This morning Westlake Boys hosted our second annual Grandparents’ Day. 190 grandparents joined their grandsons for a school assembly followed by morning tea in the new Gymnasium before students provided their grandparents with a guided tour of their school. As the photographic evidence shows, it was a special occasion enjoyed by many school families.
Amidst the Westlake grandparents who enjoyed a morning in the company of their grandsons were several former Westlake students, a former staff member and 30 other grandparents who were last involved with Westlake when their own sons attended several years ago. This generational involvement is becoming a particularly valuable and enjoyable aspect of our school community.
At the commencement of assembly, Headmaster David Ferguson extended a warm welcome to all grandparents and recalled several tales reflecting on the importance of his grandparents in his own life. During proceedings Mr Ferguson expressed a fond farewell to Westlake’s Events and Communications Manager Christine O’Dowd before prompting the school to perform a rousing Happy Birthday to Westlake’s own Grandfather figure, Tony Buckingham.
Guests were treated to a sneak preview of next Thursday’s Gala Concert when they watched the Westlake Symphonic Band perform and then, during morning tea, witnessed a performance by Virtutti, the Westlake Barbershop quartet who recently won the Auckland Region Young Men in Harmony competition. The annual Westlake Schools Gala Concert will be held next Thursday 11th August – tickets are $15 and door sales will be available on the night.
Grandparents’ Day is fast becoming established as a popular event amongst our community and, judging by the enthusiastic, happy family groups who were part of today’s event, it’s heartening to know that the Westlake experience will be extended throughout school families for many years to come.
For any grandparents who were unable to attend this year’s event, rest assured they will have another opportunity to join their grandsons in August 2017.
Special thanks to event photographers Miss McKay, Yu Chen, Jack Hall and Kelby Cai who captured some wonderful photographs of our grandparents and their grandsons today. We will upload more images to the Westlake Boys Facebook page and the Flickr gallery located on the school website soon. Please feel free to contact Vicki Fowler on vfowler@westlake.school.nz for a high resolution copy of the photos.
