WHS Newsletter | Issue 1.11 | 11 April 2025

Principal's Message

Kia ora koutou and welcome to the end of Term 1,

It has been a really good and dynamic 11-week term at WHS, in which WHS’ all-round education has been on full display, including camps, house competition, summer sport, arts, leadership and service opportunities, all complementing a real solid focus on teaching and learning in the classroom.  

Last week’s Musical - Mamma Mia! was an absolutely stunning showcase of the talent and opportunity at WHS and my congratulations to the 178 students who were involved along with the staff, volunteers and businesses who contributed to the show's success. 

Our students have had some significant regional, national and international achievements, including our rowers winning the President’s Scull as the top Sculling school for the fourth year in a row and James Weber’s historical achievement at the SI Athletics Championships this past weekend, in which he won the 800m, 1500m and 3000m events! Additionally, Lachlan Kidd was selected to represent New Zealand at the London International Youth Science Forum and Ankita Pilo has been selected as Southland’s Youth MP. There have been so many other outstanding achievements from our students over the term and while it is impossible to list them all now, our students are to be commended!

The continuity of the year seems to have generated a largely settled student-body which currently sits at 1459 students. Of the 1459 students, 95% have not had a referral and 1214 have not had a cellphone confiscated. In terms of Learning Engagement (LE) reports, 979 students have had more than half of their marks at 4 (excellent). NZ attendance data has been being profiled in the media and this term 68% of our students are attending more than 90% of the time, so there is still some work to do there (NB. the government has set this target at 80% by 2030).

We have great students and a great community, and while that doesn’t mean that there aren’t lapses or errors in judgement, broadly speaking our students are great citizens and give me great confidence in the future (be sure to read Head Girl, Manuella Pedrosa’s op-ed in yesterday’s Mountain Scene). 

Looking ahead, Term 2 is a very important term for teaching and learning. With lots of assessments and the ramping up of winter sport and extracurricular activities, students will need to be well organised and regularly attending (greater than 90%).  Be sure to note the key events below and also use the Term 2 assessment calendars to support students with their planning.

In addition to the key dates below, there are articles in the newsletter regarding Senior Next Steps and the Literacy/Numeracy corequisites.  

Key dates for Term 2:

• 14 April - Term 1 Reports Sent
• 28 April  - Start of Term 2
• April 29 and April 30 - Literacy and Numeracy corequisite information evenings
• 09 – 14 May - Excellence/Ad Alta/Ākonga Assemblies
• Tuesday 6 May - Senior Next Steps
• Friday 23 May - Writing Corequisite
• Monday 25 May - Numeracy Corequisite
• Wednesday 28 May - Reading Corequisite
• 09 – 13 June - Junior Exams

A comprehensive newsletter follows with lots of important information, including ticket sales for the annual Winter Gala hosted by Eichardt’s, so be sure to have a read.

Once again, we greatly appreciate the support we get from parents and the community, including a big thanks to those who provided feedback regarding our new Strategic Plan. I hope that everyone has a chance to rest and relax over the school holidays. I look forward to seeing all students back on Monday 28 April.

Ngā mihi nui,

Oded Nathan
Principal/Tumuaki

Student Leaders Week in Review

This week at WHS, we wrapped up the term with energy and colour!

Rare Disease Day
Thursday saw the school come alive for Rare Disease Day, a fantastic event led by the Community and Service Council. Students were encouraged to wear bright, colourful outfits, with neon themes lighting up the halls and creating a vibrant, energetic atmosphere. The foyer was beautifully decorated with strings of lights, eye-catching displays, ribbons, and plenty of colourful hairspray, all helping to spread awareness.

Rare Disease Day is an important global event held to raise awareness for the 300 million people worldwide living with a rare condition. At WHS, the day helped shine a light on the challenges faced by those living with rare diseases, as well as the importance of research and community support. It was brilliant to see students and staff alike getting involved, showing their support with big smiles and generous gold coin donations. With colourful outfits and a strong community spirit, WHS truly came together to raise both funds and awareness for this meaningful cause.

Kayaking Trip
This week, after 10 weeks of training, the Orec students took on the Clutha River, with a mix of freezing cold mornings and hot, sunny afternoons. Highlights included surfing the waves at the beach, pulling off some awesome kayak rolls, and braving the mighty rapids — with more than a few getting well and truly munched in “big swirly” sections of the river with lots of whirlpools! A big thanks to all of the amazing instructors who saved more than a few students throughout the week. It was an epic way to finish the term, with plenty of laughs and memories made.

House competition
With haka and waiata training starting to ramp up, it’s the perfect time for all students — including seniors (we know some of you might be a bit rusty!) — to brush up on the words and actions ahead of the house competition. Mackenzie Junior boys have been getting stuck in with haka training, and Fox, Hay, and Mackenzie Junior girls have been working hard at their waiata training. With Duncan still leading the way, it’s up to everyone to step up and do their part to help their house!

Musical coming to an end
Mamma Mia! The musical was an absolute hit, with many calling it “the best musical yet.” Despite the cast and audience wishing it could continue, the show wrapped up with an incredible closing night. The crowd was up on their feet, dancing and singing along, with standing ovations after every show. To celebrate their hard work and success, the cast and crew gathered in the Theatre during Ako time for their final get-together, celebrating their hard work and achievements.

After a very chaotic and fun term, we’ve made it! Wishing everyone an awesome holiday — enjoy the break, and I’m looking forward to all the adventures that next term will bring

Ngā mihi

Alice Davis
Community and Service Prefect | SVA Ambassador

Celebrating WHS Student Excellence

This week, we celebrated our students' achievements and successes in both the school musical, Mamma Mia!, and Summer Tournament Week. We are particularly proud to acknowledge the dedication, hard work, skill, and pride shown by our students – qualities that truly embody The Wakatipu Way. Nearly 180 students poured their hearts into Mamma Mia!, while over 170 students competed and represented WHS with skill and pride in a range of sports. The talent and commitment demonstrated in both areas is outstanding and a testament to our school's values. Whakamihi - well done to everyone involved!

The WHS Foundation Presents: The Annual Winter Gala Fundraising Dinner & Live Auction

Join us for an unforgettable evening at the newly re-designed The Grille by Eichardt’s, where sleek, modern elegance meets the charm of Queenstown’s lakefront. This stunning venue provides the perfect setting for our Annual Winter Gala Fundraising Dinner and Live Auction - a night dedicated to celebrating community, connection, and the successes of Wakatipu High School.

Come together with friends and fellow supporters to enjoy fine food, fantastic company, and exciting fundraising moments - including both a live auction and a silent auction.

Corequisite Support Evening

The corequisites will take place across Weeks 4 and 5 of Term 2:

• May 23 - Writing
• May 26 - Numeracy
• May 28 - Reading

We are providing support after school to help students achieve the corequisites. Support for Literacy is available after school Wednesdays 3:20-4:20 and Numeracy on Thursdays in the subject learning area.

A Parent information session will be held at school on the following dates:

• Tuesday, April 29, 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm in the Library
• Wednesday, April 30, 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm in the Library
  

To reinforce the skills required to achieve the corequisites we have created a slide show and supporting video of how you can support at home.

Senior Next Steps Tuesday, May 6 - Bookings Now Open

Our Senior Next Steps conferencing (teacher/parent/student) are on Tuesday 6 May from  2:15pm - 7:30pm  at school. 

Next Steps bookings are now open - please click on the link below. Please note that we will be closing bookings at 3pm on Monday 5 May.

These parent-student-subject teacher meetings are very important for students’ learning, progress and achievement and we strongly encourage all senior students and parents to attend. 

When making your bookings, you’ll need to know your students' subjects and teacher and you can check the WHS Portal for these details.  Please try to leave five minutes between each of your interviews (eg. 3:40, 3:50), as this will give you time to move to the next teacher and will help prevent people running behind schedule.

If you find that a teacher that you would like to see has no more interview times available, please contact them directly via email to arrange an alternative time to discuss your students learning progress and achievement. 

School will finish at 1:50 pm for all students on Tuesday 6 May, with buses running from this time. 

Please click on the link below to book your interviews.  If a code is requested use crnth.

NCEA Level 1,2, and 3 Internal Assessment Calendars and WHS Term Calendar

Internal Assessment Calendar
The internal assessment calendar provides the due dates for all internal assessments being sat by students throughout the year for each course in Years 11-13. We highly recommend that students note the dates of their internal assessments on their calendars and plan their term and year accordingly to ensure their academic goals are achieved. Kaiārahi and parents are encouraged to support this.

Students should use the ​assessment and school ​calendar to identify all their assessments - particularly noting pinch​ ​points when several fall due at the same time, and then put this beside their other commitments eg sport, work, family and plan accordingly. 

​These calendars are live and will be updated regularly.
Level 1 NCEA Assessment Calendar
Level 2 NCEA Assessment Calendar
Level 3 NCEA Assessment Calendar

WHS School Calendar

The WHS School calendar is always jam-packed and is a feature of WHS' great all-round education. As such, we want students to be looking at the calendar and understanding when they are going to be away for any school related activity. The calendar linked below can be used with the NCEA Internal Assessment Calendar (above) to assist with planning for the term.

WHS School Calendar

School Photos

School photos are now available to order via the PhotoLife website.

Parents and caregivers were sent an email earlier this week with instructions, including how to order online, and their child's unique Access Key Code.

To view and purchase the 2025 School Photographs, please follow these steps:

1. Click on this link: https://photolifeonline.co.nz/ordering/access
2. Enter your unique Access Key Code provided in the email sent on Monday.
3. Click the blue tabs to view all the options available to purchase.

Order before midnight on Sunday, 20 April, to qualify for free delivery of your photos to WHS.

Any queries can be directed to Photolife:
Email: enquiries@photolife.co.nz,
Phone: (09) 262 1040 or 0800 50 10 40

Future Pathways

Our Year 12 students had the privilege of being a part of a session with a variety of professionals from our local community.

The session was focused on what skills and attributes have taken people from high school to where they are now. Employment areas ranged from Engineering, Legal, Construction and Technologies. The common theme that came through was to use this time at school to invest in yourself by building your skill sets in some of the main transferable skills for the future. Networking and communicating with people in a respectful and confident way, effective digital and organisational skills, and working hard were also themes repeatedly emphasised by each presenter.

Year 13 Outdoor Education Kayaking Trip

Our Year 13 Outdoor Education students journeyed south this week for seven fantastic days, paddling on the Clutha River rapids above Beaumont and kayak surfing on the coast at Kaka Point. The rapids, graded at two, offered a great challenge, while the surf tested their balance and nerves.  While the river presented obstacles like the notorious Big Swirly Whirlpool, the coast offered its own surprises, with the occasional territorial wildlife adding an unexpected element to their experience!

Year 10 and 11 trip to the University of Otago

During the Year 10 and 11 Otago University trip on Tuesday and Wednesday this week, a group of 17 students had the opportunity to explore several interesting places and learn more about university life. We started our morning at the Otago University Marine Studies Centre out in Portobello, where we received a tour of the facilities, were allowed to physically interact with starfish, crabs, and sea cucumbers, and got to look at plankton through the microscopes (which was very interesting!). I would say, and many others, that this was the highlight of the trip. After the strong start to the morning, we visited St Margaret's College for lunch. We enjoyed a lovely lunch, and also looked into what living in a residential college is like. The head of the College, Elizabeth Koni, then gave us a presentation diving even deeper into the logistics of how to apply for a college, how long you can stay, the activities which occur, and much more. We then walked down to the School of Surveying where we learnt about urban planning and development, plotting points and mapping with some very fancy devices, and some ongoing projects in the area. Finally, we finished off our very long (but also very exciting) day with a tour from one of the students who is attending the University of Otago. She gave a thorough tour of almost the whole campus, walking through lecture buildings, science labs, and the extremely large student area called “The Union” to name a few places we visited. We are all so lucky to have been given the opportunity to attend this trip. Thank you to Mr Rae, Mrs JG, and Mr Morrison for making this trip possible.

Xanthe Spence (Year 10 student)

My highlight of today's trip was the Marine Science Centre in Portobello. It was a truly great experience, with all the information given to us as we walked through the centre was quite interesting to me, especially when we were able to find plankton through microscopes.

Nathan Hadijanto (Year 10 student)

It was an incredible opportunity to learn about and interact with Marine Biology and Surveying. We learnt about plankton, got to see ongoing experiments and use surveying technology for the first time. We really appreciated the experience and enjoyed discovering future career paths. The University of Otago truly has a lot to offer!

Anna Zoon (Year 10 student)

WHS Students Excel in International Maths Competition

Inspired by the AMT’s Australian Mathematics Competition, Kangourou sans Frontières (KSF) is now the largest maths competition in the world, with more than 6 million participants each year.

In Week 9, fourteen Wakatipu High School students participated in the competition. Of mention, three WHS students gained Distinction Awards, which means they scored in the top 15% of participants in Australia and New Zealand: Kieran Morphett (Year 9) in the Junior Division, and Hector Tanner (Year 10) and Leo Devlin (Year 11) in the Intermediate Division. 

Well done to all of the students who participated in this year's Kangourou sans Frontières competition.

Logan Rae
Gifted Education Coordinator

Year 12 P.E: Running for Success

The Year 12 Physical Education students (7PED) are currently undertaking a research and application programme whereby they investigate how Biophysical and Sports Psychology Principles can be applied to a training programme that aims to improve the time in which they complete the Queenstown Park 5km run. Knowledge learnt in class has been applied in the practical context during a variety of demanding training sessions at the school. The students have enjoyed the challenge of attempting to better their baseline time which was attained during the early stages of this term. In learning to apply the correct Methods and Principles of Training, the students have gradually improved their level of fitness during 7 demanding weeks of intense training. It has been a pleasure arriving at the Queenstown Gardens early on Saturday mornings and watching the students challenge both themselves and the stopwatch in their pursuit of personal best time.

 “Run often. Run long. But never outrun your joy of running.” —Julie Isphording 

 Well done 7PED!

Work Experience and Giving a Little Back to the Community

Down in the Hākitekura space, we have been securing some work experience and volunteer opportunities within WHS and beyond, around our community. This opportunity is preparing us for practical and knowledge base skills, as well as core values that need to be upheld when committing to these work opportunities.

Sports Department - Washing, drying and folding Sports Kits for the Sports Department. 

Operation Teddy Bear for Baskets of Blessings - Baskets of Blessings are a charitable trust, that rely on volunteers who coordinate and create donations for individuals and families who need support. So we are helping with one of their famous gifts, which is a Teddy Bear donation for children and we have been given each bear a fancy bow.

Queenstown Gymnastics Club - We attend the club for Health and Development skills. This is a funded opportunity for us and we have been showing our gratitude by helping clean down the gym equipment. 

Queenstown Community Gardens - We have also connected with the QCG to offer our volunteer skills around the gardens and also learn a thing or two about planting and growing. Our gardening friend David has been wonderful in giving us challenging yet achievable tasks. 

Waka Stars Peer Mentoring

Year 9 students wrapped up the term with Waka Stars, a fun general knowledge quiz created by the Student Leadership team. House Leaders supported the event by marking and boosting house spirit, while senior Peer Mentors helped Year 9 Ako groups with teamwork and friendly competition. They all worked hard to make the event a success - congratulations to Duncan House for winning the competition!

Careers

Exciting News: Friday Futures are Back!
We’re thrilled to announce the dates for our upcoming Friday Futures Programme — a fantastic opportunity for students to connect with amazing professionals from our local community. These generous mentors are giving up their time to share insights, stories, and advice about their careers.

https://wakatipu.careerwise.school/post/968

Each session runs for one hour and offers a fun, friendly, and safe space to explore future pathways and ask all your burning questions. It’s a great way to get inspired and think ahead!

 Save the Dates — Registrations open in Term 2:

• Victoria University & Massey University Visit: 21–22 August 2025

• AUT & University of Auckland Visit: 29–30 August 2025

Meet Your Careers Team
Let’s put some faces to the names! We’re your go-to crew for anything careers-related — here to guide, support, and cheer you on.

Photo from Neon Day – because we like to keep things bright and fun!

Head of Careers and Level 3 Careers Support: Linda Richards
Gateway Teacher :Gemma Carter
SAC Coordinator and Careers Support: Penny Hearn
LEAP and Level 2 Careers Support: Lea Lawniczak
Careers Logistics and Support: Ome Allington

Ready to chat about your future? Book a time with us  — we’d love to help!

Sport and Active Recreation News

Athletics

A small contingent from Wakatipu High School travelled to Nelson for the South Island Secondary School Athletics Championships in the weekend. James Weber had a stand out event, winning the Boys U19 800m, 1500m and 3000m events. This hat-trick is a historic first - with James becoming the first Senior Boy to win all three Middle Distance events at the same meet. James also went on to set Southland Age Grade records in both the 800m and 1500m, the former standing since 1989.  Finn Bell also had a good event setting a PB in the Boys U16 800m claiming the bronze medal in the process. Thank you to Neville Britton for this continued support of our athletes, as well as the parents who made an extra special effort in supporting the athletes in getting to Nelson, the weekend's wild weather at the top of the country posed a real challenge for all involved.

Ice Hockey

The ice hockey season has started early this year due to Ice Hockey New Zealand hosting both International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Division IIB Women’s and Men’s world Championships in Dunedin during April and May. 

This has provided an opportunity for some hard working WHS ice hockey players to step up and play the early pre worlds round of the New Zealand Women’s Ice Hockey League (NZWIHL) and New Zealand Ice Hockey League (NZIHL) for men. Sisters Shiloh and Zoe Thurston played at home for the Wakatipu Wild team last weekend. They played out their nerves on the Friday night and played with more confidence in the puck in the Saturday night game against the Auckland Steel. 

Blake Campbell has progressed from playing age groups national ice hockey in the Junior Stampede to now being part of the SkyCity Stampede defensive lines both at home and away against the Botany Swarm and Canterbury Red Devils. Having now played for NZ U18 in Mexico and SkyCity Stampede his hockey season is going strong.

Swimming

A huge congratulations to Mark Lauko and Finn Henderson who travelled to Auckland over Summer Tournament Week to compete in the Division II National Swimming Competition. With around 350 swimmers from across the country, it was a fantastic event, and both boys did incredibly well. They achieved some outstanding PBs and top 10 placings, with a special shoutout to Mark who placed 1st in the 13-year-old boys’ 400IM and 3rd in the 200m breaststroke - an awesome achievement! Finn is also heading off to the National Age Group Championships in Hawke’s Bay. Good luck Finn – we’re cheering you on.

Snowsports

Congratulations to Cooper Breen who achieved another podium finish in Europe, achieving a silver in the Freeski Halfpipe EC Premium in Corvatsch!

Equestrian

Congratulations to Zoe Johnston who has been selected to represent New Zealand at the Senior National High School Rodeo Finals in Wyoming this July. 

Volleyball

A number of WHS students have been selected to represent Volley South at the 2025 Volleyball New Zealand Inter-Provincial Championships to be held in Wellington from Friday 30 May - Tuesday 3 June. Well done to the following!

• U17 Boys: Nhico Bigcas, Jaxon Lawton, Tai Te Paa
• U19 Boys - Haru Kuroe
• U17 Girls - Marian Navasca, Holly Coutts, Cerys Phillips, Luana Kirchoff Pereira and Lily Jamieson (non-travelling reserve)
• U19 Girls - Sheana Solomon

Young Riders Features WHS Alumni

Keep an eye out for Season 5 of "Young Riders" featuring our very own Class of 2024 graduates, Cara Quinn and Holly Mackenzie! They were selected to be among just 5 South Island showjumpers and 10 riders nationwide to take part in the show about young NZ equestrians. Catch it starting tomorrow and through the holidays on YouTube/YouTubeKids (link: https://www.youtube.com/@YoungRidersTV), and later on TVNZ+ and Country TV in May.

Upcoming Sporting Action

The 1st XV Rugby team have preseason matches over the school holidays - would love to see you there supporting our players!

• Rosmini College - Wednesday 16th April at WHS. Kick off 11am
  
• Timaru Boys High School - Wednesday 23rd April at Cromwell. Kick off 3pm.

Sports Hoodie

WHS offers a sport hoodie for all students to purchase. This is generic, as opposed to code-specific, which creates alignment of sports uniform items and allows students to use the hoody for multiple sports, saving money for families. Hoodies can be personalised with a student's surname on the back. These can be purchased from the WHS NZ Uniform retail outlet at Remarkables Park (Hawthorne Drive). The hoodies are $95.00 and personalisation $10.00.

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

Mama Mia!

That's a wrap! After five hugely successful sell-out shows, Mama Mia is finished and we couldn't be happier with how it went. The Musical process is one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences at WHS, and it's great to see the students grow through the process to create such a strong community. A huge congratulations to all the cast, crews and staff who helped bring this show to life and an equally huge thank you to the parents and wider community who supported us. 

Thank you also to:

• Our major sponsors, The Wakatipu High School Foundation and TomTom.
• Our Gold Sponsors - Giovi, Tru Women's Gym and Pivotal Point.
• Our Silver Sponsors - Unichem Remarkables & Jacks Point Pharmacy, Photos by Leigh, Bamford McLeod and Showbiz Queenstown and Roost.
• Our Bronze Sponsors - Salon Cutting Edge, Oliver Coutts, Cruikshank Family & Cruikshank Ltd, The Academy Queenstown, Patagonia Chocolate, Eve Beauty  and Chris McLennan Photography

Eliott Allemand

On Tuesday Senior Music students were treated to a fascinating Songwriting, Performance, and Recording workshop with ex-Wakatipu High School student - Eliott Allemand and his fellow Berklee College of Music graduate - Bradley Belmondo. 

Eliott and his US based producer Bradley Belmondo ran two sessions on his experiences as a musician, composer and life in the music world. He is a remarkable musician with a range of skills and it was great to have him back at WHS. 

Band Hub

Band Hub has been running this term as a way for incoming Y9 Music students to learn their way around the music area and meet other like-minded students. As we lost a couple of sessions due to illness and school events, we will run some extra sessions next term to complete the process. From there, we hope to see some of these students forming their own bands and progressing from there. 

Songwriting Group

This week we welcomed Tom Maxwell to join us for a second session of songwriting, and once again, it was great to see him work with the students to progress their creativity and skills.

String Group In Term 2

We will be starting a string group at WHS which will be run by Rakuto Kurano.  Rakuto has recently arrived in Queenstown and is a highly skilled musician and we are very lucky to have him on board here.

Please contact Alison Price at aprice@wakatipu.school.nz for more details. 

Toi Wearable Arts Update

We have had a busy few weeks with TOI on Wednesday afternoons in the Visual Art space. The designs are beginning to come alive, and our students are fully immersed in the making process. With 5 weeks to go - it's exciting to see where these designs will end up.  

Special thanks to all those Parents, Caregivers and community members who have donated materials and mannequins to ensure we can work productively on our designs.

Special thanks to McKenzie and Willis for their contribution of materials.  

Toi Wearable Arts

The Toi Wearable Arts Group are asking for donations:

• sewing materials, old curtains, etc 
• to borrow sewing mannequins/shop mannequins for our groups or if any has one they would like to sell please let Mrs Brown know.

The Jazz Band Raffle

The Southern Jam Youth Jazz Festival is set to take place in Blenheim over a week in August. It's an amazing opportunity for the 20+ band members of the WHS Jazz Band to perform in public at venues of all types and sizes, in competition and in workshops led by some of New Zealand's most respected jazz professionals, and alongside peers from other high schools across the South Island. Our raffle is raising money to help get them there.

Check the poster for all the details and fantastic prizes donated by some awesome local businesses. There will be 25 winning tickets!

Good luck to all who enter, and thank you for supporting this incredible growth experience for our young musicians!

April 18-21 Whakatipu Music Festival

Lots of events and concerts are happening in this time so you should make an event to get to Te Atamira to have a look and listen.

Any students interested are invited to join the big singing event that's happening. There will be no cost to you but you have to commit to the rehearsals & the performance. 

Information is here: https://www.teatamira.nz/events/whakatipu-music-festival-rejoice-community-choir

Rockquest  - Entries close May 1

New Zealand's nationwide, live, original music, youth event giving young musicians the opportunity to perform live in a professional setting, in venues from Northland to Southland.

Smokefreerockquest 2025, powered by Rockshop, aims to motivate young musicians to strive for success, to realise the opportunities available in music careers, and to encourage their peers to support original New Zealand Music.

Please see Mrs Price for all details.

Play It Strange Junior Songwriting Competition - Yrs 9-11

For Year 9-11 students, this competition invites songs on the theme "Threads of Who We Are," encouraging young songwriters to explore identity, connection, and the experiences that shape them.

1st place receives a 1:1 mentor session with one of our competition judges and a $1,000 gift card from the Rockshop.  All finalists will have their song recorded in a professional recording studio (one day to the value of $800 plus gst) to go on the 2025 Peace Song digital album.

Entries close on 30 April, 2025

If you are interested in applying to this competition please see Mrs Price for more details.

More information can be found here: https://www.playitstrange.org.nz/competitions

Arts Time

Great to see the students at the Wednesday Arts Time before school sessions. This will continue next term where we hope to add a few more activities. This is an excellent time for anyone keen on arts-related activities to come and engage with other like minded students and focus on their area of interest.

Extracurricular groups - all updates will be posted on the All Things Arts Classroom Group.  

If you would like to sign up the code is: sijw2gw

Or you can sign up for the Classroom Group here:  https://classroom.google.com/c/MTMyMjY2Mzg5NjMw?cjc=sijw2gw

Exciting visits in ART

Being able to access a visiting artist is an incredible opportunity for our students to get first hand input from established artists. We hope to welcome more artists and professionals in the arts space in the future. If you would like to share your experience and knowledge please get in touch with Arts Coordinator Stine Cooper scooper@wakatipu.school.nz.

Upcoming for Term  2 - 

30 April - Entries close - Play It Strange Junior Songwriting Competition (Yrs 9-11)
3-4 May - YAMI - held in Wānaka
11 May - Rockquest heats (if needed)
24 May - Big Break (Bands and solo/duo)
30 May - Entries close - Play It Strange - Peace Song Competition 
09 June - Toi/Showquest
14 June - Rockquest finals
20 June  - SIX
16 July - Entries close - Play It Strange - Lion Foundation National Songwriting Competition (Yrs 9-13)
31 July - Entries close - Play It Strange - Waiata Māori Competition

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 scooper@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 Mrs Cooper the Arts Coordinator at scooper@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

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