Achievements

The school defines achievement in the widest possible terms.

Each student is encouraged to develop the skills they bring to school; academic, social, physical or cultural. Some achievements seem small for the school but are a major success for the individual and the school recognises this. The school develops a can-do attitude in the students, one that means they strive to achieve their personal best and to be proud of what they achieve. The school is successful when students improve their skills and capabilities. Academic achievement is expected, valued and acknowledged. True success comes when students leave school to further education or to employment confident in their ability to be resilient life long learners.

High Achievers in 2022

Term 1

  • Among our scholarship results, of particular note were:
    • Cadence Chung full marks for English
    • Julia Randerson three Outstanding level (Julia is eligible for Outstanding scholar award)
    • Cadence Chung, Arlo Haig and Tara Stockwell Williams all achieved two scholarships
    • Lulu Shepherd and Alex McLeod were awarded scholarship at the end of Year 12
    • In addition four scholarships were awarded in English, three in Health and Physical Education and three in History. 
  • Gabriel Sloane Rodrigues (Year 10) selected to play in the New Zealand Football’s Wellington Regional Training Centres under the Wellington Phoenix.
  • Lewis Thomson (Year 13, 2021) original play Tigers Can’t Change Their Stripes performed in the NZ Fringe Festival.
  • Io Arnold-Clark (‘Uncertainty’), Jean Cleaver-Paris (‘Grandma’ and ‘At the dinner table’), Sequoia Cristobal-Mandel (‘Fun house!’ and ‘Chicken and rice’), and Vita Lawson (‘Interloper’ and ‘Flat’), had work published in Re-draft, an annual publication open to all New Zealanders. 
  • Toitoi, a journal that celebrates the ideas, imaginations and creative spirit of New Zealand’s young writers and artists, featured works by WHS students Jake Henry, Lara Hawley and Alex Tierney.
  • Mrinali Kumar (Year 13, 2016) created the business Kinda, their first project being plant based ice cream.
  • Liam Tuffery (Year 13), Violet Patterson and Kindakel Banda-Moyes (y12) who appeared in Wellington Paranormal (Series 4, Ep 3 – available on TVNZ on demand.)
  • Ollie Bond (Year 11), Izabel Ellis (Year 10) and Madeline Ellis (Year 13) took part in the Wellington Schools Regatta. Ollie and Izzy ranked 1st in the Open Division 2 Fleet and Maddy placed 10th overall in the Starling Fleet secondary division; both placings coming after 4 rounds of competition.
  • The following students were awarded Excellence Certificates by the New Zealand Association of Language Teachers for their excellent achievement in NCEA in a second language.
    • Chinese Level 1: Anna Curzon-Hoson, Stella Maiden & Anna Reilly
    • Chinese Level 2: Hugo Randerson, Phuong Anh Nguyen & Yengwai Hoh
    • Japanese Level 2: Atom Gush
  • WHS students were recognised at the Wellington Regional Sheilah Shakespeare Festival at the end of term 1. The scene was directed by Violet Patterson, Y12, and the group took the prizes for ‘Outstanding Understanding or Interpretation of a Text’.

Term 2

  • The debut poetry collection from former WHS student Cadence Chung (class of 2021) entered the Newsroom Bestseller List with her collection Anomalia. Cadence was also honoured as Top Scholar for English in 2021 at the annual scholarship awards held at Parliament.
  • Kristina Sundin was selected for the New Zealand U19 Women’s Floorball National team playing in the World Championships in Poland during Aug-Sept 2022. 
  • Ashwin Ellis, Atom Gush, Otis Brown, Alex Buyck and Lulu Shepherd (Year 13) gained third place in the national ‘Ethics Olympiad’. 
  • WHS students completed the school Tough Guy, Tough Gal challenge at Wainuiomata. Idris Ibrahim placed second out of a field of 1000+ competitors.
  • Fynn Marno-Simpson and Io Arnold-Clark participated in the NZ National Lead Climbing championships in Auckland. 
    • Fynn placed 3rd in the U18s and Io placed 1st in the U16s. 
    • Io was selected to represent New Zealand in a continental youth climbing competition in Australia in June 2022.
  • Year 12 Anna Reilly placed 3rd in the Annual Chinese Bridge Speech Competition. She did an excellent job, and only narrowly missed the opportunity to compete at an international level. We are very proud of her achievements. 
  • Year 10 Rosa Martelletti successfully placed 3rd in the Regional North Island outside of Auckland region junior speech competition.
  • Francesca Rotolo, a WHS student who is a member of Schnittke’s Snicker, was part of the winning ensemble in Wellington district in the NZCT Chamber Music Contest 2022. Francesca’s ensemble was selected for the Central Regions final.
  • Wellington High School Senior A’s gained promotion into Netball Wellington Premier Reserve grade. This is a significant achievement as it is the first time Wellington High School has had a team playing in the Premier Reserve grade.
  • Atom Gush who was a finalist in the Fingers Comma Toes National Flash Fiction Day writing competition. Both of his pieces, Gone with the Mist and What They Told Me were shortlisted.
  • Lorenzo Buhne (Year 9) won the Youth category for the Capital Photographer of the Year. 
  • 33 students participated in the 40 Hour Famine led by student leaders Amelia Carey, Sophia Barclay, Anika Green, and Rātā Petherick. Students were fundraising money to provide clean water to children in need. The goal was to raise $2000 and they nearly doubled this raising $3,700.90.

Term 3

  • Nine students qualified to attend the cybersecurity challenge at Waikato University (CROW). Only 150 places are offered with WHS taking a good proportion of those on offer. 
    • Congratulations to Elijah Michel, who was a team of 1 in what is usually a team event. Elijah won one of the two rounds and taking home prize money. An amazing solo effort.
  • WOW National awards: 
    • Top 10 National Finalist – CONSUMED / Mika Coe, Vita Lawson, Millie Crowe, Eleanor Thomas Moore & Maggie Thoms
      Top 10 National Finalist –  Vouivre / Kate Briscoe 
    • WOW Inspiration Award – CONSUMED / Mika Coe, Vita Lawson, Millie Crowe, Eleanor Thomas Moore & Maggie Thoms, Iris Guileminot, Rosa Marttinelli
  • Hutt Science/Capital City Science Educators STEMM challenge: 
    • Juniors came 4= in a field of 32 teams. Congratulations to Kalani, Sebastian, Jethro and Eleanor. 
    • Our Year 13 team placed 5 of 22 teams. Congratulations to Ike, Mara, Renee and Levi.
  • Year 12 Vidthia Beaglehole earned sponsorship from the Rotary Club of Wellington South to attend the IYM residential programme in the Term 2 holidays. 40 young women from the lower North Island participated in the programme.
  • The Senior Open and Senior Girls finals of the College Sport Wellington Premier competition were held on Tuesday 24th August. 
    • Our Senior Open team were top seeds and emerged as champions 
    • The Senior Girls team finished in 5th place after a dominant win over HVHS.
  • At Mathswell competitions WHS shone:
    • Rune Nicholson, Charlie Chen, Marissa Burnette, Archer Page and Lias Morris (year 11) won the competition coming first overall despite being a team member short. 
    • Theo Keith, Max Clarke, Ben Graham, Michael McCarthy, Anna Briscoe and Kris Langrish (Year 10) came second overall.
    • Joshua Chen, Elijah Michel, Allegra Cooling, Samuel Young, Leo Kennedy and Heidi Smale(Year 9) came 6th out of 20 teams. 
  • Nathan McPherson (Year 10) 1st place in the Year 10 division of the Wellington Regional Japanese Speech Contest. 
  • At  the NIWA science fair Joshua Chen took 2nd  in class 3 (Year 9) for his entry titled “The Phantom Micro-plastic”. Atom Gush (Year 13) took 2nd in class 5 (Year 11-13) for “Rayleigh disk” and Charlie Chen (Year 11) placed 3rd with “Blurred text”. Atom, Joshua and Aiden Scott (Year 11) also won special prizes.
  • Io Arnold-Clark and Fynn Marno-Simpson competed in the NZ Secondary School Climbing Cup 2022. Io won their category with their first-place medal and Fynn placed 4th in his.
  • Jessie Davidson (Year 13) was shortlisted for the Katherine Mansfield writing prize.

Term 4

  • Dominique Gilling (Year 13), was selected to represent Aotearoa New Zealand in Equestrian in the Special Olympics World Summer Games in Berlin, Germany, to be held from June 17-25, 2023.
  • Three teams participated in EPro8 at Porirua College. 
    • In first place were Viraaj Ravji, Alex Anderson and Aiden McElrea 
    • In second place were Ollie Butcher, Jussa Aschenberger, Walt Payne, Sebastian Buzenberger. 
    • Clément Ausseill, Louis Beckett, Megan Davies, Thomas Ramsden placed 8th.
  • Nicolas Gobbi (Year 12) and his team of Luke Buda, Dina Mitchel, Liv Calder and Ashton Gordon’s short film reached the finals of the national On Screen competition securing awards for Best Makeup and Best Original Score.
  • Class of 2012 alumni Vera-Ellen won the Te Kaipuoro Manohi Toa | Best Alternative Artist award in the Aotearoa Music Awards for her 2021 album, It’s Your Birthday.
  • Year 13 Student Mia van Oyen performed  at Circa Theatre in a new production of Wednesday to Come by Renée. Mia was offered a place at Toi Whakaari, The New Zealand Drama School, only 20 are selected from the pool of applicants each year.
  • Year 10 students Mia Sharma, Phillipa Thorburn, Jussa Aschenberger and Jacob Carr, with the support of Ollie Butcher, Maia Brown and Joe Field, placed 2nd at the Ethics Olympiad and were invited to the International Round competition in February 2023.
  • In the Otago University Junior Maths Competition, distinction certificates were awarded to Joshua Chen, Elijah Michel, Max Clarke and Rune Nicholson ( top 15% of all entrants). Theo Keith was awarded a prize as one of the top 30 Year 10 students in the entire competition. 
  • In the Kiwi Maths Competition, merit certificates were awarded to Max Clarke, Alex Berry and Aleksei Kean (top 25%). Elijah Michel and Joshua Chen received excellence certificates for being in the top 10%.

High Achievers in 2021

Term 1

  • Scholarships were awarded to 17 students. Of particular note were Zoe Crane (Year 13, 2020) and Julia Randerson (Year 12, 2020) who gained Outstanding results in Drama and Religious Studies respectively, with full marks. Our Dux for 2020, David Lindsay, gained three scholarships in Biology, Chemistry and Physics. 
  • At the North Island Rowing Championships: 
    • Indi Ford won a gold medal in the Women’s intermediate 8 and progressed to the National Rowing Championships. 
    • Emma Thirkell reached the B Final in the incredibly competitive girls U16 Single Scull.
    • Claire Waterson made it into the A final in the Girls U15 Octipul and placed 6th. Flora Edmonds reached the B final in the same event.
    • Jack Pritchard and Patrick Groom joined with students from Rongotai and Newlands in the Men’s novice coxed four and placed 7th.
  • Year 11 Oscar Lynch produced a winning entry in the Outlook for Someday film competition. Oscar’s film ‘Being Deaf’ which provides a perspective on the benefits of being deaf, was one of ten winning films. The Someday Challenge is to make a short film (under 5 minutes), related to a theme of sustainability that could be tackled from a person, family or whānau perspective or related to the environment. It is open to any New Zealander under 25.
  • The tap troupe that WHS students, Julien Feist, Catelin Peach, Emma Thirkell and Inese Velde are part of, won a PACANZ (Performing Arts Competitions Association of NZ) nomination for the National Young Performers Awards (NYPA). 
  • WHS alumna Florence Isaacs (2006 – 2010) won the Antarctica NZ Doctoral Scholarship in 2018 and in early 2021 submitted her PhD dissertation looking at sea ice in Antarctica in relation to climate change.
  • Fynn Marno-Simpson (Year 10) came first in the Youth B grade (under 16s) in the Climbing New Zealand, National Lead Climbing championships. Jasmine Arnold-Clark (Year 9) was first in the Youth C Female category.
  •  Dominique Gilling qualified for the quadrennial Special Olympics National Summer Games in the top category, Division A. Out of three events, he placed second in the dressage and equitation (missing out on first by just one point) and first in the working trail
  • Two WHS jazz bands took out 8 of the 22 awards on offer at the National Youth Jazz Competition in Tauranga last weekend. This is a phenomenal achievement borne of talent, dedication and a passion for jazz. Congratulations to all involved.
    • Best combo (Mel Stevenson joint winner with Crumply Jack)
    • Best composition (written by the group) 
    • Nico Buhne – best keyboard player
    • Miro Holland – best trumpet player
    • Louis Holland – best trombone player
    • Louis Holland – best overall musician
    • Crumply Jack  (the band featuring WHS’s Jack Harris and Louis Holland), won best in Festival, arrangement and vocalist

Term 2

  • 48 Hour Film Festival Team: You be good. I love you (Brooke McCloy, Leo Wilson, Lee Stanton Barnett and Lewis Thomson). Their film was rated the best under 18 film at the Wellington regional finals for the 48hr film festival. The team then headed to Auckland for the Grand Final on 22 May, the 3rd WHS team in as many years to have their film reach the final.
  • Julia Randerson’s (Year 13) and Zoe Crane’s (Year 13 in 2020) academic excellence was recognised at a celebration in Parliament. Julia was recognised as the country’s top scholar in Religious Studies, and Zoe as the country’s top scholar in Drama. 
  • Two junior and two senior teams competed in the Hutt Science STEMM Student Challenge. Our Junior teams WHS Gold & WHS Green came 3= from a field of 36 teams from 21 schools. Congratulations to Hugh, Riley, Elizabeth, Kalani, Samuel, Marissa, Kahu & Charlie. Our Year 11 & 12 team (Ren, Tom, Nikau) competed one team member short. The Year 13 team won the overall title. WHS are now the proud holders of the Te Herenga Waka (Victoria University) Trophy. 
  • Julia Randerson, and team Wellington Black, won the finals of the NZIER NZ Schools Debating Championships 2021. Julia was subsequently named in the line up for the NZ Schools’ Debating Championships, an achievement that recognises Julia as one of the top 5 debaters in the country. Julia’s selection and success were later featured in Stuff. 
  • Over Queen’s Birthday weekend WHS students took five prestigious prizes awarded in the Manawatu Jazz Festival competition. 
    • Best Piano player: Nico Buhne
    • Best Trumpet player: Miro Holland
    • Best Bass player: Max Ware
    • Best Drummer: Harry Lentell
    • Best Combo (Small group): Mel Stevens (Louis Holland and Jack Harris)
  • Brooke McCloy was selected for the National Shakespeare Schools Production 2021: one of 48 students across New Zealand to be called up
  • Year 12, Mira Patel, was selected as a finalist in the Capital Magazine Youth Photographer of the Year 2021. Her work formed part of the finalists’ exhibition at Te AuaHa in July.
  • The work of three groups of students was featured in the Show Quest Toi Wearable art competition. Tulip Kumar and Bailey Irwin (design Piwakawaka); April Marshall and Zazie Taylor (design Current Affairs); Mika Coe, Vita Lawson, Millie Crowe and Eleanor Thomas Moore (design Out of the Box) were all featured. Mika, Vita, Millie and Eleanor won the Showstopper Outfit of the performance with their design, Out of the Box.
  • Sylvie Blake-O’Brien, Owen Jones and Sophie Jackson competed in the National Secondary Schools cooking challenge, all receiving silver medals. 
  • In the Central Zone Secondary School Cup and Championship, Junior Girls and Junior Open teams qualified for Nationals by finishing 5th in their grades. The Senior Open team came 3rd, winning the bronze medal and beating some outstanding teams to do so. 6 of the senior boys and 3 of the senior girls were chosen as trialists for the U18 Central Zone representative teams.

Term 3

  • He Kākano TA Rebecca Heath was selected for the Special Olympics and featured in an NZ Herald article. 
  • Alumni Josh Junior (sailing) and Anton Down-Jenkins (diving) competed at the Tokyo Olympics. Josh finished 5th in the final of the last ever Olympic sailing Finn class competition. Anton finished 8th in the final of the men’s 3m springboard.
  • Seth Mitchell-Webster(Year 13) and Caleb Ling (Year 9) competed in the NZ Futsal finals. Seth competed for the U19s and won the golden gloves award; Caleb played for the U14 boys. Caleb’s team placed 2nd and he was named MVP.
  • Year 10 Charlie Chen competed in the online International Young Naturalists’ Tournament which was held virtually in 2021. The team won silver medals. 
  • Jasper Barkett-Greenberg (Year 10) travelled to Bilund, Denmark to participate in the first ever Children’s General Assembly. The assembly is constructed to mirror the UN General Assembly.
  • Mia Pethig was selected by World Vision as one of the top 2021 40 hour famine fundraisers. 
  • WHS dominated the NIWA Science and Technology fair with Year 13 Students Luke Weston and Ryan Bright placed first and second in the senior category (class 5) in this year’s fair held virtually on September 25th. Alex Buyck and Alexa Lee were also entered in class 5 and received Highly Commended certificates for their work. In Class 4 (Year 10), Aiden Scott received the Antarctic Society prize while Charlie Chen placed second. Luke and Ryan were also awarded special prizes, with Luke’s including a $5000 scholarship to study at Victoria University.

Term 4

  • The following students from your school were offered a Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington School Leaver Scholarship for 2022:
  • Tangiwai recipients:
    • Ella Bunny, Cadence Chung, Joseph Edwards, Hannah Elzenaar, Sadie Galloway, Carlo Gamble, Claire Lynch, Dan Moskovitz, Ursula Palmer Steeds, Lewis Thomson
  • Totoweka recipients:
    • Nico Maiden, Emily Rutledge, Luke Wakeling
  • Brooke McCloy was selected as a member of the SGCNZ Young Shakespeare Company 2022 and will have the amazing opportunity to perform for the public on the Globe stage.
  • In the EPro8 tournament, The Mortal Engineers (Anna Briscoe, Ollie Butcher, Walt Payne, Jussa Aschenberger) won 3rd place and progressed to the finals; Your Average Psychopaths (Toby Page, Rune Nicholson, Marissa Burnette, Harry Shallcrass) came in 1st and also progressed to the finals.
  • Netball coach and TA Joe Sione and coach Darrell Doig were recognised at the Netball Wellington Centre’s special awards for 2021. Joe received the Coach of the Year – Developing Players award with Darrell receiving a special mention. Darrell was also joint winner of the Volunteer of the year award.
  • Monty O’Rielly (Year 12) and Cadence Chung (Year 13) were both shortlisted for the annual Katherine Mansfield short story award. The award was judged, via Zoom, by Stella Beautrais (the winner of the 2021 Ockham Book Awards). WHS was the only school with two finalists, congratulations to Cadence – the 2021 Katherine Mansfield Writing Award winner.
  • Wellington United’s sportsperson of the year was WHS’s own talented footballer and Spanish teacher, Carlos Junca.
  • Year 9 WHS student Io Arnold-Clark (9ASN) competed in the Climbing NZ National Bouldering Championships, held in Queenstown over two days at the end of October. They came first in the Youth B (U16) age category. 
  • Several WHS students have received the Tutor award in their courses at Whitireia. Congratulations to Matt Hirst (Outstanding Attendance for Cooking Café Service), Ethan Johnston (Outstanding Attitude, Achievement, and Attendance for Engineering & Automotive), Kester Walker-Love (Superb Attendance and Engagement for Construction Mixed Trades), Sasha Piper (Most Outstanding Student for Salon Environment), Flynn Bell (Outstanding Attitude, Achievement and Attendance for Animal Care), and Manoj Patel (Outstanding Attitude, Achievement and Attendance for Engineering & Automotive).
  • Year 9 Lias Morris came 2= in the National Spelling Bee final.

Achievements 2011-2020

Achievements 2004-2010