• William Pike with Year 9s.
  • A year nine student with William Pike's book for The Big Read.
  • Senior Prefects 2018.
  • Joshua Chin and Parents.
  • Oscar Guo

March news from Westlake Boys High School

The Big Read

Starting high school can be quite a daunting experience and a big step up from life at Intermediate.  At the beginning of every school year two questions always crop up: ‘What can we do to help our Year 9 students settle in and feel they belong at Westlake?’ and ‘How do we get them reading?’  Westlake Boys has developed a new programme, The Big Read, to help address both these questions. 

The idea could not be simpler – at the end of last year, every incoming Year 9 student was given a copy of the same book and asked to read it over the summer.  This gave every student something in common from day one; an ice-breaker they can talk about with any other Year 9 student.  The Big Read also sets the expectation that reading is a central part of school life every day.  Like every other skill, the more they practice, the better they will become and we want to encourage them to read for pleasure so that it is easier to read for class.

The book we gave the boys is ‘Every Day’s a Good Day’ by Westlaker (old boy) William Pike.  It is his story of what happened when he was caught on Mt Ruapehu as it erupted in 2007, resulting in him losing half his right leg.  A story of courage and determination, it embodies many of the values Westlake Boys aims to nurture in its students: try your best, always have a positive attitude and follow your passion.

William came to talk about his experience to our Year 9 students and was genuinely inspiring.  He made the story very real for them and one lucky student got to help him remove his leg and clean it!  William stressed the importance of developing close relationships, having a strong sense of purpose and setting goals.  He also explained that you don’t have to climb mountains in order to be an explorer - that the boys can all be explorers by seeking out new opportunities and challenging themselves. 

The Big Read is much more than just everyone reading the same book. Elements of ‘Every Day’s a Good Day’ are being incorporated into the Year 9 English and Social Studies curricula.  Westlake Boys is also offering the William Pike Challenge Award as an option for many of the Year 9 students. The WPCA programme comprises outdoor activities, community service and developing a hobby.  Headmaster, David Ferguson, says, “We are working towards developing Character Education as a part of our curriculum for all students and the Big Read is an excellent springboard for this.”

Head Prefects 2018

Our Head Boy for 2018 is Joseph Scopas, an excellence-endorsed student who plays football in the 1st and 2nd XI teams, is a Peer Tutor and serves on the Careers and Enviro Councils.  He is supported by our Senior Prefect team of two Deputy Head Boys; Sam Brewis and Ryan Zent, Academic Captain Duncan Tolmie, Cultural Captain Sam Nicholson and Sports Captain Stuart Hofmeyr.  They all epitomise the Westlake Way, working hard academically, while taking part in numerous extra-curricular activities and contributing to the wider school community.  Along with the six House Leaders and 34 other prefects, we know these young men will be excellent leaders this year and great role models for the younger students.

Academic Accolades

At our annual Scholars’ Assembly we celebrated the astounding academic achievements of our highest-performing students. Headmaster, David Ferguson reminded the students that, while we are proud of their extra-curricular accolades, the single most important thing they should focus on at school is their academic results. 

Students across Years 11 to 13 gave noteworthy performances in the external examinations and we were pleased to maintain high percentage pass rates at all levels of NCEA and CIE and University Entrance.

Dux for 2017 is Joshua Chin, who achieved two Outstanding Scholarships and four Scholarships, across a diverse range of subjects, along with 4 A* Grades (90%+) at A level.  He plans to study Health Sciences at Otago University and enter the medical profession.  

Proxime Accessit for 2017 is Jonathan Wang, with one Outstanding Scholarship and five Scholarships and five A* Grades at A level.  Jonathan has been accepted into Cambridge University to study Engineering, as well as receiving offers of places at Auckland, Melbourne and Sydney.

Scholarships

Our students received a total of 151 Scholarships, which are awarded to only the top 3% of students entered for a particular NCEA subject.  Of these, 20 were Outstanding Scholarships, which are awarded to the top 0.3%.

In addition to Joshua and Jonathan, four other students - Winston Yao, David Xiao, Lawrence Gao and Stefan Ivanov - received Outstanding Scholar Awards, by gaining five or more Scholarships with one Outstanding or three Scholarships with two Outstanding.  This puts them in the top 60 students in the country, which is all the more remarkable for Stefan, who received six Scholarships including two Outstanding, as a Year 12 student!  Fifteen Year 12 students and three Year 11 students picked up Scholarships, competing with students one and two years ahead of them.

Top NCEA Students

David Moore broke the school record for Excellence credits at Level 1, with 115, and three students received six Level 1 Excellence course endorsements. Head Boy, Joseph Scopas, received 106 Level 2 Excellence credits and six Excellence course endorsements.  Yea Kang Chu achieved four Level 3 Excellence course endorsements and an Outstanding Scholarship in Biology.

Top Cambridge Awards 

A number of students received top awards in the Cambridge International Examinations.  Particularly remarkable was Gareth Edwards, receiving two Top in New Zealand and one Top in the World IGCSE Awards.  Gareth and Faiz Charania both acquired 7 A* Grades at IGCSE.

Climbing the world rankings

Year 13 student, Oscar Guo, recently won his first senior badminton international title at the Yonex North Harbour International tournament. This, combined with an outstanding performance at the Victor Oceania Championships 2018, sees Oscar climb to a personal best 13th place in the World Junior Rankings and 193rd in the World Senior Rankings.  We continue to follow Oscar’s badminton career with interest and true Westlake pride.

Dr. Shimi Kang Presentation

Dr. Shimi Kang is a Harvard-trained psychiatrist and best-selling author on raising well-balanced children.  We welcome you to hear Dr. Kang speak on Wednesday 21 March at 7pm in the Westlake Boys Auditorium.  Tickets are $10 and the event is open to anyone in the community.  For more details about Dr. Kang and to purchase tickets head to Eventbrite at https://wbhsdrshimikang.eventbrite.co.nz.


Issue 85 March 2018