Teams
Internal Football Competition
This week saw the completion of the Westlake Girls Internal Football competition played on Tuesday afternoons. Eight teams competed over 5 weeks in a 7-a-side format. All teams had a great deal of fun in a relaxed environment. Plans are underway to run another 5 week competition in term 3.
Archery
Seven Westlake students recently took part in a six week beginners archery programme organised by the Shore Archery Club.
They learnt the basics of archery and now look forward to the stage two programme in term 3 with the aim of competing in the school
summer league in term 4. For students that are interested in the beginners programme another one will be running in term 3. For
further information please visit the Sports Department.
Year 11 Tramping
Recently our Year 11 Physical Education students
spent a day out in the Waitakere Ranges tramping,
abseiling and building a Tyrolean to traverse across a
stream. It was a bit on the chilly side but the girls
were well prepared with appropriate clothing and they
completed their day in style.
In this unit the girls studied safe and responsible behaviours appropriate in the outdoors and they worked
on improving their interpersonal skills. This day is a
great introduction to activities available in the outdoors and leads into the week long outdoor education
camp in Year 12 Physical Education.
Jen
Gale &for
Ashleigh
Shave
a CureMcNaughton
Four brave Westlake girls recently
volunteered to shave their heads in
support of the “Shave for a Cure”
charity event held on 4 July at
lunchtime.
Katie Kim, Ally Gardiner, Bethany
Cho and Prisillia Woe proudly
represented their houses and had
their heads shaved.
Our school hall was packed with
supporters and donations flooded
in. These resolute students raised
Senior
Teams
over $3500The
that
willGirlsnow
be
donated to the Leukaemia and
Blood cancer charity.
Envirogroup Tree Planting
Even though wind and rain were forecast a small, but enthusiastic group of students joined Forest and Bird volunteers who planted 5000 trees at Tuff crater reserve. With
council help they plan to tidy up the noxious plants, replacing them with natives to encourage more native birds to the
area. It was pretty tough going in the mud but we are sure
we planted at least 200 trees!
Westlake Strikes Double Gold
On Wednesday 26 June we participated in a cupcake
competition at Manukau Institute of Technology (MIT). We
arrived and we were a bundle of nerves waiting for our time
to begin. We had 30 minutes to decorate four cupcakes.
We had to complete two different styles using butter cream
icing and fondant, and they had to be identical. Once the
half hour was over we looked at our competitors’ decorated
cupcakes and were unsure of what our results would be.
However, our hard work and practice paid off and we both
received a gold medal. It was a good experience and we
will never forget this day.
Shelby Sparnon and Amy Hucks
Mrs Yan and Mira Yan, Deanne Nicolas,
Erin Ramsay and Ms Kay Brown
Gale & Ashleigh McNaughton
Improve NCEA Results This Year with NCEA CampusJen
Enrolments
Tia Tuiburelevu, Academic Prefect from 2012, is a tutor at NCEA Campus this year and wanted to spread the word as to what they offer to
you.
NCEA Campus opportunity for Westlake Girls NCEA Levels 1, 2, 3 and Scholarship
NCEA campus is a not-for-profit organization that provides educational opportunity for NCEA students, through top quality tutoring by
University students. “Tutors provide two day revision courses starting the first weekend of the school holidays at only $20 per two day
course. Our tutors are really amazing- many of them have been Premier Scholars, Duxes, Head Boys and Girls and are eager to help any
student, no matter what their current academic level may be, to reach their full potential and succeed in NCEA. We are fortunate enough
to have been sponsored and subsidized by many generous patrons in order to ensure that we can provide such quality tutoring a t a very
low cost.
Our courses are held at Epsom Girls Grammar this July and October and I would love to see Westlake Girls there. I have emailed some Prefects and students to help spread the word. This is a great way for students to get that boost of confidence for exams and internals, to
cover some content they may be confused on and learn some excellent exam tips and tricks from top students in a small and personalized
class environment”.
Tia Tuiburelevu
NCEA Campus Targeted Enrolments
mailto:enrolments@nceacampus.org
Parents Forum
We would like to welcome you to the Parents Forum. We form a link between the school and the community and are a volunteer, non-profit organization. Joining us is a great opportunity to get to know more about the school, to meet new people and
form friendships.
Our focus is to fundraise for the “Parents Forum Hardship Fund”. The Hardship Fund is supporting girls who do not have the
means to purchase a uniform or other school requirements.
In order to have another successful year we need all the help we can get. Please contact us if you would like to join us. You can
be involved as little or as much as you like and we would like to welcome any parents to come along to our meetings. For updates please access our page on the website:
www.westlakegirls.school.nz – Click on community and then go to Parents Forum.
Our meetings will be held on the following dates at 7:30pm in the Staffroom:
30 July
27 August
24 September
22 October
9 November (Friday) - Teacher Morning Tea
26 November - last meeting
Warmest regards,
Parents Forum
Contact details: barbarascholten@xtra.co.nz
AUT School of Art and Design
Jen Gale & Ashleigh McNaughton
Art and Design Portfolio day
Portfolio Day
10am - 1pm, 18 July 2013
WG126 lecture theatre
Sir Paul Reeves Building (WG)
Learn how to best prepare your portfolio
Register here
Portfolio Day is an event specifically for prospective students who want to
apply for our Art and Design undergraduate programmes. You will learn
about our requirements which include preparation of a portfolio. Teaching
staff will guide you and provide advice on how to create a portfolio and what
include. You will also have the opportunity to learn more about our programmes.
The Senior Girls Teams
This is a free event open to all, however please register for a session time below.
For more information please contact the contact centre:
Phone: 0800 AUTUNI (0800 288 864 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting
0800 288 864 FREE end_of_the_skype_highlighting) with any queries
Email us: studentcentre@aut.ac.nz
Download hard copy of Portfolio Guidelines here.
Canvas
Open Days for Maori & Pasifika Students School of Art and
Design 15th & 16th July
Register here
Are you are thinking about doing an undergraduate degree in:
Visual Arts
Spatial Design
Fashion Design
Digital Design
Product Design
Textile Design
Graphic Design
Come along to our workshops held over two days and find out how you can begin your career in the world of art and creativity. We’ll give you information on our programmes, show
you how to put your portfolio together and you’ll also have the opportunity to talk to students
and teachers in the school.
When: 10am - 4pm, Tuesday & Wednesday, 15th & 16th July
Where: Ngā Wai o Horotiu Marae
Corner of St Pauls and Wellesley Street Campus, 55 Wellesley Street, Auckland City.
Who should attend: All Year 12 and 13 students interested in enrolling in our Bachelor of
Design or Bachelor of Visual Arts.
What you will learn:
Programme structure including entry requirements, study pathways and career opportunities
How to create a portfolio
How to prepare for the interview
This is a free event open to all, however please register
For more information, please contact:Margaret Moala at (09) 921 9999 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (09) 921 9999 FREE
end_of_the_skype_highlighting ext 6288 or email margaret.moala@aut.ac.nz
Jen Gale & Ashleigh McNaughton
Jen
PhysioACTION is located here at Westlake Girls High School.
Temporary new operating hours are from 12pm to 4pm daily (until 31 July).
You can come and visit the Physiotherapist (Sarah Tordeich) for any:
Sporting injury
Strains/ Sprains
Back/ Neck Pain
Rehabilitation
Pre or post surgery strengthening
PHYSIOTHERAPY IS FREE OF CHARGE UNDER ACC.
YOU CAN SELF REFER TO PHYSIO.
To make an appointment please book either directly with the Physio at School, or
with the School Nurse if the Physio is not present.
We look forward to assisting you!
The Sen