(2012) PDF - Westlake Girls High School

Issue 3 - 23 March 2012Westlake Girls High School ClaimPrestige Tennis ShieldWestlake Girls High School recentlydominated the Auckland SecondarySchools Tennis Champion of ChampionsTournament.Held over three days Westlake Girlsstudents made all six girls finals winningfour of them and claiming thesought after James AitkenheadShield for gaining the greatest number of points in the girl’s competition.This is the first time Westlake Girls have won this shieldsince its inception in 1976.The team was led by Year 13 student Danielle Feneridis who defendedher senior girl’s singles title then joined Jana Stanojevic towin the senior girls doubles title.Rosie Cheng won the intermediate girls singles title then joinedCaitlin Beazley to win the intermediate girls doubles titles.The junior girls of Lauren Alter and Claudia Maddren teamed up forthe doubles where they were runners up in a hard fought three setmatch, Lauren was also the runner up in the junior girls singles.Westlake Girls now turn their attention to the National SecondarySchools Tennis Teams Finals at the end of March where they willbe aiming to continue their current success.The future also looks bright for tennis at Westlake Girls with thesoon to be completed covered courts complex of six tennis andfour netball courts will ensure tennis players are able to train onsite without weather disruption.Year 13 Tertiary Careers EveningWestlake Girls Assembly Hall2nd April 2012 - 7:30 StartRepresentatives from Auckland University, Massey University,AUT, Unitec, Otago University and Student Loans and Allowanceswill be speaking at this evening.All Year 13 students and parents should endeavour to attend.North Island Rowing ChampionshipsWestlake Girls High School claimed four medals at the NorthIsland Secondary School Rowing Championships at LakeKarapiro.The Girls under-15 coxed four of Holly Ellett, Sian Anderson,Cait Dowden, Courtney McCormick and Charlotte Rankin wonthe Gold medal, these girls then teamed up with Adelia Bolam,Teagan Frazer-Bristow, Jen Gale and Catriona Stanton to winthe Silver medal in the Girls under-15 coxed eight.The Girls under-16 coxed eight of Taryn Abel, Grace Howard,Kirsty Gemmell, Jessica Remmington, Poppy Logan, OliviaTaufa, Lily Maber, Sasha Ballantyne and Madison Seymourwon the Silver medal and the Girls under-17 coxed eight ofGrace Howard, Ella Madsen-Reid, Molly Dagger, MaddieDobier, Jessica Remmington, Poppy Logan, Georgia Gilbert,Kirsty Gemmell and Danielle Schofield won the Bronze medal.The rowing squad now turn their attention to the Maadi Cup inTwizel at the end of March.Under 15’s 4’s GoldUpcoming EventsFriday 23 March - Years 9 & 10 Progress Reports issuedYears 9 & 10 Parent/Student/Teacher Progress Reportinterviews are on Tuesday 27 March from 4pm – 7pmFriday 30 March is a Mufti DaySunday 1 April - Daylight Saving Time EndsTerm 1 ends Thursday 5 AprilPolice Challenge8 senior Westlake students competed in the local Police challenge. They were competing against other Auckland schools, in abid to get the fastest time around the 12 task course. Harry Sollis, Emile (Chippy) McArthur, Ryan Millar, Jordan Pile, Ruby Colle’,Bree Wilson, Chelle Thomson, and Tessa Ferabend represented our schools with pride. All students completed the extremelydifficult course in good time, however Northcote College were fast enough to take first place. WELL DONE TEAM.!

Year 12 Geography Field Trip to TongariroThe weather bomb had left a lasting signature on the landscape when Year 12 Geographers arrived in the Tongariro NationalPark. Despite it being the beginning of March a fresh dump of snow blanketed the summit of Ruapehu, Ngauruhoe and Taranakiin the distance. It certainly made for a picturesque scene as we trundled off up the Mangatepopo valley crossing glacialmoraines, lava flows and Taupo pumice deposits as we went.That same afternoon our focus turned to our research and gathering data from the slopes of Mount Ruapehu. Students set upquadrats at varying altitudes and collected information relating to climatic conditions, soil depth, vegetation height and diversity.The students valiantly clambered through bush, scrambled up embankments and trudged through soft subalpine bog in orderto get the job done.The following day we departed for Ohakune and the Turoa Road. Unfortunately our bus showed less resolve than our studentsand broke down in the morning. Undeterred we transferred onto alternative transport to keep the research programme goingand obtained more data from the south western slopes of Ruapehu.After running repairs, we transferred back to our original bus only to discover the problem still existed and we were forced backto the side of the road. Unfortunately the grass verge on the side of the road was sodden and our bus sunk deeply intoOhakune spud mud. With the assistance of friendly local farmers and passingtruckies we soon had the bus extracted from its confines and back in an Ohakune Year 12 Geography Guest Speakerworkshop.Thanks to the assistance of Matai shuttles in Ohakune we were soon headingback to Auckland in alternative transport, a little late and frustrated, but happy toget home.Year 12 Geographers were inspired thisweek by our visiting speaker Mr Colin Kennedy.Mr Kennedy was a visiting lecturerfrom Victoria University and working on aPhD in Development studies. He gave ourstudents some insight into how inequalitiesin development can be a powerful cause forchange and how recent revolutions acrossvarious continents could be linked to people’semotional responses to their livingconditions. Year 12 Geography students willbe studying Disparities in Development laterthis year.

Yr 9 Art Extension ProgrammeThe Art department invited interested studentsfrom year 9 to attend an extension programme inMarch, which ran over 3 afterschool sessions.The classes offered an opportunity for them toextend their skills beyond what they were learningin the core Art and Art Design courses. Therewere various classes that the students couldchoose from: Clay sculptures, digital collage usingAdobe Photoshop, 3D cartoons design and photographyusing pinhole cameras. The programmesonce again proved to be very popular,and many students gave positive feedback asthey enjoyed working with a new medium. Theparticipants who have completed the course willbe acknowledged with a certificate later in theterm.International DepartmentFriendly and responsible homestay families wanted.Please email international@westlakegirls.school.nz or phone489 4168 x769 for more information.Transport NewsAdditional bus services to/from West Harbour, Greenhithe and UnsworthRitchies with the support of Auckland Transport have increased this service through these areas by 4 additional services (2 inmorning and 2 in the afternoon).The new service is a Route 956 which travels via the Busway to Constellation Station, Unsworth, Greenhithe to Westgate viaHobsonville Rd, normally pupils travel on a Route 130. The difference is that Route 956 travels via Unsworth (Route 130 doesnot) and also direct via Hobsonville Rd to Westgate (Route 130 travels via Wisely Rd and Luckens Rd to Westgate).It is important that students understand that the Route 956 is more direct and we would like pupils who live in West Harbour toselect the best option for them, however pupils living in Greenhithe are able to catch either service, the Route 956 also gives abetter option for pupils who live Unsworth to have a direct option as well.