Headmasters Newsletter 26 August

Dear Parents and families

This week has been a busy week of exams for all of our senior students. I hope that they have gone well for all students and that they will continue to prepare properly for the rest of the exams next week. If your son finishes his exams early next week, my suggestion would be that he makes sure all of his work is up to date before coming back the following week. There are only three weeks of term left after the exams finish and for all of our senior students, their study leave will soon be here again.

Congratulations to all of our musicians on an incredible set of results at last week’s KBB music festival. It is the first time that all four top awards have been won by the same school (although all of our groups do of course have students from Westlake Boys and Westlake Girls).  Our combined choir, Choralation and our boys only choir, Voicemale are currently competing in the National Big Sing finals in Dunedin. Good luck to everyone involved in those finals.

Good luck also to all our teams who are competing in tournament week next week. We have teams representing us in football, hockey, rugby league, rugby, basketball, table tennis and badminton.

Have a lovely weekend

Regards
David Ferguson
Headmaster

Westlake Music – Pure Gold!

Our talented musicians celebrated Westlake’s best ever success at the KBB Music Festival last Saturday.

All four Premier Ensembles won Gold Awards AND they made a clean sweep of the coveted Most Outstanding Performance Awards, a unique achievement at the festival, which has been running annually since 1983.  Symphony Orchestra and Concert Band added to the tally with Awards for Best Performance of a New Zealand Work.

More than 4,000 students from schools across the greater Auckland region took part in this year’s festival and the standard of music gets higher every year.  Westlake had fierce competition and there were some memorable performances by groups from many schools.

The junior ensembles also did well, with Camerata and Symphonic Band both receiving Silver Awards and Stage Band and Tahoroto Orchestra receiving Bronze.

Congratulations to all the students and their fabulous music directors for their hours of dedication and hard work, culminating in truly ‘Outstanding’ performances.

Author and Entrepreneurial Scientist, Sam Kean, visits WBHS

By Trey Tupu South – Photos by Jack Hall

Kean’s profound enthusiasm and willingness to lend his time was not lost on Westlake’s students, who took full advantage of the opportunity by listening intently and asking a lot of questions afterwards. All in all, Kean’s appearance was a great success with every student who was lucky enough to attend.

Debating – Impromptu Cup

Three Westlake Boys’ High School teams competed in the Auckland Impromptu Debating Cup on Saturday 20^th August.  In this tough competition, the 40 teams competing from across Auckland only have five minutes to prepare.

Our teams were: Sam Baker and Ford Gooch, Dylan Maynard and Winston Yao, and Lawrence Gao and Logan Rainey with all three teams ending Saturday with 3 wins from 4 debates.  Sam Baker and Ford Gooch went on to the quarterfinals in 7^th place.

In the quarterfinal on Sunday at Auckland University, Ford and Sam went up against the 2^nd placed and highly rated St Cuthbert’s team, losing in a narrow decision.  While our young men are disappointed, it is noted that they are mostly Year 12 students, competing against very experienced top Year 13 teams from around Auckland.

NCEA & Cambridge Exam Revision Classes: 26^th September – 6^th October 2016

Parents can find the timetable at http://bit.ly/wbhshrplist and a course selection form at http://bit.ly/wbhsform

Students will need to complete a Course Selection Form and take this to the Uniform Shop in Student Services, where bookings and payments will be made.

Payments can be made by cash, eftpos, credit or student ID if credit has been loaded onto the shop account on My Monitor at http://bit.ly/wbhsmym or through our Home Page

Places will be allocated on a first come first serve basis with a maximum of 15 places in each session. We expect sessions to sell out, so please make sure to book early to avoid disappointment.

If you have and questions or would like to discuss the possibility of financial assistance, please contact Miss Jihan El-Labany.

Major Diary Dates:

Westlake Sport  

1^st XV versus Mt Albert Grammar School 1^st XV – Saturday 28 August, 2.30pm

Westlake Supporters are encouraged to come along in your candy stripes, make some noise and support the team!

Kick off is 2:30pm at Mt Albert Grammar #1 pitch.

Rugby Results 20 August

• Our 2^nd XV beat Rosmini College 2^nd XV 23-12
• Our 3^rd XV lost to Rosmini College 3^rd XV 7-17

Full Rugby results here.

Rugby Draw 27 August

• 1^st XV are playing MAGS at Mt Albert Grammar for the Blues spot at National top 4 in Palmerston North
• 7 Red vs Rosmini at QBE Stadium Field 3 at 9.30am
• 6A vs Rosmini  at QBE Stadium Field 2 at 9.30am
• 5A vs Massey High at QBE Stadium Oval 1 at 10.40am
• 2^nd XV vs Mahurangi at QBE Stadium Oval 1 at 12.00pm
• 6B vs Birkenhead College (B final) at Birkenhead College 10.40am

Football Results 20 August

• Our 1^st XI drew with Macleans College 2-2
• Our 2^nd XI lost to Macleans College 1-2
• Our 3^rd XI lost to Rosmini College 2-5

Full Football results here.

Hockey Results 24 August

WBHS 1^st XI versus Rosmini College 1^st XI

In the play off for 3rd and 4th place in the Inter City Competition, the final score was 1:1.

The weather was horrible but the hockey not. Both teams created chances in the first half with Rosmini taking the lead with a well finished reverse shot. Westlake adapted well in the second half and dominated and drew level after 15 minutes. Play went a bit ‘flat’ after that with both teams making errors in the final third of the pitch. Rosmini did have a penalty corner in the last few seconds but couldn’t steal the win. The draw was a fair reflection of the game, with both teams sharing 3rd place.

Full Hockey results here.

Junior Water Polo Results

• Junior A played Northcote College and won 13 – 3
• Junior B played Carmel College and lost 4 – 9
• Junior C played Westlake Girls and won 11 – 3

Congratulations to:

• Bradlee Wong recently competed in the Auckland International Judo Open with judokas from Oceania, Asia and Europe. In the Under 18, 60kg division final, Bradlee beat a Hong Kong representative, winning a Gold medal. He will soon be competing in the North Island Championships in Wellington and the New South Wales State International Open in Sydney.
• Dowoo Kim, Year 9 ST12 has been selected to represent North Shore Squash Club at a national Squash Tournament in Invercargill from 21-24 September.

Good Luck to:

• Our 2^nd XV who play Mahurangi College 1^st XV at 12.00pm on 27 August at QBE Stadium Oval 1
• Our 3^rd XI Football team who play Northcote College 2^nd XI at 9.45am on 27 August at WBHS Turf
• Our Senior Lacrosse Team who play Rosmini College at 4.00pm on 26 August at Rosmini College
• Our Vocalists who are competing at the Big Sing in Dunedin
• All teams competing in Tournament week, next week:
  • Our 1^st XI who compete in the Football Nationals at Papamoa
  • Our Premier Basketball team who compete at the North Shore Events Centre
  • Our Premier Rugby League team who compete at the NZSS National Tournament in Papakura
  • Our Chess players who compete in the Auckland Chess tournament at Auckland Grammar School
  • Our Badminton players who are competing in Hamilton
  • Our Junior Basketball team who are competing in Rotorua
  • Our Hockey teams who are competing in Rankin Cup (1^st XI), Galletly Cup (2^nd XI) and Tanner Cup (Under 15)
  • Our Under 15 Rugby team who are competing in the Hurricanes Tournament in Wellington
  • Our Table Tennis teams who will compete in Palmerston North

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