Wellington East Girls' College / Te Kura Kōhine o te Rāwhiti o Te Upoko o Te Ika
Welink
Issue 4, Hōngongoi /July 2024
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 have reached the end of a very busy term 2, which we capped off by celebrating Matariki with a Hautapu ceremony held at school at dawn on Friday morning, following an overnight noho. This was a community event, and we were delighted to host staff and students from local schools, and then participate in a breakfast together.
Earlier this term we hosted our Open Day and Evening for prospective Year 8 students and their families. This was a well attended event and a fantastic opportunity to showcase our school and the learning opportunities for students who choose to come here. We are proud of our Yr 9 and 13 students who escorted families on tours around the school and are such positive ambassadors of our school.
Our Poly Group is currently preparing for Tu Tagata which will be held next term. They have been practising tirelessly and have been well supported by the student leaders, staff and families. Last night they performed their bracket for families at the Fa’aliga event. Thank you to the Pasifika Community who provided positive and informative feedback to the students which will continue to develop their performance and support their progress.
I hope everyone manages to take time to rest and focus on their wellbeing over the next two weeks. Look forward to seeing you in Term 3.
Ngā mihi nui
Gael Ashworth
Principal
Please see the Student Calendar below for student events coming up
This info is also on the front page of our website www.wegc.school.nz
Coming up :
5 July Last day of Term 2
6 July Cycling, Road Championships
9 July Cycling, Road Championships
21 July Cycling, Cycle Cross
22 July Start of Term 3
23 July Poly Group Full Day practice
24 July Deadline for Out of Zone Enrolments to WEGC
25 July Swimming, NZSS Individual Championships Auckland
26 July Tu Tagata Event
27 Sept Last Day of Term 3
Term Dates 2024
Term 1 - 1/2 February to 12 April
Term 2 - 29 April to 5 July
Term 3 - 22 July to 27 September
Term 4 - 14 October to 13 December
See our website for more information - link is here
School Day
Starts at 8.45am (Monday 9.00am)
Interval at 10.00am (Mon and Friday)
Interval at 10.20am (Tues, Wed, Thurs)
Lunch at 1.15pm - 2.05pm (Friday 12:20pm-1.05pm)
End at 3.20pm (Friday 2.30pm)
School Office
School phone number: 04 385 8514
School email address : wegc@wegc.school.nz
School website : www.wegc.school.nz
Kia ora whānau,
The parent's association would like to wish all whanau Mānawatia a Matariki — Happy Māori New Year! The parent’s association (WEPA) consists of caregivers who support the school community by contributing to events and activities throughout the year and look forward to seeing you and your whanau at the Matariki Festivities at school this week.
We currently meet monthly with Gael Ashworth, the Principal, and are looking for whānau to join our committee. So if you would like to know more about the school and how you can help, please come to our next meeting on Wednesday the 24th of July, in the school staffroom at 6 pm. We are also planning a movie fundraiser in term three and hope to meet some new and old faces.
We look forward to meeting you, and thanks to all whānau who continue to support us. Please feel free to contact us at parents@wegc.school.nz, we welcome any inquiries or suggestions for this coming year.
Take care and all the best,
Ngā mihi,
Sunjuna
WEGC Parents Association Wellington East Girls' College
Te Kura Kōhine o te Rāwhiti o Te Upoko o Te Ika
Matariki at WEGC
The Hautapu ceremony at Wellington East Girls' College at dawn on Friday, 5 July, celebrated Matariki, the Māori New Year. This event honoured the Matariki star cluster's rise, marking a time of reflection, renewal, and connection with ancestors. Students and staff, along with the Rāwhiti community, participated in a traditional ritual, including offerings of food to the stars, known as hautapu, to express gratitude and hope for the future. The ceremony also featured cultural performances and storytelling from Rāwhiti Kapa haka, fostering a deeper understanding and appreciation of Māori culture and traditions. This celebration aimed to strengthen community bonds and promote cultural awareness within the school.
WEGC Community week
As part of the amazing community and sisterhood we have here at East, the prefects organised Community Week at the end of June. Community Week is all about getting involved and connecting with each other at WEGC and our wider community, appreciating your friends, staff and whanau, bringing people together, helping those in need and much more. The events included a Bake Sale, Dance Party, East Op Shop, a Tree planting on our new East link track, and finished off on Thursday with friendship bracelet making, and designing the first-ever PC4L values badge. All proceeds from these events went towards Rei kōtuku - paediatric palliative and bereavement care.
New Mt Victoria Track connecting WEGC
Our students were instigated an upgrade to an East Link track so that commuters and students from the Eastern suburbs could have an alternative walking route to the Mt Victoria tunnel. Great work by them, and have written in the WCC Newsletter Te Tou Poneke about the students and their initiative. You can read it here :
Mahinga Kai Trip to the coast
The Year 9/ 10 Maramataka course, which is a combined Science and Te Ao Māori class is learning about mahinga kai, which is traditional food gathering and care of the environment. Students are learning about a variety of types of mahinga kai - eeling, fungi, rongoā (plants as medicine), seafood and seaweed. At the beach, we gathered seaweed for our vege garden, and made pōhā, traditional food storage bags, and gathered fresh seaweed for salad.
French Language classes
Last week, Ms Moulin's classes of Year 9 and 10 students were learning about French food in the French class, and they took time out to make waffles in the Food Technology kitchen. The Year 10 French classes taught by Ms Moulin and Mrs Hunt then went out on a classroom trip to Bordeaux Bakery. This was a fantastic opportunity to speak French and to order and eat some French pâtisserie
Reader's Cup Regional win
On Monday 24 June, five of our Year 9 students participated in the Reader's Cup regional competition and managed to take home the win, making this the 5th year in a row that Wellington East Girl's College has won.
Over the past few months, the Reader's Cup team, consisting of Mackenzie Cowan, Lucy Everist, Mila Ferry-Smith, Bet Nguyen and Harvey Williams, diligently read and studied six books in preparation for this competition. These students met weekly to memorise key details about these books, led by our librarian Janine Jameson and supported by Carmen Gaffney and Isabel Baker from the English department. The team's hard work paid off, winning the regional competition with a seven-point lead.
At the end of Term 3, the Reader's Cup team will have the opportunity to travel to Auckland to participate in the national competition - congratulations on the win and good luck preparing for the next stage of the competition!
Big Sing Regionals & Chamber Music Festival
The Big Sing Regional competition was held during the week commencing 3 June, and for WEGC was such a success. We had three choirs perform, Multi Choir, Rāwhiti and, for the first time ever, a Year 9 and 10 choir, who were awesome. The Year 9 & 10 choir won an award for Best Student Directed Choir to Leilani Pedro and Katia Reid for their conducting. Rāwhiti won the Victoria University of Wellington Cup for Best Performance of New Zealand Composition or Arrangement. We now have a short wait to find out whether we get through to the next stage. A big thank you to Kathryn Hunt, Hayley Humby and Prue Dreaver-Stimpson who stepped in on the day to help cover absent staff, and also did the lighting for us for one of our pieces.
In the weekend of 8/9 June Katia Reid went to the NZ Chamber Music Festival as well as Tallulah Farrow and Nadia Thirkell. Katia’s Chamber Group "The Eastern Reeds Trio" won the NZ Double Reed Society Award, performing Cinq pièces en trio by Jacques Ibert
Market Day for Year 10
Year 10 Innovation and Enterprise held a market day in June. Market Day is the culmination of work imagining, planning, and delivering a product to market. This work is completed in business teams with students assuming the role and responsibilities of Chief Executive Officer, Finance Manager, Operations Manager, or Marketing Manager. Students gained valuable insight into innovation, business practices, the technology process and teamwork. Some great products were produced with excellent customer service provided. Well done to all.
Wheeler's Luck : A Rural Comedy
Level One and Two Drama had two fabulous nights staging Wheeler's Luck, by Nigel Collins, Toby Leach & Damon Andrews, in the drama room recently. Lots of laughs and gumboots. The play centres on a small community in New Zealand who are dealing with developers and the town mayor, who are plotting to transform the town into an exclusive and expensive resort.
Duke of Edinburgh's Hillary Award
Last term’s update was all about the large number of students (104 by memory) beginning their adventures within the Duke of Ed framework. This term is about celebrating the few that make it all the way through to completion of their Gold Award! Internationally only 1.3% of participants starting their DOE Awards actually finish Gold, and using those odds we can expect 1-2 students from each cohort/year group to achieve this. So here’s the good news….
An amazing EIGHT students received their Gold Awards at Government House on Saturday, 16 June, from Her Excellency, the Rt Hon Dame Cindy Kiro, GNZM, QSO, Governor-General of New Zealand. A huge congratulations to Brooke Assur, Hannah Bertschinger, Francesca Fagan, Maya Gallagher, Gracie Gill, Kate Johnson, Holly Minchin and Sophia Sidoruk - you are amazing! It was also super exciting to hear what everyone is doing beyond college and how much the DOE experience helped to build self confidence, tenacity and bravery - Ka pai everyone.
Congratulations also to Imogen Richards, Isabella Hargreaves and Amelia Brown who have completed their Gold Awards recently and are now awaiting their invitation to Government House - well done!
Other DOE Awards that have been completed since the last newsletter are:
Bronze: Gracie Aitken; Lucia Hay; Clara Stupples; Maggie Crocker; Iris Hall; Sophia Meech; Portia Bennett; and Molly Pearce
Silver: Kiri McNicholas; Olivia Connelly; Ella-Rose Brown; Annabel Grindell; Jarna Stewart; and Clara Thomson
Nga mihi nui
Deb Remacha
Senior Award Leader, Duke of Edinburgh’s Award
International Language Week
During this year's International Language week, held in June we celebrated languages and cultures around the world and invited students to attend activities during the week, or wear their own particular cultural attire for the week. We had Chinese gu zhen (a traditional chinese instrument) which Yoyo Zhang played for us in M16 during lunchtime. We also had language booths for Japanese, Chinese and French language students to converse with other students, and had French art in the Quad, and a lion dance in Te Aka and the Quad, as well as a cultural quiz session and a movie. The school cafe also sold special food for the week : Gratin Dauphinois-France, Pork Dumplings = China, Sushi-Japan, and Butter Chicken = India
Thought about being a host family ?
Hosting an international student is a great way to bring the world to your home. Create lifelong relationships with people around the world, earn an extra income and perhaps start a worldwide network for your children’s future OE!
If you can provide a “home away from home” for international students in New Zealand we’d love to hear from you. Please email athena.london@wegc.school.nz (she is our fantastic Homestay Co-ordinator).
From our Careers Team
Over the term all of our Year 11 students have had the chance to be inspired to think about their futures by a range of people who came into school to share about their careers.
We had doctors, dieticians, lawyers, an arborist, illustrator, architects, business owners and more, come in to share about what they do, how they got to the position they are in, and answering questions that our young people had.
Thank you to all of the guests for giving up their time and to our awesome Year 11 Dean, Mrs Hall, who did a wonderful job of MCing the events.
Te Aka Disco
Thanks to the Te Aka Prefects and committee for putting on an amazing disco on Thursday 27 June. We had Te Aka graduates and students from Tamatoa at Rongotai join the fun. Ms Wilson and Mrs Ashworth dressed up and had a good dance, and our WEGC head students, Leilani and Semhar, joined in the fun. There was also delicious food, and Khaya’s Dad was the DJ - thank you Julian.
Riding for the Disabled at Te Aka Class
We have 8 students going to Wellington Riding for the Disabled each week. RDA is such a valuable learning experience, not only do students get an excellent physical workout, they also work on their individual goals through interacting with their horse.
Recently RDA had a National Conference which featured this video explaining how attending RDA benefits our students which you can find on their website https://rda.org.nz/
Jules
Khaya
Stella
Teina Mai Sasa'e Update
The WEGC Poly Group Teine Mai Sasa’e recently held a Fiafia night as a fundraiser. It was great to see so many people from our community attending and supporting the group. The event was led by our Poly Leaders for 2024 - Year 13s: Angelina Avia, Moelagi Isara, Leilani Pedro, Hope Vaitogi and Year 12s: Katalina Araboglos, Sarona Aioni, Tafaumu Malagamaalii, Seralina Seumanufagai.
Thank you so much to the parents who donated items for our raffles alongside Dragonz Restaurant. Also to our MC for the night - Mason Malagamaalii, and the teachers who support our Poly Group: Tim Atkins, Caitlin Burns, Carmen Gaffney, Chris Hayward, Nadia Ioane-Iona, Anna Wilson and Shelley Vaile. Our next big performance will be at the Secondary Schools Poly Fest - TuTagata, held on Friday 26 July at TSB Arena.
Thank you to WEPA and the School Council for their support for our Poly Group and their TuTagata campaign.
Pride Week 2024 !
This year's Pride Week took place from 17 -21 June. The school building, Matairangi, looked spectacular with rainbow lights during this week, and as usual students and staff decorated inside the school with rainbow decorations. The Library Team arranged an Out on the Shelves display, while students had the opportunity to partcipate in various Pride events during lunchtime. They could make bracelets, attend a drag show in the Hall hosted by artists Constance Craving and Tess Tosterone, go see a film showing in the media room, or could make chalk art in the Quad. On Wednesday, staff posed for their annual Rainbow photo on Wednesday, and students enjoyed their usual non-uniform day. Overall, a fantastic Pride Week this year.
Girls In High Vis
New Zealand's infrastructure industry has a skills gap when it comes to upgrading roading networks, replacing leaky water pipes, maintaining power lines or installing faster broadband technology, to name a few. These jobs are in high-demand, can be a lot of fun, and provide varied career paths…for women just as much as men.
Girls with Hi-Vis® (GWHV) gives female students the opportunity to gain hands-on experience, hear from inspirational women in the industry and learn what a career in the infrastructure industries, as well as other important trade sectors, can offer.
Students were hosted by Fulton Hogan and Connexis. They visited a quarry and heard from woman in the industry. They learned about roles in the industry within the business and Gateway / Cadetships / Work Experience / Apprenticeships.
New Zealand Darts: team representative
Our Yr 10 student, Noelene Hautapu-Prime, is part of the team that has recently won the NZ Women's Darts Team National winners at the end of June, in the NZ Darts Council National Championships in Hamilton. She is also the youngest member ever to make the Wellington Regional Women's team. You can spot her in the photo second from right.
He Huarahi Tamariki newsletter
We are the host school for He Huarahi Tamariki (HHT) Teen Parent Unit, who are based in Tawa. If you would like to catch up on what their students are learning and activities they are involved in, you can read their newsletter for Term 2 here
School Holidays - Community info
Wellington Library info
Mānawatia a Matariki me Puanga! Celebrate Matariki and Puanga with Wellington City Libraries these holidays, 6 – 21 July. Plant a seed for Puanga, join us at the Matariki bonfire for hot chocolate and cosy pakiwaitara, unleash your creativity with whetū-inspired art, or explore the stars through VR and robotics. All events are totally free, but some do require registration as space may be limited at some libraries – visit wcl.govt.nz/kidsholidays for the full schedule.
Going overseas for the holidays ?
If you are going overseas for the school holidays, when you return you can now complete a digital New Zealand Traveller Declaration (NZTD) before you fly back into New Zealand. The new digital system was launched in August 2023 and not many people know they can now do it online – replacing the paper card you used to fill out on the plane.
Everyone coming into New Zealand needs to complete an NZTD. You’ll answer questions about your trip and what’s in your bags. You can complete it at a time that suits you, on the NZTD website or by downloading the NZTD app, and submit it 24 hours before your trip back to New Zealand.
Sports at East
You can find information on all sports offered at East, as well as our latest achievements on our school website. www.wegc.school.nz or on the WEGC Sports site here
You can also check out Instagram and Facebook pages for WEGC Sport at @wegcsport www.facebook.com/wegcsport
Order your lunch online at the school cafe
The school café has recently started an online ordering account with Lunch Online https://www.lunchonline.co.nz/ They are a company who collate and organise distribution of food orders, using providers Subway and Pita Pit. The school has a menu that you can read here.
Students and caregivers can open an account and order lunches to be collected at the Café during school lunch hour.
2024 Payment of School Fees/Donations
You can view and pay your school account from the Kamar portal: https://wegc.school.kiwi/
Direct credit payments can be made using the following details:
WEGC Bank Account Details:
ASB Bank
12-3140-0365902-00
Reference: Please use student ID (on invoice)
Particulars: payment details (example: ID Card, GE200 Trip)
Payment in person @ School:
Payments are accepted at reception from 8:15 am until 3.30 pm Monday to Friday. The school is closed during public holidays and school term breaks. Payments by cash or EFTPOS are available.
Entertainment App Fundraiser
We are fundraising with Entertainment. The school holidays are starting shortly and we are excited to announce a fantastic new campaign starting 8pm Tuesday 2 July until 1.59pm Thursday 25 July, with every membership purchased you will get a bonus multi city upgrade.
The Entertainment App is jam-packed with offers on cafes, restaurants, attractions and things to do with the average family saving upwards of $1000 a year. But the best part is that 20% of your Membership fee will be donated to us to directly support fundraising for our school. Experience unbeatable value across New Zealand and Australia and a Multi City Membership gives you access to thousands of exclusive offers in 20 cities.
Get ready to play, dine and save with a Membership to the Entertainment App and support our fundraiser today!
Thank you for your continued support
Many thanks
Ways to help WEGC - Fundraising :
Welink Newsletter : Wellington East Girls' College, Austin Street, Mt Victoria 6011, Ph 385 8514, www.wegc.school.nz
