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Celebrating National Poetry Day at East

30th Jul 2010

Students got treats in the library as they played with poetry. Anyone who had learnt the verse from 'The Owl and the Pussycat' that had featured in the notices all week and recited it to a librarian got a treat, people who rearranged lines of poetry into the correct order got a treat and others wrote their own short poems at the writing desk.

Our very own teacher-librarian, Saradha Koirala, had her poem featured in the Dominion Post on Thursday this week as the poem of the day.

Brigadoon

30th Jul 2010

This musical is by Lerner and Loewe (Camelot, My Fair Lady). It is set in Scotland in the 18th century, and is a wonderful mix of romance, dancing, singing and fun. Two modern day hunters are lost in the woods, and come across Brigadoon, a little town that magically appears out of the mist every hundred years for one day. During this day there is a wedding, a funeral, punch-ups, men in kilts and of course one of the men falls in love with a girl that he has to leave at the end of their day.

Kapa Haka Welcomes Boca

20th Jul 2010

On Monday, the Wellington East Kapa Haka welcomed the Argentinian soccer players, the Boca Juniors, to New Zealand. See the full article and photo on The Dominion Post website.

Old Girls off to Worlds

8th Jul 2010

The Infinite dance crew has a long connection to East, having performed at various talent nights and as half-time entertainment at various events. The crew includes former head prefect, Phoebe Smith, and former deputy head prefect, Anna Robinson and current Arts Prefect, Elise Hoggard.

See the full article and video clip about them winning the NZ hip hop competition which qualifies them for the hip hop world champs.

Second at World Champs

4th Jul 2010

Year 9 student, Bryony Campbell of 954, has come second at the world finals for Future Problem Solving. She got the placing in a team of three who were competing in the middle division 'Onsite Scenario Writing' section.

Bryony entered the NZ competition last year, where as a Year 8 student at South Wellington Intermediate School, she was on of the youngest competitors in the middle division, which goes from Year 8 to Year 10.

She entered the scenario writing section, which involves being given a topic and writing a possible future scenario about it. Her topic was �The Counterfeit Economy� and she focussed on the medical industry. On the day of the national finals in Auckland, she also took part on the on-site category for scenario writing over two hours. She placed first overall in both categories.

Her top placing earned her the right to enter the world finals which were held at he University of Wisconsin, USA. At the finals she was placed in a team of three with girls from Florida and Kansas and they had to write about �Green Living�. This team won second place in the middle division.

Wellington East has entered teams into the competition as part of the Gifted and Talented Programme and last year our senior division team came first in their category at the national finals, but decided not to enter the world finals.

Lunch-time Bargains

30th Jun 2010

The Year 10 Economics classes had their annual market days last week. Each team had to come up with value-added products and market them around the school. On the market day the students came up with original ideas about stall presentation and thought about sales pitches, pricing and signage.

New trends emerged this year with friendship bracelets, scrunchies and home-made hair bows selling well and the reuse of scrap materials being a strong selling point for billboard-wallets and jean-bags.

E Tipu e rea

29th Jun 2010

Te Whânau Tûtahi (TWT) have developed a programme to bring speakers and role models in front of our Maori girls to talk about their different pathway to success, and to further encourage the girls to try new things and broaden their horizons.

This programme, called E Tipu e rea aims to inspire our girls and show them that through hard work, with support from friends and whânau, and some faith in themselves � that anything is possible.

Guest speakers and role models will give the girls some good ideas on what they need to do to prepare and plan for success during and after college. The girls will also see that EVERYONE can achieve, and that it is not exclusive if you�re prepared to put in the hard yards.

E Tipu e rea began during the recent noho marae for te reo students of all levels, with the girls attending a �Pulse� training session at Te Rauparaha Arena in Porirua. The girls were met by the Pulse Assistant Coach and former international netballer, Gail Parata. Gail spoke to the girls about the hard work and commitment required to compete at the elite sporting level � and how it opens doors for players in all areas � not just in netball. The girls all enjoyed the chat with Gail � and then had a chance to watch the Pulse team train.

Good Placing at Regionals

22nd Jun 2010

The WEGC Junior Underwater Hockey team cam 3rd in the Central Regionals,
beating Wellington Girls' College in a play-off for third. This means they will represent the school at Nationals in Rotorua in September.

MVP � Columbia Cox

Captain - Alice Orchard

Vice Captain � Sophie Scott.

NZ First for East Old Girl

22nd Jun 2010

Lieutenant Alexandra Hansen was a student at Wellington East before joining the NZ Navy.

She recently made history by being named the first woman commanding officer of a ship at the age of 28. See the article about her from The Herald or watch a news clip from TVNZ.

Vote for Sam

17th Jun 2010

Sam Lee was in Year 13 last year and was 2009 College Sports Sportswoman of the Year. She broke NZ records in swimming in both her age group and national levels.

To help her win the people's choice prize in the AMP Scholarships, worth $10,000 go to the AMP website and search for 'Samantha Lee' and make your vote.

Samoan Language Week Award

17th Jun 2010

Matauaina Fagalilo of Year 9 has won the Samoan language week competition held by 783AM. Her prize was $1,000 and a Samoan history book.

The competition was held over a few weeks, and entrants were given a Samoan text, which they had a few weeks to study.

They then answered a series of questions about the text and from the 80 entrants, 8 finalists were chosen for the final phase.

This stage involved students giving a one minute impromptu speech on the topic of 'Futures. Matauaina spoke about how students need to go to classes and be into their school weok and that families need structure and support for their children in place at home.

Zumbathon

13th Jun 2010

The Wellington East Zumbathon held on Saturday was a success. Qualified Zumba instructors donated their time to take the classes in Civic Square. "Over $700 was raised for World Vision and a great time was had by all," said Joanna Sage, the Charity Prefect who led the Committee in organising the event.

Choirs Clean Up

11th Jun 2010

The four choirs at the Big Sing dominated their night, winning a total of four major prizes and a highly commended, the most total prizes of any school on the night. This is our best showing in recent memory and staff and students were ecstatic when winners were announced.

Prizes

Best Popular Music Performance � Multi Choir for �Higher and Higher�
Best Student Direction � Emily Wilby and Freya Head for Senior Choir
Best Folk Song � Cantala for �Niska Banja�
Best Romantic Song � Cantala for �Ave Maria�
Highly Commended New Zealand Composed Song � Cantala for �Meeting at Night�

One of the highlights was an eight part harmony in �Ave Maria� that Cantala had been working on all year. Cantala, the new name of the Small Choir, won prizes for all three of their songs. The other highlight was the standing ovation received by the Multi Choir after they ended the night with rousing rendition of 'Higher and Higher'.

In the last few years we have consistenly won the Student Direction categories. Again this year we had the best showing three out of four of our choirs being fully student lead and directed.

Students ended up having a 12 hour day at the Town Hall, and staff were full of praise for the spirit, pride and impeccable behaviour of the girls.

Programme

Junior Choir � conducted by Sapeer Mayron of Year 13

�Happy Together� arranged by Sapeer Mayron

Senior Choir � conducted by Emily Wilby and Freya Head of Year 13

�Pacem Blessing� by Bach
�Weep No More� by David Childs
�April In Paris� by Kirstin McKenzie

Multi Choir � conducted by Siliga Tinilau and Kristy-Lee Tanuvasa of Year 13

�Ave Maria� by Bach and Gounod
�Higher and Higher� by Jackie Wilson
�You Won�t Be Alone� written by Kristy-Lee Tanuvasa

Cantala (Small Choir) � conducted by Brent Stewart, teacher in charge of Music

�Ave Maria� by Holst
�Meeting at Night� by Pepe Becker
�Niska Banja� a traditional song

Waka Ama Medals

28th May 2010

Taelar Samuel of Year 12 has gained two bronze medasl in the first week of competition at the world championships in New Caledonia this week.

The first medal in the teams event came on her birthday, topping it off perfectly.

Claymation

26th May 2010

Electives are offered to students for one hour a week. In one elective, students work on claymation projects - from storyboarding, building the sets and figures, to filming and editing. For the best results, the clay figures have to be manipulated like actors performing on a stage.

Student Work:

Plum Role for Actress

21st May 2010

Bethany Miller of Year 11 has been given the role of Ann Frank in the play 'The Diary of Anne Frank' which is being put on by the Wellington Repertory Theatre. There was a lot of competition for the role.

Bethany has been studying Dance and Drama and Music at East and is in many choirs and musical groups, as well as taking extra singing, piano and speech and drama lessons out of school. She hopes to go on to a career in the performing arts when she finishes school.

In Year 9 Bethany had a lead role in the school's production of Les Miserables.

Irish Eyes are Smiling

14th May 2010

Media Prefect, Jessica Milne, has come second in a NZ competition. She wrote an essay entitled 'The Irish Language and the Literary Revival' and it was entered in the Rodney Walshe Irish Essay Competition for 2010.

The winner received an expenses paid trip to Irland, with Jessica and the third place winner getting Waterford Crystal.

Author Visits Classes

14th May 2010

A visit by author Fleur Beale was a rewarding experience for two Year 11 English classes. The students had studied I am not Esther and enjoyed listening to the popular author recount her experiences that inspired the book. Beale also read from her new non-fiction book, The Sins of the Father. There was an opportunity at the end for budding writers to chat with Beale and for fans to get their own copies of her books signed.

On the Road

12th May 2010

Year 12 Geography Students were out and about in the Tongariro National Park area during Week 3 to collect samples of the area for their Geographic Research Achievement Standard. The group also got see to the Tangiwai Disaster Site, visit National Park DoC headquarters, visit the Tokaanu Hot Pools and experience nature first hand.

Culture and Arts

11th May 2010

In this week's student run assembly we were treated to some Latin dance featuring Milena Taryan of Year 13, a show of different African fashions and a ukulele group performance of the Jason Mraz song 'I'm Yours'.

Coffee for a Cause

6th May 2010

The Active Collective organised an Oxfam Coffee Break as part of Fair Trade Week on Wednesday at lunch time.

Along with ethically produced Cafe L'affaire coffee and hot chocolate, they sold home-made goodies and raised $240. Students could pick up pamphlets and learn more about fair trade as they got their lunch-time pick-me-up.

Shakespeare Performance Awarded

3rd May 2010

A scene directed by Mrs Miller, HoD Performing Arts, was given a Specially Commended award at the annual Sheilah Winn regionals, held at WEGC last week.

The competition involves many different schools with groups, either teacher or student directed, selecting, interpreting and performing a scene from a Shakespeare play.

Mrs Miller's group tackled Macbeth (Act 4 Scene 1) and focussed on staying true to Shakespeare's play and really trying to get a contemporary audience to understand the effect that the supernatural elements of the play would have had on an Elizabethan audience.

The students came up with a lot of their own ideas and directed their own ensemble work. Mrs Miller was particularly proud of them because they were the youngest group in the competition, with students ranging from Year 9 to Year 11.

There was also a student directed group of Year 12 students from WEGC who performed on the same night.

Summer Tournament Celebrations

29th Mar 2010

After finishing 9th in their division last year, the Senior A Volleyball team improved to 4th place this year.

The Waka Ama team had some successes, wtih the Under 16 team getting two gold medals in the 250m and 500m. We have several girls going to the world championships later this year.

World Vision Week Success

24th Mar 2010

A week of lunchtime entertainment all for a good cause was organised by the Charity, Music, Arts and Cultural Prefects during 22-26 March. This week of lunchtime events was to raise money to go towards the $24,000 goal for the 2010 World Vision 40 Hour Famine.

The first event on Monday was the Cultural Food Fair with a variety of tempting delights from Indian, Indonesian, Mexican, Chinese, Samoan and African cuisine to choose from. Tuesday�s entertainment, �Don�t Forget the Lyrics� competition, proved to be a new and popular event. A Clothes Swop was held on Thursday, with clothes donated from Recycle Boutique. The final event was a dance extravaganza with performances from Infinite and Authentic, two Wellington dance groups.

Frisbee Team Almost Beats Coll

24th Mar 2010

Last weekend a team from WEGC came second in a secondary schools Ultimate Frisbee tournament. The team was made up of mainly Year 12 and 13 students, some of whom have been playing for the Frizzee Rascals in the Wellington social league for adults.

There were no other all-girl teams entered, but they managed to win all of their games against co-ed and all-boy teams from the region, meeting Wellington College in the final. They only lost the final by one point, which is a very close margin in Ultimate. Amanda Rasch was named MVP of the tournament.

The Year 12 PE class has been learning about Ultimate as part of a unit of work and have had coaches from the Wellington Association coming in to help. Last week they held a tournament at school as part of an assessment.

Below: Amanda (in red) catching the disc during the Year 12 tournament.

Strong Spelling

18th Mar 2010

Four Year 9 students represented WEGC at the lower North Island regional Spelling Bee.

Three students made the top 20, making us the only school with more than one speller represented at this stage. Bryony made the top 12 before being eliminated.

Bryony, Jo and Gracie can be seen on this clip from Breakfast, sitting next to the presenter on stage.

Flagbearers

15th Mar 2010

Addis Mekonnen and Olivia Porter, the Cultural Prefects, represented the school at the Commonwealth Observance service last week.

As flag bearers, along with other students from local schools, they carried the flags of the 54 nations that are part of the Commonwealth. Addis carried the NZ flag and was first in the procession, and Olivia carried the Ugandan flag.

Student Competing Internationally

11th Mar 2010

Bryony is a twelve year old student at Wellington East Girls' College. Last year, while still at South Wellington Intermediate, she won the National Middle Division Scenario Writing Competition for Future Problem Solving. This means she has won a place at the International Competition to be held at La Crosse, Wisconsin, USA in June this year. Last year WEGC had a Year 11 team also qualify for the senior division of this competition, which they prepared for as part of the Gifted and Talented programme at school, but they had to decline the invitation due to the huge cost.

To get her and her coach there we need to raise all of the funds needed (approximately $11,000).

On Monday 22nd March we are hosting a preview of Taika Waititi's latest movie BOY. Waititi is a Wellington film maker, best known for 'Eagle vs Shark' and his Oscar-nominated short 'Two Cars, One Night'. BOY was accepted for the Sundance Film Festival and recently won 'Best Feature' at the Berlin International Film Festival.

Set in 1984, BOY is a hilarious and heart-felt coming-of-age tale about heroes, magic, and Michael Jackson. The film was shot in Waititi's childhood hometown of Waihau Bay on the east coast of New Zealaand. Waititi plays Alamein who is the subject of his son's fantasies - Boy imagines his father as a deep sea diver, war hero, rugby legend, and close relative of Michael Jackson. In reality Alamein is an inept, wannabe gangster who has been in jail for robbery. Rating M (contains drug use and offensive language), 1 hour 30 minutes.

Screening details:
* Monday 22nd March, 6.15pm
* Empire Cinema, 214 The Parade, Island Bay
* $20 per ticket (includes free lolly pack)

Please feel free to pass this email on to friends and family.

To book tickets:
email: everyone@loveshack.co.nz
phone: (04) 389-2772

Good Causes

10th Mar 2010

A lot of charity fundraising is being done at school and you can help out.

Relay for Life Raffle

The Relay for Life team has been fundraising all term, with two car washes and a bake sale. They are currently selling tickets for a raffle that is packed with lots of luxurious goodies, including a $100 hairdressing voucher. They can be bought from Marama or Shanti in Year 13 or from Miss Newton. The main event is just two weeks away now.

Photo: Joanna Sage (Charities Prefect) and Marama and Olivia from the Relay for Life Core Group at the bake sale.

Child Cancer Bracelets

Caitin Sowden in Year 12 has also been active, selling bracelets for Child Cancer. She has been volenteering at Child Cancer Foundation on a regular basis and has special permission from Ms Haughton for students to wear the bracelets to school this week.

They can be purchased for a $5 donation from her around school or in Room 53 at lunch or interval. She has already raised nearly $420 (that's over 80 bracelets sold just at school) and is selling until Monday afternoon.

Photo: Caitlin (right) and Ella selling bracelets.

Perfect Score in Spelling Bee

8th Mar 2010

Pictured (from left to right): Jo, Gracie, Bryony and Rebekah.

The WEGC Spelling Bee was held last week, with Bryony Campbell of 954 gaining the perfect score of 22 out of 22.

Following her were Gracie Adams of 923 in second place and Jo Milne of 919 and Rebekah Fitzgerald of 950 in third equal.

Students had a round of 20 written words and then two oral words each. The Tuakana Prefects helped with the marking and reading out of words, along with other Year 13 volunteers.

The regional Bee is next Monday, where our students will go up against 13 year olds from the lower North Island. In past years we have had two regional champions, including Rowena Woodhams who is now in Year 12. The top students at regionals will go on to the national final, the winner of which will go on to compete in the American Spelling Bee, which is broadcast on ESPN.

The Fittest, Fastest and Strongest

26th Feb 2010

Under 14

3^rd Amelia Clareburt

2^nd Cheyenne Horne

1^st Lee-Jean Kahui

Under 16

3^rd Ali Clareburt

2^nd Maggie Bone

1^st Kristina Rybinski

Over 16

3^rd = Brooke Watt, Jenna Bone

2^nd Rejieli Uluinayau

1^st Chelsea O�Callaghan

This week also saw the annual 4 by 100m relay against our cross-town rivals, Wellington Girls' College. Unfortunately, Maggie Bone suffered an injury on her leg of the race and girls ended up in front. The rest of the team was made up of Jenna Bone, Hanna Tevita, and Kristina Rybinski.

Prefects Weekend

19th Feb 2010

Last week the Year 13 prefects team slept at school on Friday night and had a day of events aimed at preparing them for the challenges they will face this year.

As well as having time for fun bonding, the prefects took part in workshop sessions. They included things like practising public speaking and planning how they would co-ordinate their committees.

Year 9 BBQ

11th Feb 2010

On Wednesday night Year 9s and the families were invited to a BBQ at school. They had the opportunity to meet teachers and Year 13 tuakana and leaders.After a sausage and drink in the quad, families moved to the hall. Here they heard speeches from the principal and dean as well as other guest speakers. Students then went to form rooms and took their parents on a tour of the school.

Photos: Above, Year 13 students help with the food. Below, some Year 9 students.

Best Ever Scholarship Results

9th Feb 2010

Scholarship results are out now and WEGC has more than doubled the number of scholarships it in the 2008 exams.

In total there were 28 scholarships awarded. Three students managed to get scholarship in three separate subjects: Maddy Cormack, Elsie Jolliffe and Julia Wells (with one at outstanding level). These students will be eligable for a Scholarship Award of $2,000 each year for up to three years of study.

Congratulations to those successful students! For more information on Scholarship exams and awards, see the NZQA website.

Subject	Number of Scholarships
History	1
Statistics	1
Design	2
Economics	1
Classics	1
Art Sculpture	2
Art History	6
Chemistry	1
Biology	3 (including one at Outstanding level)
Physics	2
Art Painting	1
Music	1
English	2
Geography	2
Physical Education	1
Drama	1