I think I can speak for all (staff and students) when I say that we are looking forward to a break. Some time to refresh, recharge and get ready for what the rest of the year is going to offer.
Term 2 has provided us with memorable Shakespeare Society performances, outdoor education tramps, winter sports, the tough guy/gal challenge, readers cup, pathways evenings, professional learning for staff on two teacher only days mid-term, manu kōrero, drama productions, parent evenings, another memorable music evening, King Kapisi, Toi Māori wānanga, Matariki, rockquest heats and regional finals, Big Sing regionals, the Manawatu jazz festival, STEMM student challenges, and, of course our open evening!
This term, our students have achieved in a wide range of areas outside their classroom pursuits. If you are a regular reader of our weekly wrap ups you will already be familiar with the list of achievements below. The breadth of achievement always amazes me and I commented on this at our open evening this term. This term:
- Iris Guilleminot, Toby Page, Marissa Burnette and Luka Scott (all year 13) won the senior division of the STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Manufacturing) student challenge,
- Evie Patterson was selected to play double bass for the New Zealand Youth Orchestra and, in her spare time, also wrote a lovely arrangement for the big band for the music evening,
- Alex Berry, Toby Connor-Kebbell, Theo Keith and Maxwell Robati (all year 12) took out the Ultimate Winner trophy at the CrisisLabs challenge 2024 – CrisisLabs offers students the chance to design a system that detects, monitors and notifies the community about a specific natural disaster – in 2024 the challenge was tsunami detection,
- Our Year 9 Readers Cup quiz team ‘Booked Out’ (Cody Dalzell, Izzy Zajac, Lorna Clarke, Neve Phillips-McLean and Piper Barnes) competed against other local schools, placing a respectable 5th,
- Kade Leogreen and Nate Hough (both year 13) were awarded a certificate of commitment and achievement in the Strengthening Democracy Project 2024,
- Rosa Bingham (year 13) represented WHS at the Waikato University climate ambassador programme,
- At the Manawatu Jazz festival, Perry Joe (Year 12) came away with the best pianist award, Miro Holland (Year 13) won the innovation award for his original combo composition and the WHS Big Band took the prize for best Jazz band in the festival for the second year in a row,
- Our choir took part in the Big Sing for the first time,
- Ivan Purdy (year 12) clinched an impressive 3rd place in the Tough Guy / Tough Girl Mud Run,
- Lias Morris (year 13) was selected for the NZ Secondary Students’ Choir, and is currently with the choir en route to tour in China,
- Felix McDougall (year 11) will be competing in the World Choir games in Auckland as a result of his selection to the NZ Academy Choir,
- Maddy Murdoch (year 13) is travelling to Malaysia over the break to vice captain the NZ U19 Underwater Hockey team,
- And finally, so many students are competing in winter sports and, in particular, our girls are playing in the premier competition for football, and in the collegiate grade for netball for the first time I can remember.
In addition to the achievements of our current students, we have noticed the achievements of some of our more recent alumni. This term:
- Vera Ellen (2012) won the prestigious Taite music prize in 2024,
- Gabriel Sloane-Rodrigues (2023) made his A-League debut for Wellington Phoenix as the club’s youngest ever player, signing a three year contract with the team,
- Joshua Toumu’a (2023) and Nadezhda Macey (2020) were published in the online literary journal Starling which showcases the best poetry and prose from young New Zealanders,
- Cadence Chung’s play Hector ran for a short season at BATs – the first production from Hebe Productions, a company formed by Cadence, Lewis Thomson and Hazel Perigo-Blackburn, all WHS alumni from 2021,
- Myele Manzana (2005) was awarded the Tui for Te Manu Taki Tautito o te Tau | Best Jazz Artist in May 2024 at the Aotearoa Music Awards.
At our open evening, I read a completely different list of achievements from 2023 which are indicative of the opportunities that our school provides for our young people and I am really proud of these opportunities. I’m sure we share the same wish for our students to be able to find their passion. To this end we encourage our students to:
- Enter film competitions,
- Enter short story competitions such as the Katherine Mansfield short story competition,
- Enter poetry competitions
- Enter the NIWA Science fair,
- Enter the EPro8 challenge, an interschool Engineering and Science competition,
- Join a creative writing club or contribute to our own online hub of creative writing – avocado press
- Enter our own blank canvas art exhibition open to staff and students,
- Form a musical group and play at one of our music evenings or join the big band, chamber music ensemble, choir, junior jazz, samba band, string ensemble, wind/brass ensemble, or the year 9 rock band,
- Sign up for the Shakespeare Society’s annual play – the Shakespeare Society is a totally student run and student led society that celebrated its 33rd birthday this year,
- Form or join one of the many clubs such as bridge club, calm collective, chess, classics, coding, competitive video games, crisis lab challenge, Duke of Edinburgh, Dungeons and dragons, El club de espanol, Feminist club, Japan kurabu, junior maths enrichment, lunchtime games, miniature model club, neurodiversity club, photo factory, philosophy club, poetry club, Roots and Shoots (our environmental club), Sheilah Winn club, student librarians, table talks, Tech team, 3D printing, UltraViolet (LGBTQI+), WOW club, world scholars cup, and zine club,
- Be one of our debaters
- Be involved in Kapahaka
- Join a sporting team from the wide range of sports we offer such as badminton, basketball, bowls, cricket, dragon boating, esport, floorball, football, futsal, golf, hockey, netball, squash, table tennis, tennis, ultimate frisbee, underwater hockey, volleyball, waka ama, water polo plus activities such as mountain biking, rock climbing and tramping,
- Join or lead other students in the 40 hour famine, Relay for life, blood drive, Amnesty International, or Model UN.
We also want our young people to enjoy what they do having success with a smile on their face. Ralph Waldo Emerson’s version of success is:
“… to laugh often and much; … to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate the beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better …; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived …”
I hope you are able to spend some quality time with your young person over the term break. We look forward to seeing them next term.
Ngā mihi nui
Dominic Killalea
Principal