Wellington East Girls' College / Te Kura Kōhine o te Rāwhiti o Te Upoko o Te Ika
Welink
Issue 3, Haratua / May 2024
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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
Principal's Message
Tēnā koutou kātoa
Attendance
One of the things we are continuing to focus on this term is student attendance and lateness to school.
If a student misses one day of school every two weeks, they miss more than a whole year of school by 16 years of age. As a parent or caregiver, you, alongside our school, play a key role in building strong habits of regular school attendance.
All students are legally required to attend school every day and it is a shared responsibility to make sure students attend and engage in learning.
Thank you for letting us know if your child is going to be absent or intends to be absent for a portion of the school term for whatever reason, like a tangi or medical procedure. However, family holidays or taking time off for extracurricular activities (not organised by school) are not acceptable reasons for being absent.
We know that winter brings with it seasonal illnesses such as colds and flu and that knowing if your child is well enough to go to school can be tricky at times. Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora have refreshed their guidance for schools and parents to use to help make that call. Check out the Ministry of Education website for more information. If you are still unsure, get in touch with us. At our school we have strong processes and hygiene practices in place to make sure our school environment is as healthy as possible for our students and our staff.
If you're struggling at home with getting your child to school, talk to us. Our school is committed to supporting your child to attend school and building a culture that fosters excellent attendance by having:
School staff who have strong relationships with students and whānau.
A school culture that recognises your child and your family for who they are.
A school community that does everything to make sure students are at school, and they are participating, and progressing in their education.
Parents and caregivers can find more information here.
Vehicle access
We have very limited vehicle access at school. Many of our students come to school by bus and walk up from Ellice Street to school. As we move into the winter months there have been increasing numbers of families driving their vehicles up Drive A, from Paterson Street, to drop their children off at the Main Reception. There is very limited space for turning on this drive and we are seeing vehicles reversing across pedestrian crossings into the marked pedestrian walkway and in some instances right up to the main entrance doors. This is a significant safety risk due to the driveway being shared access and one of the main pedestrian access points for the students.
A reminder to families that the drives are not to be used by vehicles between:
Monday to Thursday 8.30 - 9.15am and 2.30 - 3.45 pm
Friday 8.30 - 9.15am and 1.45 - 3.00pm
We appreciate you observing these restrictions to maintain the safety of our students and staff at all times.
Ngā mihi nui
Gael Ashworth
Principal
Please see the Student Calendar below for student events coming up
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 :
Coming up :
3 June King's Birthday Public Holiday
4 June Nga Manu Korero event
4 June Board Meeting
6 -7 June Big Sing Regional event
6 June DT200 & 300 at Victoria University Engineering Day
6 June Whānau Tūtahi parent meeting
7 June Senior Reports sent
10 June UR300 Religious Studies Day Trip
10 June Pasifika Parents meeting
11 June DM100/200/300 Trip to Hannah Playhouse 10.15-1.15pm
12 June WEPA Parents Association meeting 6.00pm
12 June Drama Production Yr11 & 12 "Wheelers Luck" 7.00pm
13 June Open Day 3pm and 6pm events, school closed from 12.00 noon
14 June NZSS Cross Country, Underwater Hockey nationals, Swimming CSW Individual Champs
14 June Fiafia Night in the Hall 6.00pm
Term Dates 2024
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
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 Office
School phone number: 04 385 8514
School email address : wegc@wegc.school.nz
School website : www.wegc.school.nz
Kia ora whānau,
Thank you to all for attending the Food Fair, it was awesome to see staff, pupils, and whānau supporting the parents' association at the 'Salad Sisters', food stall. Particular thanks to our committee salad makers for their salad donations and also our amazing parent volunteers who donated homemade salads (Victoria Metcalf, Rebecca Wedge, Siobhan Isles and Sonja Schroeder).
The parents' association (WEPA) is made up of caregivers who support the school community by contributing to events and activities throughout the year.
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 12 June, in the school staffroom at 6.00 pm
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.
Ngā mihi,
Sunjuna
WEGC Parents Association Wellington East Girls' College
Te Kura Kōhine o te Rāwhiti o Te Upoko o Te Ika
WEGC Open Day 13 June 2024
WEGC Open Day 13 June 2024
We will be welcoming our community to the school on our annual Open Day, to be held on Thursday 13 June. This event is for parents and new students for next year. Please come along if you have a student who is in year 8 and are considering enrolling them at Wellington East Girls' College for 2025 Year 9.
More details are on our website, or if you have a student considering enrolling for next year you can register to attend either session at 3.00pm or 6.00pm by completing this form : Register for WEGC Open Day
Enrolments are now open online, on our website, and we are asking new students/parents to enrol by 22 July, if possible, to allow us to set up timetables for 2025.
Link to online enrolment form on our website
Commerce students visit local business
Commerce students visit local business
A big thank you to Rutherford and Bond Toyota Wellington that recently hosted three separate class visits by our Year 11 Commerce students. The students are learning about business values, decision-making processes, stakeholders and reasons for being in business.
We really appreciated the time Derek Tilyard, Chief Executive Officer, took out of his busy schedule to speak with all three classes. The students were especially inspired by the business' values of "Respect", "Everyone has a voice" and "No customer left behind"
We are also grateful for Phoebe McCoy and Amelia Piper for showing the students around the workplace, sharing insights into their marketing work, and discussing their career journeys. It was so valuable for the students to see real-world examples of what they are learning in class. Thank you for a fantastic visit!
Pasifika Language and Culture Week 13-19 May
Pasifika Language and Culture Week 13-19 May
There are 11 particular Pasifika Language weeks this year, and to consolidate these events we celebrated a Pasifika Language and Culture Week around the school between 13-19 May with events and displays. Those students who had Pasifika cultural attire were invited to come along to school wearing it on Friday to share and show their culture traditions.
The library took the opportunity to update their book display to reflect Pasfika culture and writings such as Vitale Lafaele "A Canoe before the Wind" or "Nuanua - Pacific writing in English since 1980" edited by Albert Wendt . We have a large section of Pasifika books and topics at school.
The Annual Food Fair 2024 - thank you !
The Annual Food Fair 2024 - thank you !
On Friday10th May 2024 we opened the doors to our community, for a night of yummy food, entertainment and good fun. For us, as School Council prefects, it was a long time coming with months of planning involved, and we believe it was a great success!
This year we had the Food Fair in Matairangi, the quad and hall, which allowed for 28 great stalls, performances, karaoke and our community to watch performances, sit and enjoy yum food. There was food from various cultures to suit everyone's preferences, along with many activities such as fortune telling, balloon animals, pie the teacher and much more. Lastly, we don't want to forget about the amazing performances from our East students.
A highlight from each of us: “definitely the performances!! We haven’t been able to have the Food Fair in the hall for the past few years, but it was exciting to see everyone funnel into the hall at the performance times and enjoy the talent WEGC has to offer” - Danni. “I loved all the various food stalls we had. A highlight was definitely the four tables of baking brought in by the year 11 and 13 year groups” - Lucia.
We are so grateful to everyone who helped to make the 2024 Food Fair a great success - our peers, whanau community and staff who ran stalls, our students and their whanau for contributing to their year-level stalls, all the staff and our prefect team for handling various tasks and requests from us with grace, and our School Council committee for their constant hard work and support.
We are immensely grateful for our 23 generous sponsors who donated items, vouchers and products to our kura. They include: Hell Pizza, Biopak, Aro Bakery, Bunnings Lyall Bay, Shott Beverages, Staglands, Welly Putt Mini Golf, Head Start Hair Design Kilbirnie, Sweet Axe Throwing, Chocolate Fish, Haylo Miramar, Wellington Rugby, Caffe L’affare, Noah’s Ark, TJ Katsu, Endota, Roxy Cinema, Gusto Design, Woolworths Kilbirnie, Hoi Pilates and Wooden Spoon.
Ngā mihi nui,
Danni Tamaiva and Lucia Hay (School Council prefects)
Kathryn Hunt (Teacher in Charge)
Blessing ceremony for mural
Blessing ceremony for mural
Our art students who were involved in the creation of the mural in Berhampore were invited to participate in a dawn blessing for their art work on Thursday 23 May. Sacha Turvey, Nardos Tafery, Samantha McCallum and Sophie Riches attended the blessing, which began at 5am. Congratulations to these students for their outstanding contribution to this project, which proved to be a highly successful piece of community art.
For those who missed the information about this event, here is more from the WCC :
Students visit to Miramar Community Gardens
Students visit to Miramar Community Gardens
On Friday 24 May Integrated Studies Students at levels 200 and 300 visited the Miramar Community Gardens. This visit was part of their Duke of Edinburgh Hillary's Award, and giving back to the community. They spent time remaking the walkways with mulch, weeding, cleaning out the glasshouse, turning compost and also spent time learning about the local area. You will be able to see the results of their hard work the next time you visit the gardens.
Tough Guy and Gal event
Tough Guy and Gal event
The Tough event was held on Friday 24 May at Camp Wainui , Wainuomata, and lived up to its reputation as a mud run. We entered as a school team and had 114 students and staff attending and competing in the 6km race, with all finishing the course. WEGC placed 12th as a team, out of 41 teams, and our best runner was Lucy Thorburn with 37:01 minutes, followed by Eimear Trainor and Isabelle Hunt (49:54 and 50:55).
2024 Rongotai vs WEGC Prefects Netball Game
2024 Rongotai vs WEGC Prefects Netball Game
This year's annual Prefects' Netball game, between the student leaders of Rongotai College and Wellington East was held at lunchtime on Wednesday 29 May, at our sports centre/Tawatawa, and was fought fiercely by both sides. The result was a win by the reigning champs: Rongotai Prefects. Next Year to win, WEGC!
Championship in Finland for Floorball players
Championship in Finland for Floorball players
The New Zealand Women's Under 19 Floorball team includes some of our current students, Paige Fogarty and Tegan Macfadyen, along with WEGC old girls Kate Johnson, Anna Knackstedt, Isla Morgan and Libby Sexton. They recently concluded a World Floorball Championship in Finland, competing against Singapore, Germany, Australia and Hungary, ultimately finishing with an overall world ranking of 13th. Their victories included an 8-6 win against Hungary, and a historic 10-3 win against Australia, which marked the first ever win by a New Zealand floorball team of any age group in an international competition over Australia.
Congratulations to the team, and our WEGC student players.
Teacher Professional Learning
Teacher Professional Learning
At the recent Teacher-only days all our teachers spent time together working in their department groups to update their professional learning.
These Teacher-only days provide schools and kura with dedicated time to understand, prepare and engage with changes across The New Zealand Curriculum refresh, the redesign of Te Marautanga o Aotearoa, and shifts to strengthen NCEA. They are opportunities for kaiako to share ideas and expertise and to grow their confidence in implementing the upcoming curriculum and assessment changes.
Sheilah Winn at WEGC
Sheilah Winn at WEGC
During the King's Birthday weekend, we will be hosting the Sheilah Winn students who will be workshopping and preparing their pieces for the regional event at various venues in Wellington. This year so far we have seen swordplay workshops in the Quad and mini-speeches in the Maths Department. We have a longstanding relationship with SGCNZ and we host them every year. The SGCNZ UOSWSF is now in its 33rd year, inviting students from Year 7 to 13, aged 11 to under 20 years old, who are still studying at the secondary school level, to participate.
Sports at East
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
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. Lunch online are offering a voucher for $5 credit for new accounts - you can do this by contacting info@lunchonline.co.nz and use the voucher code of NEWENTRANT2024
2024 Payment of School Fees/Donations
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
Entertainment App Fundraiser
We are fundraising with Entertainment Fundraising. 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 our fundraising for our school. Experience unbeatable value across New Zealand and Australia.
Promotion - Beginning 8pm on Monday 27 May until 1.59pm on 3 June 2024, in addition to receiving a $20 bonus eGift card you will also receive a free multi City upgrade, meaning you gain access to thousands of exclusive discounts across 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
Ways to help WEGC - Fundraising :
Ways to help WEGC - Fundraising :
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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