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

Welink

Issue 3, Pipiri / June 2021

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 katoa,

It is now two years since we moved into Matairangi, however, the site development has not stopped. Those of you who have visited us recently for Learning Conferences or the Food Fair may have noticed that Ahumairangi has been scaffolded and wrapped in plastic for some time now. We are excited to be engaging with the Ministry of Education and Architects to redesign the interior of the space to facilitate Science and Materials Technology teaching. This represents a move towards providing quality innovative teaching and learning environments for our students in these learning areas. We are hoping that this work will be completed part way through 2022. We are also looking forward to hosting Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson in July and giving him a tour of our site and ongoing property projects.

It was exciting to be able to hold the Food Fair again this year after a COVID hiatus in 2020. It is always wonderful to see the wider community come into school and for students, staff and whānau to connect together over kai.

The combined Wellington East and Rongotai Kapa Haka group are now practising hard for the regional competition in July, with Noho Marae being held at school over several weekends to facilitate this. Thank you to all the whānau and staff who are supporting our students as they prepare for the competition.

The start of the term saw us holding a Pōwhiri to welcome Melissa Denzler to Wellington East as Deputy Principal with responsibility for pastoral care. Melissa comes to us from Wellington Girls’ College where she has had significant experience in the area of student wellbeing.

There have been some other changes to staffing this term:

Mike Brady has joined us as a teacher in the English Department

Zane Goodridge has resigned and leaves us this term

Sarah Joyes is on maternity leave from April

Vanessa Madhar who leaves us this term

Ngā mihi nui

Gael Ashworth, Principal

Board of Trustees

Kia ora koutou

The Board is delighted that Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson has accepted our invitation to visit the school in July to see the building work that we have in progress, and discuss the short and medium term plan for additional work across the school. As a Board we are clear that we need a holistic approach to this build programme. For some time now, Year groups have experienced their entire college years navigating a construction site, and teachers who continue to combat the challenges of teaching in temporary classrooms and sub-optimal spaces. We appreciate we are not the only school in Wellington with these challenges, and we have been fortunate to benefit from the build of Matairangi, which has transformed the main hub of the school. And still, there is much building work to be done and progress to be made, and we will continue to advocate strongly for this work to be completed.

As we enter the winter months, the COVID vaccination programme opens up to the wider population. While our tamariki and rangatahi are not a priority for the vaccination programme, parents and wider whānau are. We encourage all whānau to receive their vaccinations to support the wellbeing of our community.

Ngā mihi nui

Jo Lambert, Chair

Please see the Student Calendar below for student events coming up

Important changes to Account payment

Following the decision of major New Zealand banks to discontinue cheques, Wellington East Girls' College will no longer accept cheques as payment. We accept payment via the Kamar Parent Portal (Debit or Credit Card), Direct Credit into the school's bank account along with either cash, EFTPOS or Credit/Debit card at school reception or cafe.

Teacher Only Day Friday 4 June

A reminder that Wellington East Girls' College has a Teacher only day on Friday 4 June. There will be no timetabled classes, however, students will be able to work independently in the library if they choose to. Our Te Aka Class will be closed, school buses will not be running. This is a Wellington-wide day for teachers to connect through the Wellington Loop. We also have a public holiday on Monday 7 June, Queen's Birthday, and school will be closed

Wellington East Parents' Association (WEPA)

Kia ora

Towards the end of the first term we had the WEPA AGM. Reflecting on the unusual year that was 2020, we noted the financial support we provided to the school had changed slightly. With far fewer national sporting and cultural events our focus shifted towards supporting students in hardship through the breakfast club and local events. We envisage this sort of support continuing this year. At the meeting we also welcomed three new committee members: Nicola Airey, Sunjna Harduth, and Michelle Kanellis to the team.

Last week we had guest speaker Sinead Boucher at our first inspirational breakfast of 2021. Sinead is a great speaker and entertained us with inspiring tales and wonderful insight in the world of media and journalism. Huge thanks to everyone who attended and also to the dedicated group of bakers who provided delicious goodies for breakfast. We will have another one of these later in the year, so keep an eye out for further information.

Year to date we have contributed over $8000 towards various extracurricular school activities including new Poly Club uniforms, a study skills workshop by Karen Boyes, the breakfast club, an Integrated Studies camp, Geography field trips, and replacing the school BBQ. In addition, our outgoing Grants Officer, Nadine Coulter, has been successful in obtaining over $10,000 in grants for sports trips and general sports gear for the school. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Nadine for her tireless work securing grants for the school over the past 3 years. It's probably fair to say that if your teenager has been involved in any sporting or cultural groups at EAST then they will have been beneficiaries of the roughly $200,000 in funds obtained by Nadine. Big big thanks!

Whilst we we don't have any official roles vacant at present we are always keen to get new members. If this is of interest, please do join us at one of our monthly meetings. It is a great way to keep abreast of what is happening at school and support our students.

Our next meeting is Wednesday 16th June, 6pm in the staffroom.

Ma te wa

WEPA committee

Pasifika Parents' Group

Our next Pasifika Parents' meeting will be held on 14 June at 6.00pm to 7.30pm. More details on our website here Parents Groups

Whānau Tū Tāhi

Our meeting of the Whānau Tū Tāhi parents group is on Tuesday 15 June at 6.00pm , more information on our website here : Whanau or see our Calendar.

We will hold a wānanga in early Term 3 to develop a Māori graduate profile and how our students embody the school values of Aroha, Whanaungatanga, Rangatiratanga. Look out for further details or contact kelly.summ@wegc.school.nz if interested.

New Settlers' Parent Group

The New Settlers' Parents group will meet on Wednesday 9 June at 6.00pm at school. You can read about the group here : New Settlers

Attendance at school

Improving school attendance is a priority for us at WEGC because we know that students learn best when they are able to attend school regularly. Attendance is an important indicator of student wellbeing, engagement in learning, and connection to school in its own right.

We all have an important role in supporting our young people to attend school regularly. You can help ensure your young person attends school, unless there is a good reason why they cannot.

If you are having trouble getting your young person to school, please contact us - we can provide support for you.

Our WEGC Open Afternoon & Evening

Wednesday 16 June 2.00pm-4.00pm and 6.00pm-8.00pm

Our Open Afternoon/Evening is an important opportunity to see students and teachers in their classrooms. We will be asking many students to assist, so that visitors can get a real sense of what life at WEGC is like. We would appreciate your efforts to promote and talk about the school. Please spread the word to neighbours, friends, colleagues and family if you are pleased with what the college is doing for your student. Information for enrolment will be distributed to all contributing schools in the next few weeks, and is available on our website.

Our enrolment timeline :

Monday 26 July 2021 - We ask for all Year 9 applications to be received by this date

Friday 6 August 2021 - Ballot for out of zone Year 9 places

Wednesday 11 August 2021 - Parents to be notified of Year 9 ballot outcomes

Monday 16-Friday 27 August 2021 - Enrolment interviews held at Wellington East Girls' College

Wednesday 25 August 2021 - Deadline for Out of Zone Parents acceptance of Year 9 ballot places

Copies of the Prospectus are available from our website : http://www.wegc.school.nz/our-school/enrolments

Our Tuakana programme

Our Tuakana programme was featured in a recent Education Gazette / Tukutuku Kōrero - you can find out more here : https://gazette.education.govt.nz/articles/aroha-at-heart-of-tuakana-teina-programme/

School Production 2021 - Little Shop of Horrors

This year WEGC is putting on the fantastic dark comedy musical Little Shop of Horrors!

Our cast and crew have been hard at work perfecting the show and keeping the plants at bay. This will be a night to remember.

Shows are 7pm, Wednesday 30th June until Saturday 3rd July.

Opening Night Gala - Wednesday 6pm in the cafe area at WEGC. Tickets for the gala event are available as an add-on when purchasing tickets.

Big raffle prizes up for grabs, including a $500 HP laptop, food prize packs and home & living prize packs. Raffle tickets available at the school office and on the night. Raffle drawn on the 3rd July.

Book tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.co.nz/e/little-shop-of-horrors-tickets-157542563047

Our Annual Food Fair - 12 May 2021

Our annual food fair was back after last year's cancellation, and we took full advantage of the extra space using the Hall, Quad and Matairangi buildings. The weather held up and the stalls were busy, selling sweet, savoury and all sorts of food-related items, as well as raffles. Thank you to everyone who came along and enjoyed the evening.

Our food fair couldn't have happened without the kind support of our sponsors and of the amazing Student Council members led by May and Rebecca, the Parents Association, Tofoi and Liam, Alex and Clara and their Arts committee and Media committee. Thanks to Katherine Stokes, Michael Roberts, Craig McWilliam and Hwa Tan, Julie Holth, Michelle Kennedy, East Lightning and Melissa Denzler. Thank you to all the stall holders and volunteers for their support leading up to and on the day.

Readers and writers week: 17-21 May

The library prefects and committee organised a fun week to celebrate a love of reading and writing. The week started with award winning author, Whiti Hereaka who shared her journey to becoming a writer with us. Students were able to prove their superior knowledge in young adult fiction over the teachers team by taking out 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in the book quiz! Other events included taking a chance on a blind date with a book, and competing in the bookmark design and short story competitions.

Samoan Language Week : 31 May - 4 June

This week the school has been celebrating Samoan Language, with events for students including making lolly lei's and playing traditional Samoan games such as Lape, and some girls wearing their puletasi at school. We have been using our display screens to advertise events and a Samoan "Proverb of the Day"

We opened Samoan Language week here at East with Prayers and Devotions from Gabby Va'a, Faith Tautiaga Mamea and Faith Vaitogi and a speech based on the theme of the week from Cathy Aiono and Demaris Fau.

We celebrated on Monday with a morning tea with Wellington College where we had a popular Samoan Delicacy Koko Alaisa made with Samoan Koko, coconut cream, sugar and rice. We then had games, activities and performances from both schools. A great day had by all.

WEGC supporting Weltec Graduation

On Tuesday 11 May 2021 the WEGC Rāwhiti Kapa-Haka performed the formal welcoming at the Weltec Student Graduation hosted at The Michael Fowler Centre . A great opportunity for the group to perform in front of a large audience and support the Weltec graduates.

Senior Wellbeing Day

Our recent Wellbeing Day for Seniors was held in collaboration with Wellington College. Workshops were split over both campuses and students chose 3 items to attend during the day. This was the first time we collaborated with Wellington College and it was deemed to be a great success. Our students could spend time learning about subjects such as financial investing, car maintenance, first aid, or spend time on board games, reading, doing creative activities or playing various sports. There were over 100 workshops on offer to keep all our students interested. Thank you to the student leaders from both WEGC and WC who worked hard on this event.

Market Day - Year 11 students

This year's market day for Year 11 Accounting and Business students was held on Thursday 3 June at lunchtime. There was a good attendance and busy purchasing of the items on sale We had on offer cosmetics, tie dye socks, cookie mix in a jar, anklets, rings, clay dishes, hats and posters. This market day has been the culmination of months of research and product development for the students.

Speech Competition win

On Friday 14 May 2021 the annual Ngā Manu Kōrero Speech Competition was hosted at Kapiti College in Paraparaumu. WEGC were fortunate to have the following four students compete:

Te Waipiata Doyle - Junior Māori

Jade Te Hira - Junior English

Chloe Mercury - Senior Māori

Sofia-Maraea Gowans - Senior English

Sofia Maraea has won best prepared speech and impromptu speech in the Senior English section and will represent Wellington at the National competition in Palmerston North in October, Term 3.

Congratulations and well done to all the students who competed.

Duke of Edinburgh Programme

Tena koutou.

As always our Duke of Ed Award programme is busy and full of happenings.

Firstly, thank you so much to Grace Buur and Eliza Squire (Year 11 Silver Award participants) who volunteered to represent the WEGC DOE programme at the State Memorial Service for HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, held during the first week of the April school holidays. Prince Phillip’s legacy is one that has and continues to change lives and we are proud to have a thriving programme here at WEGC.

The National Award office is collating messages of condolence and/or memories of the Award into an official letter of condolence from the Award family in Aotearoa New Zealand to HM The Queen and family. If you would like to share a message of condolence, or a memory of the Award and what it means to you, you can do so here.

Continuing with formalities, four former WEGC students received their Gold Award certificates at Government House on Saturday 15 May, presented by Peter Hillary. Congratulations to Grace Gordon, Lydia Hare, Anneke Hutt and Bella Sexton. A huge amount of time, effort and perseverance goes into achieving a Gold Award so well done to all of you!

Grace also delivered the speech on behalf of the Awardees, speaking about what the Award meant to her and the opportunities it gave. Grace’s Award leaders both commented that when she started out at Bronze she was so quiet no one could hear her, so her choice to learn voice and performance skills as part of her Award journey most certainly paid off - great job Grace - you did yourself and WEGC proud.

Moving on to adventure, fifteen intrepid Year 13s recently completed the Inland Abel Tasman track for their Gold qualifying journey. From Marahau upwards to Castle Rock, Awapoto and back down to Wharararingi and Totaranui - a trip full of challenges (late ferries), excitement (water taxi rides) and views to die for! Ka pai team - you’ve knocked those adventurous journeys off!

Lastly, planning is already underway for the next round of adventurous journeys for all levels of the Award and an information letter with draft dates will be sent out in the next few weeks. In the meantime keep logging, keep smiling and keep safe.

Nga mihi nui

Deb Remacha, DOE Co-ordinator

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/.

Tips for signing up kids to social media safely

Teach the online safety basics

Make sure you’ve taught your child the online safety basics before they start using social media. Our five tips to help your child thrive online:

Keep it locked: Show your child how to set a PIN or password to protect their devices, accounts and private information
Keep it private: Make sure your child doesn’t disclose personal information like their address and that they know how to keep their profiles private
Keep it helpful: Explain to your child that what they do online leaves a digital footprint so they should think twice about what they are doing – before they do it
Keep it real: Talk to your child about how to handle approaches from strangers and why sometimes people pretend to be someone else online
Keep it friendly: Teach your child to be kind and respectful online, and to be careful talking to, or sharing information with, people they don’t know

Before letting your child get started with using social media make sure they know about the online safety basics. This should include how to create a strong password, what information to protect online (including passwords, personal information, payment details etc), as well as discussing the concept of a digital footprint.

You can help

There are ways you can help your child navigate social media. This includes:

Setting up the account together
Using your email instead of your child’s (depending on their age)
Entering their actual birthday so they’re less likely to see inappropriate content
Becoming their friend or following them
Visiting the safety centres and teaching them how to use the tools available. Start with how to block people, how to report content and how to use the privacy settings Facebook • Snapchat • Instagram •YouTube • Twitter

For more information on this, go to the Netsafe website: https://www.netsafe.org.nz/social-media-parents/

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

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.

WEGC Entertainment Books

Help us to fundraise to ensure that all East girls have access to the same opportunities.

Entertainment are offering a free upgrade from a Single City Membership to a Multi-City Membership. Anybody who purchases a $69.99 Single City Membership will be upgraded to a Multi City Membership valued at $119.99 for FREE. That is a $50 saving and access to over 10,000 offers. This is a limited offer and ends Monday, 14 June at 11.59pm NZDT, so be quick.

Receive fantastic savings while you eat, play and shop with Entertainment. Memberships are convenient, easy to use and packed full of valuable 2 for 1 and up to 50% off offers for you and your family to use over any 12-month period from activation.

Get yours today online by clicking the below link!

https://www.entertainmentbook.co.nz/orderbooks/105u644

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

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