WHS Newsletter | Issue 2.02 | 14 May 2021

Principal's Message

Kia ora and welcome to the Wakatipu High School newsletter at the end of a busy second week. Term 2 is always busy with lots of teaching and learning and assessment for seniors, as well as lots of extra and co-curricular action and we have certainly had both this week.

Yesterday was a busy day here, including with the Loves-Me-Not programme for Year 12s. This programme originated from the Sophie Elliot foundation, and is designed to teach our young people about healthy successful relationships. It involved police as well as other community members and by all accounts was a good day. Click here for a video for parents to see more.

Also yesterday our Rite Journey Year 10 boys headed to the old Kawarau bridge for a bungy jump as part of a programme on resilience that AJ Hackett Bungy are developing.

The Accord Day on Tuesday, to enable us to prepare for the upcoming (2023) NCEA changes, was a productive and useful day for us. The two area of focus were: Mana ōrite mō te mātauranga Māori, which is about lifting the mana and place of all things Māori in education; and literacy and numeracy, including significantly lifting the importance of these key areas in education and NCEA - more on this in the future.

You will see below our annual piece on adverse weather. While it has not had a lot of use in the past two winters unfortunately, in previous years we have often had our first ‘snow day’ in the last week of May. Please do read it to ensure you understand how we will communicate on those days (and be sure you’ve got the WHS App installed and setup on your phone!).

A couple of reminders:

• Excellence and Ad Alta Assemblies - are next week, details in Key Dates below and parents of award recipients have been notified.
• Another reminder that we are offering parent tours on Wednesdays starting next week. Click here to book.

A nice newsletter below with lots of student activity and achievement in a range of areas from YAMI to rowing and many things in between, we hope you enjoy it. Our Associate Principal, Mr Nathan will be writing this opening piece next week. 

Another pretty average weekend of weather ahead with showers or rain forecast on both days - but Saturday definitely looks best for being outside and winter sport :).

Steve Hall
Principal

Adverse Weather

With winter fast approaching and cold temperatures on the way, this article provides some details about adverse weather. Again this winter we will communicate adverse weather events to: 

• Parents - via WHS App (SchoolZine) and the website
• Students - via internal WHS email

Adverse Weather Overnight and early Morning

We will liaise with QLDC’s roading contractor and the bus coordinator and make a decision re any changes to the school day. If changes are made they are likely to be: 

1. School is open as normal, however some buses may be delayed or cancelled.
2. School has a delayed start (often 10am), with a compacted timetable. Buses may be delayed or cancelled.
3. School is closed. 

Please note that we liaise with all the schools in the Wakatipu Basin, and our decisions are generally coordinated (although sometimes conditions are different for schools). 

Adverse Weather During the School Day

Please note that closing the school early is problematic for a number of reasons (notably trying to run all buses early), and we will try and run school until the normal end of day if at all possible. Accordingly we do not want parents coming to school to collect their children unless specifically notified to do so. 

The likely scenarios for adverse weather events during the school day are: 

1. School runs until normal time, and buses run as normal. 
2. School runs until normal time, but some buses run early &/or runs are altered. 
3. School closes early, with buses also running early. In some cases bus routes may be altered. 
4. In an extreme adverse weather event students may be kept at school until travel is safe or even stay overnight. 

James Rasmussen
Deputy Principal

WHS SZ App

All parents, caregivers and students should download the SZapp to your device as this is how we will communicate urgent and important school alerts and our weekly newsletter. The app also features an absence form, the online school cafe, a calendar and some handy links! See below information on how to download the WHS SZ app. 

 Apple Devices

1. On your device, open the App Store.
2. Search the App Store for SZapp.
3. Download and install SZapp.

 Android Devices

1. On your device, open the Play Store.
2. Search the Play Store for SZapp.
3. Download and install SZapp.

Head Student Message

Coming up onto our third week of term - time seems to be flying. Term 2 definitely seems to be sizing up as one of the busiest terms this year. We hit the ground running with house debating. Make sure to go and support your houses, as a win in house debating could mean all the difference in the house competition!

Not just debating but so many other important things are happening - last weekend was Yami, the biennial music summit for youth in music. Featuring artists such as Troy Kingi, Anderson Rocio and P Digsss PD, it’s safe to say that it was a blast to work with these tutors. At Yami you’re able to go to any class you wish to, from beat making to songwriting - even classes about how to promote music. I went along with my band members Hannah White, Paige Loggenberg, and Lucy Glover. I cannot recommend Yami enough for those interested in all forms of music. 

Coming up later in the term we also have Rockquest which is an annual music competition for intermediate and highschool students. If you’re interested in music, I highly recommend trying your hand at this competition. In my opinion, one of the highlights of Wakatipu High School is the support they offer their art students - whether it be music, art, or drama - there’s always events for every area.

Next Friday (21st) the Whanaungatanga Council is running Pink Shirt Day! This is an awesome, pink-themed accessory day to celebrate working together to stop bullying by celebrating diversity and promoting kindness and inclusiveness. There will be a range of activities running during the day and prizes up for grabs so be sure to get involved! 

Speak up, Stand Together, Stop Bullying!

A reminder for everyone to relax this term. A lot of assessments start to pick up and it’s important to remember not to worry. You got this! Make sure you take breaks and rest up :). Remember to have some fun, especially with the formal coming up for those senior students!

Kira Almquist
Arts and Cultural Council Prefect

Academic Council

The second annual Academic Council Scavenger Hunt drew to a conclusion last term, with the possibility of free brownies proving to be too tempting for many students to resist.

Congrats to Juniors Alisha Messingham, Kieran Leftley, Bailee Ellison, Jorja Dawson, Oscar Burns, and Tara Forrest. Special congrats to Linus Ritchie and Will Cooper who not only represented the senior school, but also won the Scavenger Hunt overall. Don’t worry if you haven’t received your prize yet; it’s on the way. Thanks to everyone who got involved and be sure to stay tuned for more upcoming events around school, as well as next year’s return of the Scavenger Hunt :)

Helena Hornbacher
Academic Lead Prefect

WHS Climbing Team

Up up and away - Wednesday after school session at Basecamp

Last Wednesday saw half a dozen students heading to Basecamp Indoor Climbing Centre which is just a stone's throw away across the road from  our kura.
For an hour and a half students went through several activities to learn or to improve their climbing technique.  A mini and fun competition ran which was similar to a climbing marathon, and students had to scale as many climbs as possible as teams to win. Needless to say that by the end of this first session there were some sore forearms but happy students.

Mr Guillaume Charton
Teacher in Charge of Climbing

Languages Learning Area -Our International Community

Languages Community Champion of the Week - Annabelle Numaguchi

To follow on from last term's newsletters in discovering languages champions in our community, we are very privileged to welcome Annabelle in this newsletter. Annabelle shares her amazing experience of learning languages in this interview.

Tell us about yourself
My mother is French and my father American and I grew up living around the world, including going to high school in Athens, Greece.  I did my schooling in English, but I always found a French community to be part of.  While I've always spoken French, I really became fluent by spending time in France (visiting relative and a uni semester in Paris) and living in Morocco, where French is an official language, for two years.

You've had many amazing jobs in your life, can you share what they were? 
One of the most interesting jobs I had was teaching English at Ibn Zohr University in Agadir, Morocco as a US Peace Corps Volunteer.  I used to have to walk through a herd of goats to get to the beautifully manicured campus.  The library possessed no books.  Morocco is a gorgeous country, though it was challenging to live there, particularly as a young woman.  One of the less glamorous jobs using French was working for a telemarketing company, verifying a database of hospital contacts in Quebec.  

What impact has learning/speaking another language had on your professional / personal? 
Being bilingual has always opened doors, either to meet new people or find a job.  One of the requirements for acquiring a Master of Arts was demonstrating a literary level of competency in a second language.  Best of all, it's having a second way of expressing myself.  My husband, who is fluent in Japanese, and I have noticed that our mannerisms change according to the language we speak, which is not surprising since language is reflective of culture and different ways of seeing things.

What was the highlight of being able to speak another language in your life?
My highlight was realizing that I'd shared this skill with my daughter, Ella, with whom I will now have conversations in French.  I've spoken to my children in French since they were born even though they mostly responded in English.  When Ella was sixteen, she spent a year in La Walonie in Belgium with Rotary Youth Exchange and now she is completely fluent.  I hope Miles will spend time in a francophone country too one day as this was how my brother and I became fluent too.

Any advice to give to students at WHS about learning languages.
Don't get bogged down in the grammar at first; just throw yourself into it and don't worry about making mistakes.  It's how native speakers of a language learn...children speak in a rudimentary style at first too.  Once you have the basics, immerse yourself.  Go live for a month, two months...two years in a country that speaks the language.  And eventually, make sure you know the grammar, especially if you want to use the language professionally.

Sports News and Information

Toby Meek’s Professional MTB Racing Selection

For a small resort town, Queenstown punches well above its weight when it comes to mountain biking on the world stage. Most of New Zealand’s professional riders base themselves here for the racing off-season due to Queenstown’s high calibre and variety of mountain bike trails. Queenstown has a global reputation as being one of the world’s best mountain bike meccas and it is also now being recognized as a region that is starting to produce a strong talent pool of junior athletes for world cup mountain bike racing.

Last year Wakatipu High School student, Toby Meek, was approached by Markus Stoeckl, owner of one of the most recognised downhill (DH) MTB racing teams, MS Mondraker. Markus invited Toby to Europe for 8 weeks to meet and ride with the MS Mondraker team. Toby spent September and October learning the team operations and riding with some of the most talented riders on the World Cup scene.

At the end of last year, Toby was offered a formal professional contract to race as the Junior Elite team rider for MS Mondraker. Toby accepted and will spend the 2021 Northern Hemisphere summer racing in Europe. He will travel to Austria, where the team is based, on May 23. Toby’s team will have a home training base in Schladming, Austria and travel to the season’s race events each month on the MS Mondraker team bus. This impressive bus includes bed cubicles, a bathroom, kitchen, lounge area, washing machine and bike storage.

Toby will spend his first two weeks in Austria testing his new race bike and will start training with the team. Toby’s first world cup race will be on June 11 and he will compete in the Junior Elite category which is Under 19. Toby will be the youngest competitor in the field. WHS looks forward to following Toby’s adventures and progress over the European summer and wish him all the very best for this significant next step in following his passion. It is an amazing achievement to have a junior downhill rider selected from Queenstown to race for a high-profile, international race team. You can follow Toby on his upcoming adventures via his Instagram account: @tobymeek27

Southland Secondary School Cross Country Champs
14 students competed at the Southland Cross Country Champs on a sunny but brisk day in Te Anau on Wednesday. Our athletes achieved an awesome set of results between them and it's great to see the hard work and training paying off in terms of another good medal haul for our runners. A big thank you to coaches Neville Britton and Ms Scott for all of their efforts with our team and for taking the students on the day. 
Results:          
Dylan Collins - 1st Under 13 Boys  3km
Siena Mackley - 1st Under 14 Girls  3km
Pippa McAtamney - 2nd Under 14 Girls
Jude Deaker - 1st Under 14 Boys  3km (with a New Course Record)
Tom Schenk - 2nd Under 14 Boys
Sammy Fookes - 2nd Under 16 Girls 3km
Hannah Battrick - 2nd Senior Girls 4km

Wakatipu Rowing Club Awards
The Wakatipu Rowing Club held its end of season awards ceremony on Sunday celebrating the outstanding results achieved by Wakatipu High School rowers this season. Congratulations to the rowers below who won overall awards. Prizes were awarded by Mayor Jim Boult, club Patron.
Novice of the Year: Toby Rorrison and Josh Viana
Most Improved Rower: Neave Bates
Crew of the Year: Marley King-Smith and Sam MacAtamey
Coaches Choice “Performance of the Year”: Keely Erskine, Phoebe Cavanagh, Ellie Shuttleworth Primrose Johnson and Charlotte Muir
Dedication (Club Member of the Year): Holly Rogers
Rower of the Year: Marley King-Smith
Sportsmanship, Performance and Leadership Award: Charlotte Muir

Winter Sports Training Timetable
The winter sports teams training timetable can be found on the link below: Winter Sports Training TT

Week 2 Sports Draw
Basketball
Junior Boys A - bye
Monday
Senior A Boys vs Senior B Boys - WHS 5:30pm

Hockey
Friday
WHS 1st XI vs Dunstan 1st XI - Cromwell 7:30pm 
Sunday
WHS 2nd XI vs Cromwell Red - Cromwell 2:45pm
WHS Gold vs DHS Destroyers - Cromwell 4:00pm 
WHS Blue vs DHS Dodgers - Cromwell 5:15pm 

Netball
Draw can be found here: https://www.sporty.co.nz/wakatipunetball/Draws-Results

Rugby
Saturday
1st XV vs Waitaki Boys High School - WBHS 1pm
U15 Cup vs Taieri High School - Peter Johnstone Park 11:15am
U14 Cup vs South Otago High School - Balclutha Showgrounds 11:15am

Youth Sport Parents
Below is a link to a series of short video clips on the most important aspects to remember for parents of youth athletes and coaches. These golden rules are presented by some of NZ’s most respected athletes. 

10 Golden Rules For Youth Sport Parents

Thursday Morning Run Group
Ms Scott is once again leading the Thursday morning run group this term. This group is open to anyone and everyone of all abilities and is a great way to get into running socially. The group meets in the foyer ready to depart at 7:40am every Thursday. Email Ms Scott if you are keen to give it a go

Rugby Referee Scholarships
There are two scholarships available for students who would be keen to take up rugby refereeing as part of the NZ Junior Rugby festival that takes place in Taupo and Queenstown in the October holidays. This is a great place to start refereeing. The scholarship will cover start up costs, boots, whistle, gear (up to $150) and all flights, accommodation, food and transport to ref at the NZJRF in Taupo. The organisers are also happy to cover costs of one parent/guardian to come to Taupo if required. The following week, you would referee at the Queenstown leg of the event and meet and get to know some of the local refs that have been part of the tournament since we started the festival 10 years ago. If you are interested, please email Mrs Nathan by Tuesday 18 May.

Highlanders are Coming to Town
The Highlanders will take on the Melbourne Rebels in Queenstown at the Event Centre Oval at 2:35pm on Sunday 30 May. This is an awesome opportunity to watch the local super rugby team in action! Grab your tickets from Ticketek now.

NZSKI Passes
The annual ski pass for WHS students is now online and available for purchasing. Parents/Caregivers can use either the Coronet peak or Remarkables web store to purchase these discounted passes. Everybody purchasing a local school's season pass just needs to select June 11 as prompted, this prompts a dropdown box of which school they attend.
The cut off date for purchase is at the end of August. 
Coronet Peak: https://shop.coronetpeak.co.nz/qt-secondary-schools
Remarkables: https://shop.theremarkables.co.nz/qt-secondary-schools

Term 2 Hoody Order
https://forms.gle/Kxxc9eKkqQdycaH66
Due Friday 21st May

Keep Us Informed
The sports department would love to hear from you if you know of any awesome achievements from our students so that we can celebrate these as a school. Please send through details and photos to lnathan@wakatipu.school.nz. 

Support Sport at WHS
Jump on board and support the team by liking or following the Wakatipu High School Sports Facebook page. This is the best way to stay informed and up to date with the successes of our athletes and teams and help celebrate their great achievements. 

Laura Nathan
Director of Sport

Arts News and Information

PLAY IT STRANGE

A huge congratulations to Billie Comer who has received first place for the "Voice of Our Youth" in the Play It Strange - Youthtown Songwriting Competition. Play It Strange run several competitions throughout the year with this one being pitched at Y9-11 students. These competitions are extremely popular with schools throughout the country and have large numbers of students involved. The top 24 songs are recorded professionally and then added to an annual Play It Strange album. Only the first placed song is acknowledged separately and is recognised as a considerable achievement. 

Congratulations also to Jack Speedy whose song “Don’t Call Me Home” is a finalist in making the top 24 songs for the Play It Strange album. A great achievement for a first-time entry into this competition. 

BIG BREAK

Big Break is happening this Friday night in the WHS Theatre starting at 6.00pm. Friends and family are welcome to come and support the students. 

YAMI

Last weekend some of our students attended the YAMI music summit held in Wanaka. This is a bi-annual event that brings in musicians from the industry to work with students from around the region. There were workshops during the day in a range of areas including performance, music tech and composition. The main concert was held on Sunday evening with many of our students performing. The students involved were:

Lucy Glover, Paige Loggenberg, Kira Almquist, Hannah White, Ollie McLean, Cameron Kennedy Brown, Dillon Bouchier, Harry Thomas, Timo Souness, Toby Hart, Minna Zhu, Connor Ravenwood, Billie Comer, Ollie Bailey, Ashton White, Luka Bouchier, Hugh Hodgson, Helen Hornbacher, Harper Souness, Lincoln Reddell, Sam Riddle and Bethany Graf.

Footnote Masterclass Workshop 

On Monday some professional dancers from  Footnote New Zealand Dance came to WHS to run a workshop with some of our contemporary dance students. Footnote New Zealand Dance is Aotearoa’s longest-running contemporary dance company. 

"At the workshop, we were taught four contemporary dance pieces that worked with movement in various ways. We played with movements that flowed together in a Tai Chi type way, as well as movements that were quick and exact. We worked on quick changes in speeds and directions and using your whole body to communicate a story. This was very useful for us to extend our knowledge of styles and body control to bring to our own dances and choreographies. The most fun part was when we were taught a section of Artifact, a dance from Footnote's current show, The Movement. This dance asks the question of what will remain of the human voice, especially the indigenous voice, as technology begins to take over our lives. This dance really challenged our control with precise movements as we had to be robotic but also flow from one move to another and understand the idea we were trying to express. The workshop was really fun, while also being useful in improving my skills as a dancer. I hope we get more opportunities like this within the arts." - Zoe Barham, Student and Dancer

Eva Hemingway - Year 10 Junior Artist of the Week

Introducing a very talented young lady who has shone in our Visual Art department all year. She has successfully produced many designs in our "What's in a Word" unit that are original and professional.  Oozing creativity and motivation, this student is one to watch.  Well done, Eva.

Careers Department - Student Job Vacancies

Looking for a part time job with more work in the holidays? 
We are now hiring staff who can work over the school holidays and work part time either in our new restaurant in town, opening in July or our restaurant in Frankton. We have a number of positions available in Customer Service and Food Preparation for students from Wakatipu High School. 

Apply Now at https://careers.mcdonalds.com/new-zealand/ enter Queenstown as your location and begin your application.

ARE YOU A LOCAL STUDENT ON THE LOOKOUT FOR A  JOB? GREAT NEWS….WE’RE HIRING!

 A long term, part time job while studying. The ideal candidate will be at least 17 years old. We will provide you with valuable skills, training and experience that you can either build on for a hospitality career once study has finished - or take with you when you head off overseas.
We can offer flexible hours to suit your needs, such as part time work while at school and work during university holidays.Learn the skills of hospitality in one of Queenstown’s most popular restaurants.

 You will be well presented and bring the right attitude along with a desire to learn.

 If this sounds like you, then email lou@flamebargrill.co.nz

WHS Foundation

Key Dates

Community Notices