Westlake Girls' High School

The Westlake Girls Gardening Club was formed at the start of Term 1. It is a small group of six students and two teachers. We are currently growing broccoli, lettuce, silverbeet and carrots that we plan to give back to the community and our Food Technology Department.

We also have some bright flowers – the cherry on top of our garden! The garden is located behind the science classrooms in three wooden boxes. We are grateful for the rain at the moment and are excited for our seedlings to start growing, but right now it feels as if were are just waiting for the grass to grow. It’s a good lesson in patience!

By Cara Clark-Howard

Outdoor adventures build leadership skills and friendships

Before travel guidelines were recommended, our students enjoyed the last of summer at some outdoor camps. Here’s a run down on some of them.

Recently, 122 of our Year 11 Physical Education students were away for PE Camp in Whatipu.

The camp aims to help students explore and understand the safety behaviours in the outdoors, focussing on their 1.7 NCEA Achievement Standard. Students were split into two groups and students participated in activities such as Tyrolean, Caving, Tree climbing and First Aid, conducted by Big Foot Instructors. There was a Summit Walk led by the teachers and an Amazing Race led by the Year 13 Outdoor Education class. The Amazing Race involved activities such as building the tallest tower, building sand castles and filling a bucket. After completing the practical aspect of their assessment students could not wait to get home to their own beds!

In Week 6, Year 12 Outdoor Education took 54 students to Great Barrier Island. They caught a ferry to Karaka Bay where they were greeted by the lovely instructors from Hillary Outdoors. Students worked throughout the week on their Leadership and Social Responsibility skills. They were able to lead their groups in different situations and activities which included stream walking, abseiling, high ropes, kayaking, coasteering, surf kayaking and an overnight tramp to finish the week off. Students were buzzing after a fantastic week away with many memories made.

Year 13 Leaders Year 13 Outdoor Education students went on the Year 11 PE camp as Leaders. They have learnt about contemporary leadership principles in class, and it was decided to take them into the outdoors to trial those skills. The Year 13 Leaders ran Amazing Race activities including Tallest Tower, Fill a Bucket, Make a Dam, Make a 3D Sandcastle and a jigsaw puzzle.

The students also took on other leadership opportunities by helping to organise and run the annual skit night, helping prepare lunches and dinners, along with putting up 25 tents and taking them all down at the end of camp. Overall, this experience for the students was extremely worthwhile and gave them the opportunity to lead, reflect and lead again in a changing environment with many different impacts.

Winning in these difficult times Despite the unprecedented times, Westlake Girls High School has continued its sporting success in the competitions that have been held. Katrina Hall; Bronze (Flags). Kate, Ella and Katrina also received a Bronze in the Tube Rescue Swim. Lastly, Kate and Ella (along with another team mate) won Gold in the U-16 Taplin Relay.

Softball: Our Softball Team won the Auckland Softball College Championships after five years as second-place winners. They beat Mt Albert Grammar in the first game, Rangitoto College in the second, and One Tree Hill College in the final (9-0). Maddison Gerbes was the Winning Pitcher. Track and Field: WGHS Head Prefect, Kaia Tupu-South, who competed at the NZ Track and Field champs in Christchurch during early March. She won Gold in the U20 Women’s Discus with a PB of 53.96m. She also won a Silver medal in the U20 Women’s Shot Put. Surf Life Saving: Michaela Pocock, Emily Glackin and Lena Hamblyn-Ough (all Year 10) were part of the Mairangi Bay Surf Life Saving Club team which took out the National Title for the Grand Cameron at the NZ Junior Surf Life Saving National Championships recently. There were 830 participants from 47 clubs competing. The Grand Cameron race consists of six team members – three females and three males – who either run, swim or paddle-board in a relaystyle race. Lena was the swimmer, Emily the paddle-boarder and Michaela the runner.

The 2020 Surf Club Nationals were also held recently in Gisborne, with Westlake students representing two local clubs. Four students represented Mairangi Bay SLSC. Zoe Crawford received the U16 Champion Female Athlete Plaque from NZ Surf Lifesaving. Her results were: U16 NZ Champion (Run/Swim/Run; Surf Race and Board Rescue), Silver (U16 Surf Teams Race and U16 Tube Rescue). Isla Brain; Silver (Tube Rescue and Surf Teams Race). Lily Redford; Silver (Surf Teams Race). Tara Vaughan; Silver (Tube Rescue).

Three of our students represented Red Beach SLSC. The students competed in the U-16 age group with 90 competitors from around New Zealand.

Results were: Kate Rogers; Silver (Ski Race), Bronze (Board Race) and Bronze (Iron Woman Race). Ella Butler; Bronze (Ski Race). Golf: The Westlake Girls Senior Golf Team beat Westlake Boys 103 – 111 in the North Harbour SS Golf League. This is the first time our students have competed in this competition - congratulations to Daeun Kwon (Y11), Naomi Yacyshen (Y12, pictured) and Connie Jarm (Y10)! Touch Rugby: The Touch North Habour U-16 Touch Team recently won Gold at the National Under-16 Championships. Remarkably, 10 members of the team are from Westlake Girls High School! The Westlake students were: Holly Williams, Mackenzie Chatfield, Zara Hooks, Luciana Wilton, Dileesia Henare, Madisyn Yee-Joy, Jaelah Clayton, Rikiana Hawkins, Ariana Hebden, Karla Stevenson. Triathlon: Four of our students performed outstandingly at the recent Auckland Secondary School Triathlon Champs. Kate Borton came 8th in her first individual triathlon representing Westlake Girls, and Lena Hamblyn-Ough (swim), Michaela Pocock (mountain bike) and Kenzie McKay (run) placed first in the Intermediate Teams Triathlon event. Rowing: From March 13th to 15th, Westlake Girls high school competed against almost 2,000 students from 100 schools at the North Island Secondary Schools Rowing Championships held at Lake Karapiro. Westlake produce a stunning finals day performance, for the first time in our history we medalled in every age group (u15-18 & u18 N). We finished the day with eight top 8 finishes and a further six podium finishes. Overall, we had 26 medallists, 14 of whom were first time medallists.

The squad’s performance in eight oar events continues to be the highlight of this seasons results – for the first time in our history we made A finals in all six 8 oar events, claiming medals in the Gu16 & Gu17 8. For the first time since 2014 we boated a u18 8 in the A final, finishing a highly credible fifth in a field where first to last were separated by only 10 seconds. We look forward to taking another run at the u18 eight in the 2020-2021 racing season. Any students interested in becoming apart of the Westlake Girls Rowing program, can learn more about the sport on the school website - https://www.westlakegirls.school.nz/rowing/. We will be recruiting for the new season in June 2020. Kaia Tupu-South.

Virtual interview opens a door in Texas

Two Westlake students, Grace Jung (Y13) and Ivy Mitchell (Y11), had the opportunity to participate in a virtual interview with some students in Texas recently.

The students from both schools compared school calendars, sports, lunch food, choir trips, beaches, weather, and accents. Grace and Ivy practiced saying “Y’all” like a Texan, and tried to teach the Americans to say “Kia Ora” like a Kiwi. They loved our uniform and wanted to know what all the badges represented. They also gave us a virtual tour of their school.

For us, the interview happened at 4pm, but for them it was 10pm and they had a long night ahead, chatting with other places around the world.

Every year, this American school organises a 24 Hour World Tour, and this year they wanted a school in New Zealand. Their librarian contacted our librarian and the virtual interview was scheduled, using an online videoconferencing tool. It was a delightful way to meet students on the other side of the globe!