Headmaster’s Newsletter 27 November

Dear Parents and Guardians

Tomorrow night we say farewell to our Year 13 students at our annual Graduation Dinner. With 550 tickets sold, we are looking forward to a great night here in our auditorium. Well done to everyone involved in organising this event.

Our Year 9 and 10 students should all have their examination marks by now.  Reports will be completed by the end of next week and will be emailed as well, as a copy put in the post.

The school year will end next Friday after our Junior Prizegving.  Please make sure that your sons attend school up to and including the last day.

Best of luck to all of our senior NCEA students as they move into their last week of examinations.

Enjoy the newsletter.

David Ferguson
Headmaster

Junior House Swimming Sports

This was a little less serious than the other Westlake events, it had your regular 25m freestyle and breaststroke and then some fun races such as a ‘search and recovery relay’ where dive sticks were placed at the bottom of the pool in the respective lanes.  The first swimmer swam along their lane, dived down and recovered a dive stick and then swam to the end of the pool.  Once the dive stick is placed on the edge of the pool the next swimmer can begin.  Then there was a ‘water polo ball relay’ where swimmers threw the ball into the lane and moved it to the other end of the pool. They could swim any way they liked as long as the ball was no more than a metre away from them the whole time and then pass it to their team mate.  There was also the ‘underwater swimming race’ where the first person to swim one length (or as far as they could go) underwater is the winner.  The boys would say their highlight was the ‘bomb contest’ off the 1m and 3m spring boards in the dive pool.  Boys had a chance to show their flair and make a big splash, with Year 9 student, Jackson Pritchard the winner.

This was a fun occasion for both students and staff.  Special thanks to all those who made it happen.

Junior House Athletics Day

The events were varied including sprinting, shot put, javelin, football kick, cricket throw and frisbee throw. All students and staff enjoyed the afternoon.

Sir George Elliott Scholarship

University of Canterbury Scholarship Recipient

Congratulations to the Jonathan Brewis who has been awarded a University of Canterbury Engineering High Achievers Award to assist with his tertiary study.

Important Dates:

Major Diary Dates 2016:

Before the start of Term One 2016

Term 1 2016

Terms 2, 3 and 4 2016

Westlake Sport 

Russell Glackin Cricket Tournament

Westlake’s Year 10 cricket team regained the Russell Glackin trophy and progressed through the tournament unbeaten.

Game 1 vs Rosmini College

Batting first on a slow and heavy outfield, Westlake lost early wickets and were in difficulty with four wickets down. A steady partnership between Sam Collinson and Quinn Sunde (Captain) saw the score begin to climb, then a regular loss of wickets saw Westlake all out for 138 inside the 45 overs. This modest total was going to be difficult to defend. The bowling was tested as Rosmini began aggressively and at 98 for 4, with overs to spare, the odds were against Westlake. A collapse by Rosmini saw them all out for 114 giving Westlake a win by 22 runs. The two stand out bowlers were Jarrad Harford and Ethan Macdonald both with 4 wickets. The performance by Ethan Macdonald from our Colts Green team won him the champagne moment.

Game 2 versus Whangarei Boys High School

Batting first, Elliot Brown and Jackson Burt got the team off to a great start with a fifty partnership.  The loss of three quick wickets brought Sam Collinson and Jarrad Harford together and they batted until the 38^th over with both scoring fifties and amassing a partnership of over a 100. With the late flurry of wickets and runs Westlake posted an impressive 249 for 8 off 45 overs. Bowling tightly and with Whangarei batting cautiously, a win was assured with wickets falling occasionally.  Bowling the team out was a challenge. A second spell burst by Jacob Urquhart-Waitai saw him collect four wickets. Whangarei were dismissed for a little over 100 runs and an emphatic win to Westlake. For his sweetly hit six, to raise his fifty and the hundred partnership, Jarrad Harford won the champagne moment.

Game 3 versus Rangitoto College

Electing to bowl first due to the threat of rain, Rangitoto began slowly scoring around 2 runs an over for the first 23.  After the break one of the Rangitoto batsman began to flay the Westlake attack and a total of 200 was looming as a target.  With the dismissal of this key batsman and his partner Westlake were able to restrict Rangitoto to 155 for 9 off 45. An excellent opening partnership between Jackson Burt and Quinn Sunde of 93 saw Westlake well up on scoring rate and wickets in hand. Jackson’s 42 was very important. The steady fall of wickets saw Westlake 6 down with 12 runs needed and 9 overs. In what proved to be the final over, Sam Brewis, with a sequence of well-chosen lofted shots saw Westlake gain the needed runs. The winning margin was four wickets with four overs to spare. This last over of clever cricket earnt him the champagne moment.

Although Westlake won no individual honours the fact we had strength and depth in both bowling and batting was the deciding factor. All players made contributions, either with runs, wickets, catches and run outs which made the difference between Westlake and the opposition.

Cricket Results 21 November

WBHS 1st XI v St Kentigern College

Westlake win the Auckland Two Day title

First day: The last game of the 1st X1 Championship took place at St Kentigern College on a belter of a wicket. Without hesitation, Westlake decided to bat and accumulated a good total of 265/9 with solid contributions from Angus McKenzie (52), Ben Beecroft (41), Will O’Donnell (39) and Ryan Doubell (33). At close of play, St Kents were 45/0 with the game evenly poised.   Second day washed out.

In preparation for the 2015 Gillette Cup, The Secondary School Boys’ First XI Cup, played in Lincoln from Monday 7 to Friday 11 December, our 1st XI will play against the Cavaliers this Friday (27th November) at Takapuna Cricket Club, 1pm start. The Cavaliers is a collection of former New Zealand, Auckland and Northern Districts representatives who pass on their cricketing wisdom to young players on and off the field. With the prestigious tournament ahead, our boys will no doubt pick up some valuable cricket tips from their opponents on the day. On Thursday 3 December the team will come up against an Auckland U19 team at Huapai Domain before they depart for Lincoln.

Please click here for full Cricket results

Congratulations:

Well done to Westlaker, Jackson Smith (left December 2014) helped to rescue two swimmers at Piha on Tuesday 24 November.  Full article here.

Good Luck to:

• Our junior Volleyball team who are competing in the North Island Competition in Wellington
• Our junior Waterpolo team who are competing in the North Island Competition in Auckland
• Our Year 12 students who will attend Leadership Camp at OPC, Tongariro in the coming week
• Our students sitting NCEA examinations