Westlake Girls’ High School

Harriet Gowing. Charlotte Graham. Olivia Anderson.

Luciana Wilton. Mackenzie Chatfield. Holly Williams. Paige Blake.

Athletes excel despite challenging year

The 2021 College Sport Auckland Young Sportsperson of the Year Awards were held virtually for the first time late last year, and WGHS was well represented by seven of our student athletes.

These awards recognise the top sporting all-rounders in Auckland, as well as the top three of four athletes overall in each College Sport code encompassing all the schools in the greater Auckland region.

Congratulations to the following students on their sporting performances over 2021:

Winners of the College Sport Auckland All-Rounder Awards:

Touch, rugby, basketball and netball – Holly Williams Basketball (school), volleyball, basketball (Harbour) and netball –Mackenzie Chatfield

Winner of a Sport Code Award:

Touch - Holly Williams

Finalists for the College Sport Auckland Code Awards:

Hockey: Paige Blake Rowing: Olivia Anderson Snow sports: Harriet Gowing Softball: Charlotte Graham Touch: Luciana Wilton.

Prefects get ready for exciting year ahead

While most students were enjoying the last of the long summer break, seven of our students gave up some of their holiday time to prepare for their roles as Prefects in 2022.

Our Head and Deputy Head Prefects, along with the five House Captains, spent two days at AUT Millennium undertaking workshops and activities based around leadership. The aim is to build connection between Westlake’s key student leaders and prepare them for the responsibilities of their roles.

Pictured from front left are Ivy Mitchell (Head Prefect), Aimee Euston-Stewart (Wairau House Captain), Ella Dorward (Deputy Head Prefect), Rachel Bickerstaffe (trainer), Ella Borrie (Akoranga House Captain), Louise Clouston (trainer), Holly Williams (Onewa House Captain), Tallulah Salmon (Hauraki House Captain) and Lucy Jobbins (Pupuke House Captain).

Students win national title and raise awareness of invisible disabilities

Congratulations to the winners of the national 2021 Tahi Rua Toru Tech Secondary Challenge – Shreeji Patel, Estelle Fernandez and Sumi Wang from WGHS!

Their project found a visible solution to help raise awareness about invisible disabilities by producing a graphic novel that embeds augmented reality to show the change in behaviour when people are educated about invisible disabilities.

Titled “The Colours at the end of the Rainbow”, the graphic novel features six empathy-provoking and educational stories showcasing a new perspective through the eyes of characters with a range of invisible disabilities.

The team says, “Our graphic novel has inspiring stories of everyday people and their everyday experiences with an invisible disability. Our aim is make the readers empathise with the people in the book as we spread awareness of this issue. The digital twist is that the back of the book has an augmented reality-experience QR code which takes people to an online version of the book.” “The book is short, sharp and fun as we want to encourage as many people as possible to have a read,” say Shreej, Estell and Sumi. The Tahi Rua Toru Tech Challenge is an annual event held amongst participating schools around New Zealand, with two levels at high school – Secondary Challenge (Years 9-10) and Senior Secondary Challenge (Years 11-13). Teams work with industry mentors on a digital technology project, with comprehensive age and learning-level appropriate support and guidance. The Challenge brief requires students to identify a problem in their own school or community and create a digital technologies-based solution to solve it.

Shreeji, Estelle and Sumi (Year 10 in 2021) are pictured the moment they found out via Zoom that they had won, and holding copies of “The Colours at the end of the Rainbow”.

In 2020, Westlake Girls placed first and second in the Auckland Regional event, with Epilepz selected in first place, and “No Justification for Discrimination” coming a close second.

Westlake students contribute to stunning artwork

Last year, students from Westlake Girls participated in creating a mural that has been installed in Takapuna. The 60m mural was created by schools across the North Shore, under the umbrella of Pupuke Kāhui Ako and working with Auckland Council regeneration agency Eke Panuku.

Local tamariki have been central to this project, with their involvement charging creativity and education surrounding Toi Māori in the younger generation. Students participated in two educational workshops and contributed towards the design with their own artworks.

The students involved from WGHS, with support from Susana Tomaz were:

Crystal Mo, Christina Park, Gianna Marigondon, Zoe Barber, Nida Naqvi Anna Onishi-Lee, Emersyn Mack, Krisha Lad, Grace Park, Hiba Mohamed Rizwan, Meadow Mauger, Jacqueline Choi, Nguyen Bui. This Pupuke mural focuses on the natural beauty of Takapuna, incorporating kowhaiwhai (traditional Māori patterns) and Māori designs of the natural world in which they are based. It not only stands as a beautiful symbol of collaboration and ecology, but also celebrates the identity of Takapuna by showcasing Māori motifs, providing a platform for learning and understanding to take place between people.

The project was led by local artist and Westlake Alumni Emma Jane Ormsby of Ngāti Maniapoto and Ngāti Porou descent, with support from mana whenua. Emma is a student at Elam School of Fine Arts and Te Wananga ō Aotearoa, and is undertaking a major in Whakairo (Māori wood-carving).

Check out the mural on the Auburn Street development location known as the Gasometer site.