Headmaster’s Newsletter 23 March

Dear Parents and Guardians

Please spend some time going through your son’s report with him this weekend.  Any D or E grades on them should give cause for concern.

Happy Easter.  We are open again next Wednesday, 30^th March.

Regards
David Ferguson
Headmaster

Russell McVeagh Auckland Regional Debating Championships

The Russell McVeagh Auckland Regional Debating Championships took place at Auckland Grammar School last weekend.  This is the premier competition of the year from which the Auckland Regional team to compete in Nationals in Wellington is selected. Westlake Boys’ High School entered two teams but were two speakers down from full strength with Dylan Maynard and Sean Yang away with other school activities. Team 1 was Sam Baker, Logan Rainey and Winston Yao, and Team 2 was Lawrence Gao, Ford Gooch, David Lin.

After four rounds Team 1 had two wins from four and Team 2 three wins from four. Of 30 teams at the competition Team 2 broke 5^th and progressed to the knock out rounds today. Team 1 were very unlucky not to win one of their debates ending their hopes of making it to quarterfinals.

On day two, Team 2 took on the highly rated Macleans College team and beat them in the quarterfinal to progress to the final four. In the semi-final they came up against arguably the best debater in Auckland this year (from Lynfield College) and lost in a 2-1 split adjudication.

Six students were chosen from 90 debaters to represent Auckland at the National Championships including Westlake’s Ford Gooch after some stand out debates during the weekend. Sam Baker was selected as a reserve – a great result for Westlake Boys to have two students in the squad.

The weekend leaves us third in Auckland after Diocesan Girls and Lynfield College, well ahead of our traditional rivals Auckland Grammar, King’s College and St Kentigern College.

Westlake Proms

When: Thursday 7th April 2016

Where: Westlake Boys Auditorium

Tickets: $15 Adults, $10 Concession

Music by Tchaikovsky, Mozart, Anthony Ritchie, Lloyd Webber, Elgar, Gershwin, Mäntyjärvi, Ešenvalds, Stanford and more! Come along and join in with all your favourites from the old country, such as Jerusalem, Rule, Britannia, Land of Hope and Glory, etc.

The fabulous Nick Brown will guide you through the evening’s entertainment with prizes for the best dressed British themed costume. You’re in for a great night!

Tickets at the door, or phone 09-4894168 ext. 284

Save Thursday 12^th May in your diary for a Special Breakfast Treat for Mums and Sons 

What: Westlake Boys’ Annual Mother Son Breakfast
When: Thursday 12^th May 2016, 6.45 am (Thursday after Mother’s Day)
Where: Westlake Boys’ High School Auditorium
Tickets: $25 per person from the Uniform Shop – sales will start on Thursday 31^st March 2016

The Westlake Boys’ Mother Son Breakfasts are a special, once a year occasion and are a wonderful chance for you to spend some quality time with your son, enjoying a delicious breakfast specially prepared by Westlake Boys’ Rowing Group mums.

All students, mothers, grandmothers or female role models are invited to attend. We are in the final stages of confirming this year’s guest speaker, so keep an eye out for more information on the school website, Facebook page and in this newsletter.

Tickets to the Mother Son Breakfast are available from Thursday 31^st March from the Uniform Shop in Student Services. Tickets are $25 per person payable by cash/Eftpos/Visa or MasterCard.

Call the Uniform Shop on 410 8667 ext. 806 to order and pay by credit card.

Community Support for Cyclone Affected Fiji

Thank you to members of the Westlake community who sent in donations of goods to aid those affected by Cyclone Winston in Fiji earlier this month.

After school on Friday approximately thirty of our young men stayed at school to help pack boxes of donations from our school community, along with text books from our school departments.  The students assembled approximately seventy boxes of goods which were taken to Westlake Girls’ High School and loaded into the shipping container bound for aid stations in Fiji.

Students Volunteering for Kaipatiki Project Open Day

It was a great opportunity to learn more about Auckland’s goal to become a zero waste city, and how we at Westlake can implement some new initiatives regarding our waste disposal.

Topping Up Student ID Cards for Purchasing from Canteen, Uniform Shop and Photocopying

https://portal.westlake.school.nz/mymonitor

An email was sent to families in early February with login details.  If you have misplaced your password, click on the “Lost Your Password” button under the login box.  My Monitor will send you a replacement password.

From MyMonitor you are able to

• Add credits to student accounts so that your student can make purchases at the school shop or canteen using their ID card and print at school
•  Transfer credit between accounts and between students that are in your care
• Track the transactions of your student(s)

View and pay fees online (this is done through a secure site)

• Parents and students can log into MyMonitor.
• Students cannot transfer money between accounts (if credit is allocated to the shop, it can only be spent there by the student)
• Students must use a PIN at the canteen – this can be set online or at the Kiosk in student services
• Credit can be added at the Kiosk
• You are able to change and reset your password

Lost Property for Collection

If your son/s have lost items, they should look in the Lost Property Bins which are situated in Student Services.  Currently there is a lot of unclaimed gear which we are unable to return to students, as it is unnamed.

We would like to remind families to ensure students’ gear is clearly labelled so that we can quickly and easily return it to their owner.

PTA Trading Post – Second Hand Uniform

The Trading Post is a shop run by PTA members providing a fantastic service and raising money for the school.

It is open every Tuesday lunch time from 12.30pm-1.30pm.

As the shop is run by volunteers, we are looking for more helpers, so if you are able to spare a little of your time, please email us at ptasecretary@westlake.school.nz.

‘Green’ Theme for St. Patrick’s Westlakers Golf Day

Major Diary Dates:

Westlake’s Got Talent Final

Westlake Sport 

North Island Secondary School Rowing Championships

Conditions were not always easy, with gusty crosswinds creating some choppy water and making steering a challenge. However, the Westlake rowers did not let this affect them and were able to produce some excellent results, in particular the four crews who came away with medals:

The Under 18 Eight is the main event in schoolboys’ rowing and it was wonderful to see the Westlake crew racing hard and finishing less than a boat length behind first-placed Hamilton Boys. We are immensely proud of them and very excited to see what they, along with the rest of the squad, can do at Maadi on Lake Ruataniwha in Twizel in a couple of weeks.

Regional Touch Qualifying Tournament – Saturday 19 March

Next up was Whangarei Boys High School, seated 5th at last year’s Touch Nationals. Both teams played hard and at half time the score was 3-3. Baylee Katipa scoring in the first attacking set assisted by Spence McDowall and Casey Smith early in the second half. The next Westlake try was scored by Riley Milne touching down after Matt Jacobi passed him a long ball to take the win at 6-1.

Tries scored for Westlake: Olly Watts (2), Anthony Tan (1), Matt Jacobi (1), Greig Tuaine (7), Ariki Hood-Kaitapu (4), Scott Telfer (1), Spencer McDowall (2), Casey Smith (3), Jack Heighton (3), Neihana Watters (1), Jackson Ephraims (1), Riley Milne (1) and Baylee Katipa (1).

Cricket Results 19 March

Westlake Boys 1st XI vs Auckland Grammar School

The last match of the summer saw Westlake Boys High School travel to Auckland Grammar School. Again Westlake were first to bat as Angus McKenzie won the toss and backed his batting line-up to set a decent total.  It looked as if it would be the wrong decision as Westlake slumped to 62 for 6. Opener Adam Baard was still there knuckling down against a determined Auckland Grammar side. Baard battled through to a well fought 76 only to be dismissed in the final over. He was provided with excellent support from Reuben Fitzgerald setting up a partnership of 94 for the seventh wicket.  Fitzgerald finished on 42, his highest score for Westlake which included 4 sixes. This partnership allowed Westlake to reach 173, which set their opposition a tough score to chase.

Auckland Grammar started well however Ryan Schierhout put them on the back foot with two wickets at the start of his spell. Captain McKenzie was then able to rip through the top order taking 3 wickets for 10 runs. However younger brother Jock was not to be outdone coming on to finish the game off with a remarkable 4-12 off his 9.2 overs. Baard capped off an excellent game with 4 dismissals behind the stumps.  In the end Auckland Grammar were bowled out for a very modest 91 leaving them 82 short. This ended a very good one day campaign for Westlake Boys High School winning six out of their seven games, with one game washed out and currently sitting in 2nd place in the Auckland Championship, 1 point behind the leaders.

Westlake Boys 2nd XI vs Auckland Grammar School 3rd XI

WBHS 188/8
AGS 138/10
Win by 50 runs

Westlake Boys 3rd XI vs Papatoetoe High School 1st XI

Westlake won the toss and elected to bat first. After a reasonable start, Neel Patel was first out but runs continued to accumulate. Just before drinks we lost its second wicket, Josh Hamilton out for 35. Sid Mahajan rode his luck and was dropped a couple of times on his way to his contribution of 55. Ryan Zent and Matthew Thornton made useful contributions and at the second drinks break we were set on 172/5. We experienced a mini collapse and were 181/8 before Connor Dean and Yomal Athukorala combined for a 105 run partnership. Connor’s 65 not out came off just 39 balls, ably backed up by Yomal with 33 off 25 balls. We set a challenging target of 287 for victory.

With rain threatening, the Duckworth/Lewis calculators were out and Papatoetoe got off to a good start and were well ahead of the required target. Josh Hamilton and Matthew Thornton bowled 12 overs for less than 30 runs between them and Matthew picked up two wickets. Sid Mahajan also got a run out in this time. With runs drying up and the wickets falling Papatoetoe fell behind and the weather also held out. Sid picked up 3 wickets and Yomal picked up 2 wickets in one over to bowl the opposition out for a mere 159, to win by 127 runs.

Westlake Boys Colts 1 vs Auckland Grammar School Colts 2

The round 8 game saw Colts 1 host Auckland Grammar School 2 in the last game of Term 1. Auckland Grammar won the toss and elected to bat. After a good start of 39 runs, wickets fell on a regular basis and at 105/9, the game looked likely for an early finish but the last two batters had other ideas and the final score of 150 was very competitive. Ben Drown was outstanding with his 6/22 and all the opposition batters struggled against his accurate swing bowling. Chasing 151 to win, Captain Mitchell Gray once again led from the front in scoring 71 with an innings full of drives through the covers or mid-wicket. The win by 6 wickets was achieved with six overs to spare and a fitting end to the first half of the season.

Full cricket results and Statistical Scores 2016 here

Premier Tennis 2016

The season started off on a high when Westlake’s first outing against Sacred Heart College was narrowly won 5-4 in a tie-break. Year 9 student, No3 Leo Cho, defeated his Year 13 opponent in a close game. The victory proved to be the only win in the very strong competition including teams from Auckland Grammar School, Kristen School, King’s College and St Kentigern College.

Although the season did not turn out as successful as the team might have hoped for, it was still very enjoyable and a wonderful learning experience for the young players years ahead at Westlake Boys.

Westlake Boys High School Premier Tennis Team

Chris Zhang (No. 1), Bailey Sutton (No. 2), Leo Cho (No. 3), Jesse Buskin (No. 4), Aden Borlase-Mills (No. 5), Daniel Haynes (No.6), Sam Beech and coach Mr Weal.

2016 Tennis Season Summary

Auckland Premier Competition

Standout player was Chris Zhang who has only lost one game.

• Senior: Chris Zhang did very well competing in the senior competition reaching the semi-finals.
• Intermediate: Bailey Sutton was knocked out in the quarter finals
• Junior: Leo Cho was knocked out in the quarter finals

National Qualifying

• Loss to Auckland Grammar – Westlake did not gain selection for the Nationals this year.

Traditional Fixtures

• Loss to Christchurch Boys High School (6-16) and loss to Tauranga Boys (6-16).

The summer of 2016 has produced an enjoyable season of tennis. Now the team look forward to next year and wishes to thank the parents and coaches for their ongoing support.

Water Polo Results 20 March

Goalie Reuben Barr managed some impressive saves but the whole team needed stronger defensive play to capitalise on the opportunities given. Determination, grit and resilience will be required for this team to move forward and remain positive for the up and coming North Island and National competitions.

Other results:

• The Senior B team had a strong 13-6 win against Auckland Grammar School 2 with excellent team work throughout the game, which takes them through to the 3rd/4th playoff for the Senior B Championship
• The Senior C team had a win against Birkenhead 11-1 in their last game for the season. Well done to this team who were 4th overall in what was a tightly contested competition
• The Junior A team beat Westlake Girls A 16-2
• The Junior B team beat Westlake Girls 25 -0
• The Junior C team lost to Rangitoto College Boys B 16-0

With the final games of the term for all teams coming up we would like to extend our thanks to student coaches; Reuben Barr (Senior C team coach), Logan Fuller, Shahid Dawad (Junior B team coaches) and Campbell Knowles, Zach Newton Cross (Junior C team coaches) for their excellent effort this term.

Congratulations

• Kiardyn Hatch SM09 has been selected in the Interprovincial Auckland Athletics squad to compete in the National competition over Easter weekend in Dunedin.

• Alex Jarrold and Nathan Monkton who have been selected to represent New Zealand in Trampolining at the Australian National Competition in May
• Andreas Hamschmidt of Year 10 (pictured right) joined the Muriwai U19 Board Relay Team which came 9th in the National Surf Lifesaving Champs at Ohope Beach last weekend. He also came 13th in the 2km beach run.

Good Luck to:

• Our 1^st XI Hockey team who have a pre season game versus Xavier College (Melbourne) on 30 March at WBHS
• Our Orienteers who compete in their Sprint Series at Kristin School on 31 March
• Our Sailors who compete in the Harken Sailing Regatta from 1-3 April at RNZYS

If you have information and/or photos which you feel may be included in a future newsletter, please contact the Headmaster’s EA, Mrs Sandra White:  swhite@westlake.school.nz