Wellington East Girls' College / Te Kura Kōhine o te Rāwhiti o Te Upoko o Te Ika

Welink

Issue 7, Hakihea / December 2020

Welink is a newsletter produced as a link between Wellington East Girls' College and our community, and is emailed to parents and students. It contains essential information as well as news for caregivers. It is also on our website – www.wegc.school.nz. Please advise the school if you have changed your contact details, or would like to add an email address: wegc@wegc.school.nz

Principal's Message

Tēnā koutou kātoa,

We are coming to the end of the year with Senior students fully engaged in examinations. We are also closely approaching the time that we finally say farewell to our Year 13 students, students from other year levels and some staff. This year we farewell:

Ann Greenaway, Linda Todd and Margaret McLeod who are retiring from their roles as Deputy Principal, HOD English Language Learning and HOD English respectively
Brent Stewart who is leaving his role as HOD Music
Deborah Marshall who is leaving Careers and Learning Support
Michael Gates and Libby List who are leaving the English department
Michael Allsopp who is leaving us from the Maths Department
Megan Anderson who is leaving from the Health and PE department
Joanna Divett, Sophia Jasinski and Cathy Matthews who are taking leave from their positions for 2021
Fflur Morgan from her role as Literacy Co-ordinator and Teacher of Integrated Studies

Thank you all so much for your ongoing dedication and service to our students and the community.

This has been an unprecedented year and I would like to thank the students for their generosity and resilience in the face of uncertainty and the commitment of the staff who continue to make the students the focus even under the most challenging of circumstances. I would also like to thank the parents and whānau who have worked so closely with us this year to support our young people.

Have a restful Summer.

Ngā mihi nui

Gael Ashworth, Principal

Board of Trustees

Kia ora kōutou

For many of us I suspect there is a huge sense of relief that 2020 is almost at an end, and that we can look forward to a well-earned break, and hopefully a less stressful 2021. I have been amazed at the resilience of our students at WEGC this year, as well as that of all the staff - this is definitely a year that we can all chalk up to experience.

The Board would like to thank Gael and her senior team for their leadership throughout 2020. In particular we mihi Anne Greenaway who is leaving East after many years helping to guide the school in her role as Deputy Principal.

How ever you will be spending the (hopefully) sunny weeks ahead, I wish you all a relaxing break from the school routine, full of kindness.

Ngā mihi nui

Jo Lambert, Chair

Please see the Student Calendar below for student events

Wellington East Parents' Association (WEPA)

Kia ora kotou,

This will be the last time I write in the Welink newsletter as my youngest daughter is off to university in 2021 after enjoying the spirit of East for 5 years.

Being part of WEPA, the Parents Association, has been a rewarding experience on many levels. Being able to help in distributing funds to so many worthy endeavours undertaken by the girls, finding out so much more about what goes on at school as well as meeting a great bunch of friendly Parents. I would strongly encourage people to look into being part of WEPA in some way in the future.

We would like to thank the many people who have contributed to WEPA in 2020. Over this year alone we have distributed approximately $50,000 to school activities. This money came from Parent donations, external grants, sponsorship, and fundraising. The funds have been given out to very diverse areas, from the Breakfast Club to a new school trailer and many things in between.

We hope you have a fantastic summer break. Over this time it would be wonderful if you may consider continuing to support the school by utilising the services of some of our sponsors such as New World supermarket, The Shoe Clinic and Charles Morley-Hall of Just Paterson.

If you are interested in finding out more about WEPA please send an email to parentsassociation@wegc.school.nz

Nga mihi nui

Rochelle Kirby on behalf of WEPA

Attendance at school - Last Day 10 December 2020

Instructions for the final day of term

8.45am: Ako time - School magazine distributed, final opportunity to pay outstanding fees, return books or equipment

10.15am : Interval

10.45am : Final Assembly

11.30am : Students dismissed

Start of Year 2021

Thursday 4 February 2021: Pōwhiri for Year 9 students

Pōwhiri for Year 9 students (and other new students to the college)

Year 9’s (and Parents) meet at 9.45am in car park above Gate B (Heritage Gates) on Austin Street.

Morning tea at 11.15am. Parents can leave from 11.30am

Yr9 Students will be in their Ako class for the rest of the day until 3.20pm. School buses will be running in the afternoon only.

New students who are in other year levels (Yr10-13)- after the Pōwhiri and mornng tea will meet with Deans and will be dismissed at midday.

School buses will run in the afternoon only

Friday 5 February 2021: All Yr 9 and 10 students to be at school 8.45am – 3.20pm

Year 9s report to the Sports Centre/Gym

Year 10s report to the Hall

School buses will run as normal

From Tuesday 9 February 2021 : All years 9-13 Students to be at school 8.45am - 3.20pm

Years 11-13: Report to the Hall at 8.45am for assembly. Class lists will be read

Year 9 & 10: Report to Ako Classes at 8.45am

School buses will run as normal

School Stationery 2021

Wellington East Girls' College Stationery lists are available on the WEGC website over the holiday period, the link is here. There is also an option to purchase online directly from Office Max on myschool.co.nz. This year OfficeMax have introduced Laybuy*, so you can pay in 6 weekly, interest-free instalments - and still get your order right away. Or you can pay by internet banking, credit card or debit card.

When you shop on myschool.co.nz you’ll receive free delivery on orders over $46*. You will also help our school earn school rewards* that we use to purchase much needed extra resources for our school. You can also call them on 0800 724 440 Mon to Fri, 8.30am – 5pm.

* Terms & Conditions apply, see myschool.co.nz for details.

-R: Paradise and Sofia-Maraea Head Prefects 2021

Our 2021 Prefects

Congratulations to our new prefects for next year - see the full list of prefects below :

Head Prefects :

Sofia-Maraea Gowans and Paradise Lesatele

Arts :

Clara Lindsay and Alexx Phelps

Charities :

Macy Hare and Kelly Ngan

Cultural :

Shanaya Kumar and Charmaine Poutoa

Environmental :

Saskia Cosgrove-Drayton and Natalie Guldborg

Events :

Ally Andrews-McCaulay and Izzy Gilmore

Houses :

Edgar - Miron Girmay

Sheppard - Sylvie Kynaston

Cooper - Issy Peet

Tirikatene - Lily Rapson

International Student Support :

Khanh Kim Le

Library :

Anoushey Khan

Manakura Kapa Haka :

Jane Minarapa and Rhiannon Riwai

Manakura Māori :

Veava-Mei Hammond, and Chloe Mercury

Media :

Eva Juriss and Hariklia Nicola

Music :

Tofoi Sio and Liam Young

Peer Tutor :

Amy King and Kajol Patel

School Council :

Rebecca Hutt and Maya Rush-Dunn

Sports :

Hinetekawa Thomson-Laulu and Hannah Geale

Te Aka :

Nikhita Riches and Emily O'Connor

Technology :

Lia McCallum and Leila Paul

Tuakana :

Ibanez Tiaki, Lesieli Katoa and Dimitra Araboglos

Wellbeing :

Renee Simpson

Our School Houses - Name change for 2021

Demi Soulis and Mani McDougall, our 2020 School Council Prefects, initiated a discussion and vote around the House names we use at Wellington East Girls' College. Historically there were six school houses named after Governor-Generals of New Zealand : Jellicoe, Bledisloe, Onslow, Fergusson, Cobham and Freyberg. Eventually we ended up with the four school houses and colours: Onslow - Blue, Jellicoe - Green, Ferguson - Yellow , and Bledisloe - Red.

At the beginning of this year, the School Council gauged student interest in changing the name of our school house through videos and voting forms, and received positive feedback. From there they took the proposal to the Board who agreed to the name change for the School houses. There was a criteria of who we would name the Houses after : they should be women, have a variety of achievements and contributions, and a variety of ethnicities, be deceased and that their names would fit as a House name and chants. We had a shortlist after consulting with Whaea Keta, as well as our community, focus groups, old girls, and WEPA etc and then we voted school-wide in October for the final decision. We will be using these house names from 2021.

Our new school houses are :

Kate Edger, First NZ woman graduate in NZ

Whetu Tirikatene-Sullivan - MP and fashion designer (and ex-WEGC Prefect)

Dame Whina Cooper - activist, historian

Kate Sheppard - women’s suffrage activist

Kate Sheppard (Was Onslow - Blue)

Whetu Tirikatene-Sullivan (Was Bledisloe - Red)

Kate Edger (was Jellicoe - Green)

Dame Whina Cooper (was Fergusson - Yellow)

Junior Health Curriculum Consultation

As part of our ongoing review process, it is important that we consult with the community to evaluate the relevance and effectiveness of the Wellington East Girls' College Junior Health programme. We value your feedback in the hope to be able to deliver a sound programme that meets the needs of our ākonga.

We appreciate your time to complete the survey below:

https://forms.gle/dgFz7gZWsgRTVsNbA

Link to the Junior Health Curriculum information

Junior Wellbeing Day

The Junior Wellbeing Day this year was held 13 November for the Year 9 and 10 Students. The focus this year is around our school values and having fun:

Aroha: Being patient and kind and showing empathy

Whanaungatanga: Feeling a sense of belonging

Rangatiratanga: Unifying our students in meaningful ways

We held three workshops of 90 mins where students chose activities for the day which were run by staff. The mix was varied and we had Dance, Netball, Swimming, Beeswax wrap making, Yoga, Reading for Fun, Build your own Pizza, Majong, Knitting, Young Scientists, Chess, Zine Making, The Chase Quiz and Board Games among others.

Year 9 Food Technology: Cupcake Competition

On Friday 27 November, all Year 9 Food Technology classes competed to bake and decorate the best cupcake. They were judged by Vicky Young, pastry chef with Jana Bistro, as well as teachers Gabe Chambers and Michelle Kennedy. The winner was Saana with her rose cupcakes.

Cyber Safety: Netsafe Tips

As part of a school-wide approach to cyber-safety, we are going to be posting one tip per newsletter on how you can support your child to be safe online. For more in-depth information, please visit Netsafe’s advice for parents at https://www.netsafe.org.nz/online-safety-parent-toolkit/.

Five tips to help manage screen time

Some tips to help you manage screen time over the summer break and beyond, from Netsafe

1. Understand what they’re doing: Talk to your young person about what they’re using digital technology for, so you have a better understanding of how they’re spending their time. Are they using the internet to learn? To communicate and create friendships with others? To create music or videos?

2. Help them to self-manage screen time: As children get older it’s important to teach them how to manage their own screen time. You can start this by talking to them about their time online and how to manage it. Some questions you could ask are:

How much time do you think you spend online in a day?
How can you tell when you’ve been online too long? (E.g. phone starts getting hot, eyes get sore or tired, start to feel unproductive or mood starts to change)
How do you feel when you spend too much time online?
What are the different ways you could manage your time online? (See our managing time online advice for tips)

Some social media platforms have tools to help you keep track of how much time you’re spending online and allow you to set up an alarm to notify you once you’ve spent a certain amount of time online. For Instagram, go to “Settings” and then select “Your activity”. On Facebook, this is under “Settings & Privacy” and then select “Your time on Facebook”. There are also phone settings and other apps that help you manage your time online too.

3. Set boundaries: Younger children will generally need more boundaries for spending time online, whereas teens will need more education to help them manage their own time. Parenting has always involved setting boundaries and explaining the responsibilities and expectations a family has for their children – just like you do when it comes to bedtimes, chores or or learning to drive.

Set boundaries when a child gets their first device means it becomes normal for internet time to be limited in your household and less difficult to enforce later on.
If your child has already been using devices for some time, an open discussion around any changes is a good idea to help them understand your motives.
Parents should also model good behaviour around screen time.

4. Technological solutions: For younger children, internet content filtering tools and safe search settings can be a good way to prevent them stumbling across unsuitable adult content and restrict the amount of time they can spend on devices. It gets harder to implement filters and restrictions as children grow up, but families can explore a range of options that include:

Restrictions at the router or modem level to limit the time online through device ‘scheduling’ settings or a service like OpenDNS
Routinely changing the Wi-Fi password and only giving access once chores or homework are completed

5. Is your child spending too much time online? If the time your child is spending online is having a negative effect on other areas of their development, it’s important to look at their internet use. Some of the questions for you to think about include:

Is excessive internet use affecting their sleep or the quality of their schoolwork?
Has their behaviour changed? Do they become angry or even aggressive if you try to limit their time online?
Are they spending so much time online that other hobbies are becoming less important?

If your children take their phone to bed with them to ensure they can keep communicating with friends late into the night, this can lead to disrupted sleep and leave your children tired, grumpy, keen to skip school or have an impact on their learning..

For more advice on this, see Netsafe: https://www.netsafe.org.nz/screen-time/

Digital news : Victoria University Programming Competition

Year 10 students Grace Buur, Amelie Chow Worn, Neve McCarthy, and Morgan Chong-Arkell competed as two teams in a programming competition at Victoria University recently.

Aleisha Amohia, a former student at Wellington East Girls College, spoke to the attendees about her path from school through University to a Career in IT working for Catalyst New Zealand. The programming language used in the competition was Python, and our students were very successful in taking out first and second places. Well done.

Careers Department digital info

Our school is now using Career Central to assist with delivering quality career education to our students. Career Central allows us to provide personalised career planning for every student as well as allowing the school to keep track of and manage student's career interests and intentions.

Students & caregivers can log in at cc.school.nz

They will be asked to think about their skills, interests, values, and goals. Students can search for job information (including any subjects they might need to take at school) and save any jobs that interest them. The job pages also contain interesting videos and links to job vacancies on TradeMe. Career Central includes a course finder so students can browse for and save tertiary courses that interest them and get further information about what is required. The programme also includes a CV builder, career assessments, links to other useful websites and the ability to have their employability skills endorsed by staff.

We all know the world of work is changing and young people today will not only change jobs more frequently, but they will also have jobs that don't yet exist. Our goal is to equip students with an understanding of the skills they have, a belief that they can develop new skills and an understanding of the portable or transferable nature of their skills so that they can manage their careers and make informed career decisions throughout their lives.

As parents and caregivers, you have a major influence on a young person's decisions. The links below provide tips and suggestions for assisting young people with study and career decisions.

If you have any questions about career education in general or Career Central please don't hesitate to contact Cathy.matthews@wegc.school.nz

International Students

The end of this year marks the end of long and shorter study periods by a number of international students. These students have been with us through the NZ Covid journey, a lockdown with a host family and online learning alongside Kiwi kids. We are really proud of how well they have handled the ups and downs of this year. In total 8 students return to their home countries before the end of this year. Some have to wait for repatriation flights, others have to fly to a main airport and bus to their city. Chinese students need to return two negative covid tests, signed off by their Embassy, within 48 hours of flying. Others need health certificates stamped and approved by their Embassy. We wish them all very well on their journey home and know that they leave with very fond memories of Wellington East Girls' College - with thanks to staff, students and caring host families.

A group of students will remain in New Zealand through the summer break and into school again next year. Their wish to study with us long term means that until our borders re-open they must remain in New Zealand. They will join their host families for a New Zealand Christmas and some will travel around the country for the first time. These brave few may not see their family for nearly two years so we take extra care with them, maintaining regular contact and taking them on a few local adventures.

We all enjoyed a late lunch in town to mark the end of the school year and the end of study for our students.

Year 13 Leavers Event 2020

This year the Leavers' event was held at school, with drinks and nibbles in the Quad, so that parents and students could mingle, before moving into the Hall for leaving speeches from students and Ako teachers. This was a chance for parents and students to say goodbye to East after 5 years association with the school. Many thanks to our Hospitality Department who catered the event and to all involved organising it. The Events Prefects Ella Russell and Emma Cody MC'd the speeches, our Head Prefects, Lorna Hallett and Sophie Irving gave their last speech as Prefects, and each Ako Captain and deputies thanked their Ako Teacher and spoke about the experiences of the previous five years. The Year 13 Dean Ms Kennedy, was thanked by the leaving students, and the school song and Tara our mascot featured in the evening.

He Huarahi Tamariki Students' Prize Giving

Wellington East is the host school for the He Huarahi Tamariki Teen parent unit based in Tawa, and each year their prize giving involves WEGC Principal Gael Ashworth as a speaker and guest. The prize giving is a celebration of the successes and resilience of the students, and this year included their experiences of Lockdown, while studying and looking after babies and toddlers. Present students celebrated gaining NCEA credits and levels, while graduates this year are going on to further study such as Law at Victoria University, Management at NZ School of Tourism, IT Studies at Whitireia, Nursing at Whitireia, or entering the workforce.

L: Paula Hay, Kaiārahi HHT and Hinehou Mason, Graduate HHT

Staff Children's Christmas Party

We recently began a new tradition of holding a Christmas Party for the children of our staff. This year the event was held 2 December after school, and attended by Santa who distributed presents to each child. We then enjoyed party food and drinks before playing in the Te Aka unit, until it was time to go home. Thanks Santa Elkin and Fairy Lampitt for your help with this event.

Te Aka Camp December 2020

Huge thanks to Leonie King who has volunteered her time to organise a fabulous camp for Te Aka students. For three nights and four days a group of 20 were adventuring at Raurimu, Blue Mountain Adventure Centre. We rock climbed, rafted, went to the hot pools, had camp fires and walked up Mt Ruapehu.

It was great to have Anastasia Reid (year 12), and two WEGC graduates, Shannon Palmer and Lydia Hare (now Te Aka Teacher Aides), on the team.

The camp was funded by some generous individual donations and a grant from the Infinity Trust. Thanks to Nadine Coulter for her work in securing the grant for us.

This camp was an Adventurous Journey for the Duke of Edinburgh Award.

During the camp Lydia Hare made a fantastic video of the event, which you can watch here

Ex-WEGC student Mary Holm honoured in Queens Birthday 2020 List

In the 2020 Queen’s Birthday Honours, one of our alumni, Mary Holm was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM), for services to financial literacy education.

From our school records we can see that she was one of 5 students who won a university Bursary with an A pass mark in her final year, was active in school life as the House Captain of the now defunct Cobham House, and Editor of the School Magazine that year for which she won a prize in Literary work. She was also involved in the Senior Drama club, and President of the Tramping club. After leaving Wellington East Girls College, Mary went on to study at Victoria University where she gained a BA in Economic History. She has also studied in the US for an MA in Journalism at the University of Michigan, and for an MBA in Finance at the University of Chicago. Now an award-winning columnist, Mary writes a Q&A personal finance column in the Weekend Herald. and on National Radio.

Mary was the founding director of the Financial Markets Authority, and director of the Banking Ombudsman Scheme. She has worked on advisory groups and government bodies responsible for finance, investment literacy. Mary is the author of six books, four of which have been on the NZ bestseller list.

https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/audio/mary-holm-a-career-trying-to-simplify-money/

Magazine committee, Mary Holm, (ONZM) as Editor, centre front row

Calling all WEGC Alumni

We want to hear from you.... wegc@wegc.school.nz

Did you attend East, or do you know students who attended ?

Send us an email, we are always happy to connect with our ex students

Congratulations to our finalists and winners at the College Sport Wellington SPOTY 2020 Award

Congratulations the College is very proud of you all.

It is amazing to be named a finalist and then to win your respective sport is something to be really proud of. It was a great night for the WEGC girls:

Winners:

Amy Walker -Cross Country

Hannah Bertschinger - Floorball

Sophie Irving - Swimmer

Mei Mun Teh - Table Tennis

Bailey Reddish - Waterpolo

Bailey was also named as a worthy finalist in the supreme award.

Finalists:

Amy Walker - Athletics

Alice Zheng - Badminton

Phoenix Patea - Basketball

Caitlin Bassett - Cross Country

Sammi Preval - Futsal

Erin Huang - Table Tennis

Matahi Pott- Underwater Hockey

Voldi SImi - Male Coach

Thank you from WEGC School Sport

What a year – like no other! Who would have thought at the start of Term 1 we were in for the ride that was 2020? Despite having so much school sport interrupted, we are really proud of everyone who worked so hard to make sure that wherever possible our students had opportunities to pull on their school colours and represent our school with pride.

Thank you to our parents, to our Principal and to our community for going the extra mile to help reinvent school sport this year.

Let's hope 2021 sees a return to planned activities, and in readiness for that we wish you all a safe and restful break with family and friends.

Thanks also to the following organisations and people who have generously supported the Sports Department in 2020:

WEGC Parents Association
NZ Community Trust
Infinity
Sport Wellington
One Foundation
Nadine Coulter/WEGC Grants Officer

Sports Registrations 2021 online

The 2021 sport Registrations will open Friday 1 January 2021 and will close Friday 5 February 2021

To register go to https://sites.google.com/view/wegc-sport/home

Important Information about playing sport for WEGC

The most important thing to remember when registering for sport is that once you are signed up you are expected to be committed to the sport and attend all practices and games. If you cannot guarantee to do that, PLEASE DO NOT sign up or attend the trial(s)
Remember you may choose more than one activity per season (although we do not recommend more than two). Look at the season commitment required for each sport carefully. Some activities last all year others are for a short period of time.
Do not select more than one sport where the games are played on the same day
If you are unsure of anything, check with the Sports Director or Sport Prefects before you sign up, so that you know exactly what you have committed yourself to.
Go to the trials and do your best. Remember to enjoy yourself.
After the trials teams will be listed on the sports notice board, an email will also be sent out with information for each sport.

Sport Uniforms

Reminder that Sports uniforms are now overdue. Those not returned will be charged.

Events coming up for WEGC Sports Teams

Friday 11 December - Sunday 13 December - NZSS Athletic Championships in Tauranga
Friday 1 January 2021 - Friday 5 February 2021 - WEGC Sport Registration
Thursday 25 February 2021 - WEGC Athletic Carnival
Thursday 4 March 2021 - Girls Zone Athletics
Sunday 7 March 2021 - Dragon Boating
Thursday 11 March 2021 - Regional Athletics

Sports at East

You can find information on all sports offered at East, as well as our latest achievements - the link is here and is also on our school website. You can also check out Instagram and Facebook pages for WEGC Sport at @wegcsport

www.facebook.com/wegcsport/

Entertainment Book 2021

Celebrate the summer season by discovering the local gems in your own backyard. Our new campaign celebrates the warmer weather and longer days by encouraging you to enjoy dining local, while also saving on great activities right at your doorstep!

With a number of travel restrictions still in play, this is a wonderful time to get out and about in your city and support local businesses. You’ll find a number of dining options to suit all tastes as well as fun family activities and shopping experiences. 20% of each Membership sales goes directly to supporting Wellington East Girls’ College to help us ensure that all East girls have access to the same opportunities.

Entertainment memberships are now completely digital, with three new digital memberships. Entertainment Memberships can start anytime and are packed with thousands of substantial savings. You can purchase your Membership here https://www.entertainmentbook.co.nz/orderbooks/105u644

Ways to help - Fundraising for WEGC:

When you are shopping at Wellington City New World:

Have your docket stamped at the time of purchase by a checkout Supervisor
Deposit your docket in the East drop box provided in the main entrance of New World.
Duplicate receipts can be requested, at time of purchase, if the original is required.

Every time you purchase products from New World Wellington City, they will pay the school 1.5% pa of the total $ sales value.

Welink Newsletter : Wellington East Girls' College, Austin Street, Mt Victoria 6011, Ph 385 8514, www.wegc.school.nz

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