WHS Newsletter | Issue 2.08 | 21 June 2024

Principal's Message

Kia ora and welcome to the end of Week 8.

Last Friday, our academic tracking and monitoring letters were sent out to all senior (Year 11 - 13) students and parents. While WHS’ education is holistic in nature (more on that below), academic achievement is fundamental to any school, and we want to do everything we can to support students to achieve their best possible qualification, As per the letter, please have a conversation with your student around how they are tracking academically (and in general) and if you have any questions, please reach out to the Dean, in the first instance. Early next term (6 August), we are holding our Next Steps meetings with Kaiārahi throughout the school-day. This is a really important opportunity for all students and parents to talk with their Kaiārahi about how they are tracking academically, developing holistically and to discuss options and subjects for 2025 and it is our expectation that all students and parents are in attendance for these individualised meetings. More info will be available in the coming weeks. 

Speaking of 2025, our Open Evening for 2025 new enrolments is being held next Tuesday 25 June. School will finish at 1:50 pm, with buses running at this time. The Open Evening will run from 4:30 to 7:30 pm, see our website for more details. 

This week, we celebrated Pride Week at WHS, which included us signing the Pride Pledge to show our unity and support for all students at school and in the community. Our non-uniform day yesterday was to generate funds for the Whakatipu Youth Trust who give so much to our school, our students and our community. A huge thanks to all the students for their gold-coin donation to this important organisation and to all those who continue to embrace our key value of inclusion. 

Today, we had more than 30 local businesses and organisations at school to talk to our Year 10 students as part of our Career Expo. We have an extraordinarily supportive community and we appreciate those who gave up their time to talk to our students about possible future careers. 

Also this week, all students began to learn the school haka and waiata in preparation for our annual Matatū assembly, which is on the last day of term (5 July). The Matatū assembly is a wonderful opportunity for our students and school to come together and show pride and unity. Karawhuia rakatahi mā!

It was great to see so many parents and caregivers at the ‘Parenting Adolescents’ information evening last night. We really appreciate you being there, asking questions and being engaged with the school. Our expert panel provided many useful tips for parents and we’ll look forward to putting these and other aspects of the evening into next week’s newsletter. 

A reminder, that with Matariki next Friday, there is no school, so we’ll publish a smaller newsletter on Thursday, June 27. See key dates for the upcoming week and following term below. 

A comprehensive and action-packed newsletter follows, including words from our Head Students regarding the Women in Business Conference and much, much more. Best of luck to our bands and solo musicians at this weekend's Regional Rockquest and to our students involved in TheatreFest and Toi Wearable Arts next Tuesday. Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

Ngā mihi nui,

Oded Nathan
Principal/Tumuaki

Key Dates

Junior Prizegiving & Year Level Ad Alta/Excellence

Save the date - Monday, July 29

Students receiving an award (and their parents/caregivers) will be emailed in the first week of Term 3. 

• Year 12/13 - 9:00 am
• Year 9 - 10:15 am
• Year 10 - 12:25 pm
• Year 11 - 2:10 pm
  

Junior and Senior Next Steps Meetings

Tuesday, August 6 - 9:00 am to 4:30 pm

These meetings will run onsite and in person.  This is a pupil-free day and normal classes will not run this day.  However, students are expected to attend their 15-minute Next Steps meeting along with their parents or caregivers.  

Next Steps meetings are an important opportunity for parents and caregivers to meet with their respective kaiārahi to discuss the holistic progress of their student. Topics of discussion will include:

- How the year has gone so far and what is ahead
- Any concerns/issues
- Course selection finalisation for 2025

Look out for the booking link and next steps information which will be emailed along with the Progress and Achievement Summary (PAS) report to caregivers at the end of term.

Women in Business Conference

Hey everyone - your Head Girls here! Last Friday we all got the incredible opportunity to attend and speak at the Westpac Queenstown Women in Business Conference. This was an incredible opportunity where we got the chance to listen to some inspiring women speak about their own pathways to success, in careers often dominated by men. 

We heard from a variety of speakers from Kelsey Waghorn, a White Island survivor to Aimee McCammon, CEO of Pics Peanut Butter, to Kelly Evans, the first New Zealand female accredited rugby agent. We gained knowledge and learnt valuable concepts from these speakers, which we will no doubt utilise as we navigate our own journeys. 

We also got the opportunity to speak to an incredible audience, where we shared our own insights as to what it is like navigating our changing society as a part of today's youth. We are incredibly grateful for this amazing opportunity and the support of the speakers and the audience. We would also like to say a big thank you to Rachel Clifford for helping make this possible! 

Our biggest takeaway from the day was that life is never linear. We need to ride the highs and accept the lows. The journey is more important than the destination - and the most valuable learning occurs in these lows (it makes the highs even better) - so don’t let your expectations of yourself take away from what you achieve!

Jess Hudson, Abby Fookes and Bethany Graf

Exploring Future Careers

The Careers Expo, is an event designed to inspire, inform and guide our students toward their future career paths; with a particular focus on our Year 10 students. Today’s expo created an invaluable platform, bringing together a diverse array of professionals and businesses, all eager to share their expertise and experiences with our students.

A special thank you goes to AJ Hackett for kicking off the day with a comprehensive 360-degree view of the various roles within their company. Their insightful presentation set the tone for the day and it was fantastic to see some alumni engaging in the mahi and contributing to the kōrero around pathways. It was fantastic to witness the enthusiasm and curiosity sparked by the presentations and interactions.

We want to thank the 34 businesses that participated, making this event a success. Your contributions were both engaging and invaluable. Our participating businesses included:

• AJ Hackett Bungy
• Anderson Lloyd
• Back on Track Physio
• BCITO
• Cook Brothers
• EpicShot
• Findex
• Fluid
• Gibbston Valley
• Mana Tahuna/MSc Wildlife Management
• MasterLink
• Millbrook Resort
• MITO
• Naylor Love
• Ngāi Tahu Tourism
• ORC and Enviro Schools
• Otago Polytechnic
• PC Media
• Police
• QLDC
• Queenstown Medical Centre
• Queenstown Resort College
• RealNZ
• SBS Bank
• Shotover Jet
• Skyline Queenstown
• Southern Lakes Sanctuary
• Southern Land
• Sports Central
• Tru Women’s Gym
• Wao
• Wilson Contractors
• xtravel

Aspen Exchange Highlights

The Aspen exchange has finished up with lots of farewells and with our students looking forward to their trip to Aspen in January 2025.  Their final days were spent at Milford Sound, a quick trip to Coronet Peak on opening day and a last minute blast on the Shotover Jet.  

The Aspen students were overwhelmed by the generosity of the host families,  local businesses and QLDC and enjoyed their time at Wakatipu High School.  They asked that we share their gratitude and thanks to both the host families and the many organisations and businesses who made their time here so memorable.
Highlights from some of the American students:

Lia - I’ve been on one other sister city trip in Japan and I really enjoyed comparing New Zealand and Japanese cultures around the world. I’ve now made connections in such different places across the world and I feel like I have strong global connections now.

Hannah- The best part of this trip was bonding with so many new people. I think we can all agree that after only 11 days it feels like we have been friends for months. The landscape, mountains, and activities were great but it’s the people that made New Zealand such a hard place to leave.

Cora- Traveling to Queenstown was my first time out of the United States and it brought so many unexpected things. For example, when I signed up for this trip I was expecting myself to be awkward with the family when I first came but it was the complete opposite. Right when we got to the Queenstown airport I was invited with open arms and it was the best feeling ever. After that we went home and right off the bat we started to bond and shared so many things with each other which was something that I was very surprised by. This whole sister cities experience was the best and I loved it so much and bonded so well with my family. Also, I had so much fun experiencing new cultures and languages.

Bird-based Citizen Science Projects

On the last day of May this year, the New Zealand Bird Atlas Project finished commemorating a huge 5 years of effort across Aotearoa to collect bird data and distribution. The project saw hundreds of volunteers record over 309 species over the course of 145,000 hours in the field, approximately 6,000 days worth of time. 

The whole of NZ was cut into 3232 10 km by 10 km squares to facilitate atlasing efforts and by the end of the 5 years, 97.3% of these squares had observational data which consists of at least one checklist in each season and time (day/night) of the year. This was a massive effort and the WHS Environmental Council would like to congratulate everyone who took part. Additionally, all the results are now available at https://ebird.org/atlasnz/explore for the general public to explore.

New Zealand Garden Bird Survey 2024 begins on the 29th of June and is the next major, birding-based citizen science project this year. In the last decade, Wildlife Management International Limited and Birds New Zealand have harnessed the power of hundreds of keen volunteers across Aotearoa to participate in this week-long event. More than 45,000 surveys have been submitted over the course of it’s history creating a huge database showing trends in native species such as Kereru, Tui and Silvereye as well as introduced ones like House Sparrow and Song Thrush.

Volunteers are key and so if you’re keen to participate in this huge citizen science project head to  https://gardenbirdsurvey.nz/ for further information, identification help and results.

Lastly, our local ecologist Dawn Palmer will be running a bird identification workshop around the Whakatipu Basin at the start of August. This includes guides to navigating online tools such as eBird and Merlin, as well as identification of much of our local bird life. If you’d like to join, email dawnpalmer@xtra.co.nz for details and reservations.

Audrey Austin
WHS Environmental Council

Otago Polytechnic and Otago University Information Evening

This week, Otago University and Otago Polytechnic hosted their annual information session in the WHS theatre. As always, the event proved to be exceptionally useful and informative, providing valuable insights into the academic programmes available.

For those who missed out, you can access Sandra's renowned Otago University cheat sheet on scholarships and hall applications here. Additionally, Steph has provided some key information to assist anyone who is considering Otago Polytechnic. 

If you require further support, please feel free to connect with the careers department or reach out to the liaisons directly. 

• Sandra Spence - University of Otago - sandra.spence@otago.ac.nz
• Steph Kerslake - Otago Polytechnic - steph.kerslake@op.ac.nz

Sport and Active Recreation News

Sporting Achievements

Cross Country

The 50th National Secondary School Cross Country Champs were held in Christchurch last weekend. Wakatipu High School runners continued to perform on the National stage with Siena Mackley placing 4th in the Senior Girls 4000m with a time of 14:17. This top 10 finish qualifies Siena to represent New Zealand at the Australian Schools National Cross Country Championships in Melbourne later in the year. James Weber also achieved a top 20% placing in the Senior Male 6000m event, and Flynn Weber came in the top 27% for Junior Males. The NZSSAA Cross-country Relays were also held the next day, where our students represented Southland. Flynn was a member of the Mixed 4X2km team who won Gold. Congratulations to all!

Netball 

Our netball teams followed up their success at the Otago Secondary School Champs with another strong display at the Southland Champs in Invercargill on Sunday. Both the 10As and Senior As made their respective finals! The 10As took out their grade with a 20-13 win over Southland Girls’ High School. The Senior A final saw the team finish second to James Hargest College, who came out firing after their 2 goal loss in our annual sports exchange last Wednesday. The 9A team came 3rd in their round robin format, and the Senior B’s finished up 6th with a narrow 20-19 loss to Fiordland College in their final game. Thanks again to our coaches, umpires, and parents for their support. Final placings below. 

• Senior A - 2nd
• Senior B - 6th
• 10A - 1st
• 9A - 3rd

Artistic Swimming

The South Island Artistic Swimming Championships were held at Queenstown’s Alpine Aqualand for the first time this year. Six Wakatipu High School students represented the Wakatipu Artistic Swimming Club, who took home 3 golds and 1 bronze medal. Alisha Messingham, Anja Dayman, Emily Messingham, Cate Scott, Evie Tamariki & Vanya Qi were members of the winning Aqua Combo team. Emily Messingham also won gold in the Aquanaut Duet and Aquanaut Figures. If anyone is keen to find out more about joining the club, please get in touch with wakatipuartisticswimming@gmail.com or through the WHS Wakatipu Artistic Swimming classroom or via Alisha (21amessingham@wakatipu.school.nz).

Learn to Row

Any Year 9 - 13 students interested in learning to row in 2024 are invited to join the Whakatipu Rowing Club’s Sunday sessions. More details are on the flyer below.

Wakatipu Netball Centre - Y9&10 Development Programme

At the Year 9&10 age group, Wakatipu Netball believes it is valuable to give opportunities for all players to experience development and tournaments. All players who register for the Year 9&10 Development Programme will be exposed to coaches who will help develop netball skills, NetballSmart awareness and team building during the 3 week program which will include two development tournaments in Dunedin and Wānaka

More information is available on the link below.

https://www.sporty.co.nz/wakatipunetball/development-1/junior-development-1/development-program

Keep Us Informed

The Sports Department would love to hear from you if you know of any awesome sporting achievements from our students! Please send through details/results and photos to Sian at shorn@wakatipu.school.nz so we can share and celebrate these as a school.

Support Sport at WHS
Support the team by liking the Wakatipu High School Sports Facebook page. This is the best way to stay up to date with the successes of our athletes and teams and celebrate their great achievements!

https://www.facebook.com/WakatipuHighSchoolSports/ 

Sian Horn
Director of Sport

Arts Department News

Artist of the Week: Ted Coutts

I have been involved with music for most of my life. I started to play when I was 7. In the future, I hope to keep music in my life and explore the many possibilities that come from being in the music scene. I am embarking on a study trip to Berkeley College in the US in the next few weeks to study under top professors and tutors in the world of music. This course is 5 weeks and provides the best music teaching on offer. I hope to meet new people and learn how to improve my musicianship and skills. 

In this video clip I am performing for my music scholarship at our Music Night. I am playing 3 pieces: Tightrope by Stevie Ray Vaughn, The Pot by Tool, and Anastasia by Slash.

ROCKQUEST

Regional Rockquest is on this Saturday 22 June, 7.00 pm at the Queenstown Memorial Hall.  Come along and support the talents of Mala Januszkiewicz, Atomica, 4BLU, Ten:37 and Paranoia as well as musicians from other schools in the Central Otago region.

Tickets are available here:  https://shorturl.at/rFNoZ

Tickets will also be available at the door - $15 students / $25 adults

All the best to Mia Ralph, Isaac Ralph, Luana Kirchoff Pereira, Tyler Simpson, Luc Theron, Jan Vavera, Hugh Hodgson, Alex Scoles, Emanuel Cardeno, Mala Januszkiewicz, Ted Coutts, Bethany Graf, Haru Kuroe and Alfie Cameron, Chelsea Wood, Indy Hamilton, Kara Trounce and Eve Pagan.

Showquest and Toi Wearable Arts

Good luck to the 22 Showquest and 19 Toi Wearable Arts students travelling to Invercargill next Tuesday for the Regional Showquest and Toi Wearable Arts event.  We hope you all have a marvellous day!

Josie Mitchell has written about the experience:  I would say Showquest so far has been an amazing experience for everyone involved. There is a lot of enthusiasm and dedication that goes into our practices. The rest of the leaders and I would agree that we have come a long way from where we started. Our performance is about the effects our decisions have on the environment of Aotearoa. We show this mainly through the two doors; a positive one showing good decisions and a negative one showing bad decisions. To show what has been impacted as a result of the decisions made we use positive and negative four elements (water, fire, earth, air). Over this term, we have been working together to focus on and enhance the dances and acting scenes to bring our 10 minute performance to life. We are all so excited for Tuesday when we all travel down to Invercargill to perform and compete."

Primary School Music Visit

On Thursday the Jazz Combo and rock band Atomica visited Remarkables Primary, Arrowtown Primary and St Joseph’s Primary to share insights about music opportunities at Wakatipu High School to a really appreciative audiences of various ages and stages of music.  It is hoped to able to repeat this again later in the year with other local Primary Schools.

The students involved were: Bethany Argyle, Louis Buchanan, Alfie Cameron, Hunter Cotterill, Ted Coutts, Bethany Graf, Hugh Hodgson, Haru Kuroe,  Joel Winter and Hunter Cotterill

Music Nights

There have been two great weeks of musical performances at the Year 12 and Year 13 Music Nights.  It was great to see all the hard work that has been put in by the students and the last night next week for Year 11 on Wednesday 26 June is highly anticipated.  You can view some of the great performances below. 

Out and About

There are a number of Musicians in the school who are keen to play out and about in the Community, koha would be appreciated.  Please contact Alison Price for more information at aprice@wakatipu.school.nz

Play It Strange:  Peace Song

Entry for the Play It Strange - Peace Song close on Sunday 30 June.

More details here:  https://www.playitstrange.org.nz/competitions

Please see Mrs Price for information and come along to the Songwriting Group that meet each Wednesday morning at 8.15 am with Solomon Crook.

Extracurricular groups - Groups have restarted for the term and some have been adjusted, but students should be up to date with all updates as they are posted on the Performing Arts Classroom Group.  

• Jazz Combo - Monday 8 am / Wednesday 8 am
• Guitar - Monday Break 2
• Songwriting - Wednesday 8.15 am
• Digital Music Production - Wednesday Break 2
• Junior Jazz - Wednesday Break 2
• Jazz Full Band - Wednesday 3.20 pm
• Senior Singing - Thursday Break 2
• Chamber Music Group - Thursday Break 2

Keep checking each of the  Classroom Groups for more details and updates

Upcoming for Terms 2 and 3 - 

22 June - Rockquest Regional Finals

25 June - Showquest / Toi Wearable Arts

26 June - Yr 11 Music Nights

30 June - Entries for Play It Strange Peace Song Competition close

31 July - Entries for Play It Strange Lion Foundation Competition close

1-25 August - Showing Off Student Art Exhibition

6-10 August - Southern Jam Youth Jazz Festival

31 August - Entries for Strange Art (album cover art) Competition close

Te Atamira - is a multi-purpose arts and cultural space at Remarkables Park Town Centre - check out what is happening at Te Atamira here

Te Wahi Toi - Nau mai, haere mai, Te Wāhi Toi is the meeting place and online directory for Queenstown and Wānaka’s creative community.  Find them here

Let Us Know
The Arts department would like to know about any artistic achievements that students have attained outside of school be it in Drama, Dance, Music or Visual Arts. Please send details and photos to artscoordinator@wakatipu.school.nz

Support the Arts
We are always looking for local professional performing and visual artists to visit our school and run workshops for our students. If you or someone you know is interested, please contact the Mrs Cooper the Arts Coordinator at artscoordinator@wakatipu.school.nz

Instagram Page
Follow our school’s Instagram page for recent successes or news within the school’s Arts Department at whsartdepartment.

WHS Foundation

Community Notices

Purchase any Single City Membership before Thursday 27th June and receive a bonus upgrade to Multi City, unlocking over 15,000 offers in 20 cities across Australia and New Zealand.

And the best part? 20% of every Membership purchased is donated to support our school's fundraising efforts.

Join today and help us make a difference.

Order here – https://subscribe.entertainmentnz.com/fundraiser/260506v