(2012) PDF - Westlake Girls High School

Issue 4 - 5 April 2012Year 13 History trip to the Bay of IslandsUpcoming EventsOur year 13 budding historians recently spent 3 days researching the impact of Term 1 ends Thursday 5 Aprilearly contact on local Maori in the Bay of Islands area. The data they gatheredwent towards their internal NCEA history assessment.Term 2 begins Monday 23 April (Timetable Day 4)Wednesday 25 April is Anzac DayHighlights of the trip were: The Stone Store and Kemp House at Keri Keri; Thebeautiful Te Waimate Mission station; Pompellier House Russell and of course The Waitangi Treaty grounds. We met Mrs Busby atWaitangi, climbed Flagstaff hill and sailed a 19 th century replica of Bishop Pompellier’s ship.The students came home with a real appreciation for New Zealand history. They had a fantastic time, learnt a great deal and theirbehaviour did themselves real credit. A big thank you to all parents who found the time, funds and patience to support the students.Spotlight on SuccessCongratulations to Daynika Lamb-Pullenwho was selected from over 200 applicantsfor only 14 places at the NAC(Navy Adventure Challenge). This is afine achievement. The region she competedwith for this opportunity coveredfrom Taupo to Northland. The NAC is aleadership development opportunity for Year 12 students.Applicants were selected by their Career Interest,Academic Ability, Sporting and Cultural extracurricularactivities.Daynika has a strong interest in a career with theRNZN and this opportunity will be very valuable interms of gaining an awareness of what is required.Congratulations to Deena Franklin who will be representingNZ in Basketball as a member of the JuniorTall Ferns Basketball tour to China in the first 3 weeksof next term.Congratulations also go to Emma Lane, JazminWanoa and Elena Brown who have all been selectedinto the New Zealand U15 Touch team. Well donegirls.Amnesty InternationalAmnesty International meets once aweek on a Thursday lunch time inA27 (Years 9, 10 and 11), A25 (Year12) and A24 (Year 13). The Amnestyleaders present a human rights topicfor each group to consider. A majorissue that has been a focus for Amnestythis year is the need for aneffective Arms Trade Treaty. Thereare approximately 250 members inWestlake Girls High School’s Amnestygroup and it is very gratifyingto see so many students who areconcerned about international humanrights. While we would like toencourage any interested studentsand staff to attend meetings we havenow been obliged to cut off membership.A debate with the WestlakeBoys High Amnesty group has beenheld and further combined activitiesare planned.Ms K BrownTeacher Co-ordinatorAmnesty LeadersDayeon LeeTrisha HasinLixing WeiNoor KaurClarissa TanVyoma PatelEunseo LeeJulie LeeWoo Sun YouShayal ChandSohee LimAlexandra Brookbanks11DS12AL12OL12BE12TL12PT12BC13HR13MA13BY13MA13MAPacific Island students and new homework groupon TuesdaysHere is another success story, led by prefects DaniFifita and Amanda Wilson, with support from PI StudentMentor, Mrs Laiha Holliday.Milford Bakers Delight has sponsored buns andcheese rolls for afternoon tea every Tuesday whilestudents are mentored and supported in completingtheir homework after school. Last Tuesday 32 studentsattended and this Tuesday 28 students. What agreat initiative! The best aspect about the group is thefine example that the Yr 13’s are showing - disciplineand persistence in study habits.WGHS Stage Challenge 2012Stage Challenge is back this year! A committee has been chosen andthe planning is in full swing. Congratulations to Ellen Boss who hasbeen elected as the Director and also to Jessica Hibbert who has beennamed Deputy Director. The last few weeks have been a very busytime, with numerous meetings and auditions. Approximately 80 studentshave been chosen to perform in the performance spectacular and atheme has also been decided. The Stage Challenge committee are alsointerviewing students who are interested in props, stage décor, costumeand other production technologies. Rehearsals will start in Term 2 andwill run on Thursdays from 3.30-5pm here at school. We will keep youupdated with all the information about this exciting event. We are thrilledto confirm that Westlake Girls will take part in Stage Challenge at theAotea Centre in Week 10 of Term 2.

U 15 8’s U 17 4’s U 17 8’s Tennis Silver Medal TeamRowingWestlake Girls completed their rowing season with three medals at the Maddi Cup in Twizel.Westlake made seven A and three B finals with three crews winning medals, they were the U15 8’sSilver, U17 4’s Bronze and U17 8’s BronzeTriathlonYear 11 student Alana Lythe won the Gold medal in the Intermediate Girls New ZealandTriathlon SS Championships at Lake Karapiro. This is Alana’s second intermediatetitle in two years, she also won the junior title in year 9.AquathonCongratulations to Alana Lythe who came 1 st in the Auckland Individual IntermediateGirls Aquathon event which was held at St Kentigerns College Pakuranga on Friday.Also competing at the Aquathon and finishing 2 nd in the Senior teams event were Hannah Carlsen of12MB & Shannon Payne of 12SH.TennisThe tennis team completedtheir very successful seasonwith a Silver medal at theNew Zealand SS TeamsChampionships in Albany.The team were; DanielleFeneridis, Rosie Cheng,Caitlin Beazley, Jana Stanojevicand Claudia Maddren.Rosie Cheng has been selectedin the New Zealandteam to compete at theWorld Junior Team competitionin Kuching, Malaysia.She has also been selectedfor the Junior Fed Cup asnon-travelling reserve.Basketball3 on 3 TournamentOn Friday 23 rd March Westlakeentered 3 teams in the SecondarySchools 3 on 3 tournament atTrusts Stadium. The girls allplayed in the U17 Girls divisionand ended up being placed 1st,4th and 5th.The winning team (who won the final by 3 points) was made up ofGeorgia Perrott-Hunt, Tera Reed, Tiarna Clarke and Zara Jillings.Well done to all students involved.Western Heights TournamentVolleyballOn 26 th March theWestlake Premier VolleyballTeam travelleddown to PalmerstonNorth to compete in theNZ Secondary SchoolsNational Tournament.They went into thistournament with a seeding of 17 th and ended up placing11 th out of 81 teams. The team played extremely wellthroughout the week, in a difficult pool, having to play theeventual 1 st , 2 nd and 3 rd place winners along the way.A selection of the Premier Basketball team recently travelled down to Rotorua to compete in the Western Heights Tournament. 3500competitors from 66 secondary schools from throughout the North Island compete in this tournament, which includes basketball, rugby,hockey, netball and soccer. The team finished 5 th in the Senior Premier Basketball Tournament losing only one game in thequarter finals by 5 points to Fraser High (who won Nationals last year). They did extremely well for a team without their star year 13player (Deena Franklin) and considering they were a young team with three of the starting 5 in year 9 and 10.Auckland Junior Girls 13 & Under Swimming ChampionshipsCongratulations go out to all our swimmers who did tremendously wellat the Auckland Champions of Champions meet which was held at theWest Wave Aquatics Centre in Henderson.Auckland Junior Girls 13 & Under 200 Freestyle Relay – 1 st PlaceAuckland Junior Girls 13 & Under Medley Relay – 1 st PlaceYeonsu Lee – 9 BRRobyn Knowles – 9 SATe Ohorere Williams – 9 AKElla Cripps – 9 WEThese young girls are an exceptional team of swimmersto watch and won well over some well establishedschools throughout the Auckland area.Diving 2012Year 9’s Robyn Knowles, whodives for North Harbour Diving,took part this past term in the AutumnDiving Champs in Hamiltonand the Auckland SecondarySchools Diving Championships.Robyn took 2 nd and 3 rd place in herSilver Skills Testing at the AutumnChamps, and came first in the JuniorDivision (12-14yrs) winning Goldat the recent Secondary SchoolsChamps held at West Wave.

Business Mentors needed to support our highlysuccessful Young Enterprise ProgrammeIn recent years the Young Enterprise Scheme hasgained a reputation as an exciting and challengingprogramme. Many of our most able students haveused it as a way to gain real life experience in business.The enthusiasm for the Young Enterprise hasencouraged more students than ever to join with atotal of 13 companies being registered for 2012.Many of these companies have some fabulous ideasfor products and what they seek are local businesspeople willing to act as a business mentor forthem. If you would be willing to contribute time andsupport to these budding business tycoons then wewould be very grateful to hear from you.Please contact the school office with your detailsand a teacher from the Business Studies Departmentwill contact you with more information aboutthe role.NCEA NewsAll students sitting NCEA in 2012 have recently received Westlake GirlsHigh School NCEA Policy Information. This green booklet provides a usefulguide for parents and students regarding all aspects of both Internaland External assessment. Please refer to this when you have any assessmentqueries and then if you are still in doubt please contact theDean or Senior Manager of each Year level or Mrs Saikkonen, DeputyPrincipal and NZQA Liaison.Students will have also received a small pamphlet from NZQA about feesfor 2012. This pamphlet also provides answers to various questions thatstudents or their parents may have about examination entries, recordingof results, Financial Assistance, Special Assessment Conditions etc.Note that there is no change to the fees for 2012 - $76.70 unless a familyis eligible for Financial Assistance to pay fees. Invoices will be sent outduring term 2 and NZQA fees are collected by the school which thensends all fees collected on to NZQA during term 3. Financial Assistanceapplications can be made to the school during term 2. More informationabout this will be sent out in a later newsletter.Winter Uniform & ShoesNow that it is getting cooler a lot of students are changing their sandalsfor shoes in preparation of the winter months.Please remember the school Uniform Shoes are:SQ-WORM-ISH $69.95 from Hannahs or if you need a special fittingshoe (narrow, wide, very small, large or your daughter needs to wear anorthotic) the approved Ascent Shoes either ‘Adela’ or ‘Eternity’ are availablefrom The Athletes Foot in Albany.HANNAHS SHOE OFFERHannahs are again offering a 10% discount only on thetwo school specified shoes SQ-WORM-ISH and STELLAfrom now until 6 May 2012. This offer is available onlyfrom the Albany, Glenfield and Takapuna stores. Theoffer is not in conjunction with any other offer running atthe time. To take advantage of this offer, you must produceyour daughter’s Westlake Girls High School StudentIdentification Card.The SQ-WORM-ISH only starts at a size 5, and Hannahs have reported that a lot of the younger students find this shoe too big. Weare therefore allowing the Clark’s Mary-Jane Style $79.95 called Stella (a very similar looking shoe to the SQ-WORM-ISH) to beworn. These two shoes are priced at a lower point than the Adela or Eternity. The Adela and Eternity, however, are very well builtshoes and appear likely to last a number of years.Looking around the school, it is fantastic to see the students across a number of year levels wearing the same style shoe. It really hasmade a difference to the look of the uniform and the students are taking great pride in their appearance, which is fabulous to see.We’ve had two reports about the Capture Black sandals (available from Hannah’s) breaking at the buckle. Hannahs tell us they havesent these off for testing and they have determined that students are pulling the back strap down to take them off without undoing thebuckle – so please ask your daughter to avoid doing this if she wears the alternative sandal to the Roman sandal.Similarly, we have had a report of two problems with the SQ-WORM-ISH shoe. Hannahs tell us, however, they have had relativelyvery few of these shoes returned in comparison to the number sold and in the event of any problem being established they would alwayscontact the manufacturer to rectify it. They report they have not had to do this. Hannahs do state they stand by their product –so if you do have a problem with the shoes or sandals, please do go and see them.Reminder - Year 12 PE CampA reminder that the deposit for the Year 12 PE camp isdue before the end of this term. These can be made online or at the Payments Office. Camp forms should bereturned completed to the student’s PE teacher. Year 12PE Camp leaves on Sunday 29 th July and returns Friday3 rd August.International DepartmentFriendly and responsible homestay families wanted.Please email international@westlakegirls.school.nz orphone 489 4168 x769 for more information.Stay active this winter with Zumba Fitness at WGHSDue to continuing popularity, Zumba classes continue here atWestlake Girls. Zumba Fitness is an easy and exciting way to stay fitand learn some fun dance movements. The classes are open to studentsand family/whanau and friends. Come along and move yourbody to a mix of Latin rhythms including Salsa, Merengue, Reggaetonand Flamenco. Classes are held in Gym 2 on Tuesdays and Thursdaysfrom 6.30-7.30pm and Saturdays 9.30-10.30am. We keepshaking it right through the year and as you FIRST CLASS is FREE,there are no excuses not to try it out. All fitness levels and ages welcome:-) See Miss Visser or Miss Clemens in the Dance departmentfor details.