4 minute read
Westlake Boys’ High School
Guiqi Huang. Chan Yoo. Andy Wang. Grant Liu.
Raymond Luo. Brian Kim. Aakash Singh. Yuxin Li.
George Yang. Yanrui Zhou.
Outstanding results for the Westlake scholars
From a school’s perspective, 2020 was less than ideal… That said, we were delighted with the determination of our senior students to overcome the disruption and produce some exceptional examination results.
Collectively our students gained a total of 200 New Zealand scholarship examination passes, the second highest total for a secondary school and the highest rate per capita for any secondary school in the country. To add to that, Westlake Boys also had the most Outstanding and Premier scholars awarded for the year.
To put this into perspective, scholarship examination qualifications are only achieved by the very top performing secondary school students and involve a significant amount of additional study by candidates. Usually, scholarship subjects are offered to students in Year 13; however in the last few years we have extended this to students in Year 12, and in some cases Year 11, who have demonstrated exceptional talent in certain subjects. The scholarship awards are granted to only the top 3% of all students in each subject with only the top 0.3% of students achieving the prestigious outstanding scholarship.
In 2020 there were 12 Premier Scholars across the country, and four of these came from Westlake. Premier Scholar awards, for achievement at the very highest level, were awarded to Brian Kim, Yuxin Li, Raymond Luo and George Yang. This award entitles each recipient to $30,000 over three years of tertiary study. George Yang gained seven scholarships including five Outstanding, as well as the Top in Subject award for Earth and Space Science. Brian Kim gained eight scholarships including three Outstanding, Raymond Luo received six scholarships including three Outstanding, and Yuxin Li received five scholarships including three Outstanding. We extend our congratulations to these young men on their impressive results.
Amongst our scholarship successes, six Outstanding Scholar awards were also received by Guiqi Huang, Grant Liu, Aakash Singh, Andy Wang, Chan Yoo and Yanrui Zhou. Each of these students will receive $15,000 over the course of their three-year tertiary education. Yanrui Zhou also received the Top in Subject award for Chinese in New Zealand.
With 200 scholarships secured in 2020, our students have continued to build on the success of previous years. We are extremely proud of our students' dedication and hard work to achieve these remarkable results; they are an inspiration to our younger students.
Pupuke House. Full School Haka.
House Haka winners - HOOD!
Smale House. Ururoto House.
Whakataetae Haka House Showdown
The annual Whakataetae Haka saw our six houses, Hood, Murchison, Pupuke, Smale, Stanley, and Ururoto, give 110% as they performed their own choreographed version of the Westlake Haka in front of a panel of judges, staff and a prelockdown crowd of enthusiastic parents and Westlakers (alumni).
Each year the houses are judged on several elements of their solo performance before they face off against rival houses. The competition concludes with a full school haka which is delivered with power and passion, and for anyone watching it is a skin-tingling spectacle that creates an emotional response of admiration and pride. This competition is ensconced in Westlake Boys traditions, highlighting our appreciation of cultural diversity and our emphasis on the brotherhood that thrives at Westlake. Hood House was the victor this year with their energetic display of impressive teamwork and a well-executed haka!
Murchison House.
Peter Rea. Tony Buckingham, Tony Vinicombe, Peter Rea and Simon Smith.
A Great Hall fit for a Westlake Legend
Peter Rea retired at the end of 2020 but throughout his teaching career he was an inspirational educator who brought energy and fun to his lessons, and many of our students consider him to be one of their favourite teachers.
Peter is a Westlaker in every sense; a former student who returned to enjoy a 45-year career teaching, coaching and guiding students in their academic endeavours. It is our privilege to honour Peter’s commitment and service to Westlake Boys by naming our school auditorium after him, and he was delighted to be joined by some of his teaching cohort to celebrate this special occasion.
