EDUCATION: WESTLAKE GIRLS
$10,000 raised for World Vision Thanks to an outstanding effort by Year 13 student Sarah Binnie and her 40-Hour Famine Committee, more than $10,000 was raised by students for World Vision this year. “We held two really effective lunchtime events where we had a guest speaker and held an information event to inform the students about what is happening in Sub-Saharan Africa,” says Sarah. “Our other event was a lunchtime quiz and simulation event which also attracted a lot of students.” The 40-Hour Famine Committee went around classes to promote these events and to also encourage students to sign up for the famine. The hard work paid off, with $10,088.90 raised – exceeding the $10,000 goal. “Last year I attended a scholarship summit through the school and this meant that this year I got the opportunity to have an interview through LifeFM as they were running a 40hour broadcast for the 40-Hour Famine,” says Sarah. “It was an awesome opportunity to talk about what the 40-Hour Famine committee had done this year, and also enabled me to encourage the listeners to participate in the famine.”
Pictured with Jonine at the piano are from left: Hannah, Lisa and Melody.
Sarah Binnie with LifeFM presenter Eloise in Percy the Caravan.
WGHS students (from left) Hannah Jones and Alanah Jones with members of Voicemale and Choralation after their wins at Big Sing.
Music takes centre stage after Covid disruptions It’s been a tremendous year to date for the Music Department at Westlake Girls High School, following most events and performances being cancelled in 2020. Firstly, Westlake schools cleaned up at the Auckland Regional Big Sing competition held in June. The Big Sing Festival is the largest choral competition in the southern hemisphere with around 10,000 high school students singing in 200 choirs around New Zealand. The Auckland regionals is the largest centre with three full days of competition and 60 choirs. It was a tremendous time of choral music with outstanding performances by Westlake Girls, Westlake Boys and combined choirs: • Winner of Best Festival programme by a mixed choir – Choralation (Director Rowan Johnston) • Winner of Best Festival programme by a female choir – Cantare (Director Fiona Wilson) • Winner of Best Festival programme by a male choir – Voicemale
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Issue 122 - August 2021 www.channelmag.co.nz
(Director David Squire) • Runner up for the Adjudicators Award – Voicemale • Winner of the Spirit of the Festival Award – Cantare Shortly after the Big Sing, Year 13 students from Westlake Girls have been awarded first, third and two highly commended awards in the NZCF Federation Choral Composition competition. Jonine Tiakia won with her composition piece Invictus. Lisa Qian came third equal with A Night Thought, while Hannah Jones and Melody Zhang both received a highly commended for Voices of the Air and Tree at my Window respectively. The NZCF-SOUNZ Choral Composition Competition was introduced to mark the third millennium, with a trophy presented by NZCF Auckland Region. The competition is run in conjunction with SOUNZ Centre for New Zealand Music, and awards a prize for the best choral piece composed by a New Zealand secondary school student. There were 23 entries in this year’s competition.
