The Key To Long-Term Memory from Use Your Head by Tony Buzan. Dear Parents and Caregivers

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1 Issue 5-28 March 2013 Dear Parents and Caregivers I have just returned from three days in Queenstown where the SPANZ (secondary Principals Association of NZ)2013 Conference was held. We were fortunate to have a number of very good speakers, including Dr Graham Stoop from the Education Review office; Dr Cathy Wylie from New Zealand Council for Educational Research; outgoing President of SPANZ, Patrick Walsh; Professor David Fergusson, Executive Director of the Christchurch Health and Development Study and author of over 350 scientific articles and books; Dr Karen Poutasi, Chief Executive of NZQA; Paul Porteous who has had extensive experience internationally, including in the United Nations and the International Court of Justice; and Professor Peter Hughes, acting Secretary of Education. He was most recently Head of the School of Government at Victoria University of Wellington. The theme for the conference was Charting an effective partnership with school communities to maintain our world class education system. It was also a good opportunity to catch up with colleagues and debate and discuss issues. In this edition of the school newsletter we bring you a variety of student results and we are very proud of everything our students achieve here. Enjoy your Easter break and we look forward to greeting students when they return on Wednesday. Warm regards Roz Mexted The Key To Long-Term Memory from Use Your Head by Tony Buzan When we learn something new, we retain about 75% of the information but that s just short-term memory. Ten minutes later, our recollection actually improves to about 85%, but then it rapidly deteriorates. The issue is how do we embed the information in longterm memory? A programmed pattern of review must take place, each review being done at the time just before recall is about to drop. First review: 10 minutes after initial learning (lasting about 10 minutes, revising notes). Second review: 24 hours later (spending 2-4 minutes jotting down what s remembered without referring to notes, then checking to see what wasn t recalled accurately). Third review: 1 week later (2 minutes, using the same process as the second review). Fourth review: 1 month later (2 minutes, repeating the process) Fifth review: 6 months later (2 minutes, repeating the process) This process will embed knowledge in long-term memory where it will be familiar in the way a personal telephone number is familiar, needing only the most occasional nudge to maintain it.

2 Rowing Success at the Maadi Cup Westlake Girls High School returned from the Rowing Maadi Cup with four medals in tow. The haul of one gold and three bronze medals bettered last year s number of three. The highlight was the U16 4's winning gold and claiming Westlake s first gold medal since The crew included: Cait Dowden, Poppy Logan, Sian Anderson, Renee Scott-French and Amber Fordham (cox), coached by Kim Dowden. The three bronze medals were in the U16 8's: Cait Dowden, Poppy Logan, Sian Anderson, Renee Scott-French, Holly Ellett, Courtney McCormick, Adelia Bolam, Catriona Stanton and Amber Fordham (cox). The U18 pairs: Maddie Dobier and Jessica Remmington and the U18 Novice 4 s of: Yingzi Song, Amber Gorrie, Caitlin Nugent, Sophie Salt and Amber Fordham (cox). Below: Under 18 Novice 4 s Above: Under 16 4 s Christchurch Triathlon Championships Year 12 student Alana Lythe (pictured below) won the Silver medal in the Senior Girls New Zealand Triathlon SS Championships in Christchurch. This is Alana s first year in the senior girls section. Alana Lythe Sign Up for New Rowers 2013/14 Season We are now advertising, promoting and distributing all information about the school rowing programme. We are also signing up girls in the Sports Department who wish to receive information and those who wish to do the Learn to Row programme in term 2. Dates to be advised depending on numbers but it will be a 6 week programme run each Sunday morning at the Lake. At the end of Term 2, squads will be selected and girls invited to join the programme. We aim to take 20 x Year 9 Novices and up to 8 x Senior Novices. At the beginning of Term 3 training starts. Returning rowers won t be required to start any winter training until Term 2. The target groups this year are year 9 s and year 11/12 s (senior novices). Auckland Tennis Championships The tennis team completed their season with a Silver medal at the New Zealand SS Teams Championships in Auckland. The team were: Lauren Alter, Rosie Cheng, Caitlin Beazley, Jana Stanojevic and Stella Cliffe. Rosie has been selected as one of three in the New Zealand Junior Fed Cup tennis team for The team will compete in Gimcheon, Korea in late April.

3 Volleyball Nationals The Westlake Premier Volleyball team performed exceptionally well at the NZSS National tournament. Held in Palmerston North the tournament consisted of over 2,000 players and officials with 9 different grades. Our girls went into the tournament ranked 12 th and as the highest North Harbour team (after winning the North Harbour seeding tournament). Starting off in the Girls top 32 grade our pool consisted of ourselves, Mangere College, Sacred Heart from Lower Hutt and Trident High School B. We easily defeated all three of these teams to put us through into the next round (top 16). In this round we faced one other first place team and two second place teams from other pools. These teams were Marlborough High, McAuley College and Tauranga Girls College B. Our girls again played very well defeating both McAuley College and Tauranga Girls B. Unfortunately we lost to Marlborough High, but still ended up second in our pool, which put us into the top 8 and into the quarter finals. Our quarter final game was against Manurewa High, who we beat easily in a 3-0 game. This then upgraded our girls to the semi-finals, where we met the formidable Otumoetai College (overall winners). Unfortunately we lost this match and had to play off for 3 rd and 4 th, again facing Marlborough High. Although we fought hard against Marlborough and came close to taking some sets, we ended up losing the match and obtaining an overall placing of 4 th. This is a remarkable achievement for our school and a much higher placing than we ever thought possible, going into the tournament. The team consisted of: Zoe Cronin (Captain), Bethany Hayman, Annalise Vukets, Steffi Tindale, Becca Fosita, Annuska Menoita, Jen Gale, Chelsea Martin, Hannah Cronin and Aria Koria. Bethany Hayman (pictured left) was named in the NZSS Tournament team. Auckland Water Polo Championships The Westlake Girls High School Premier Water Polo Team competed in the North Island Secondary School Water Polo Championships held in Auckland. The team placed 5th with a record of 5 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss. The highlight was the game against defending New Zealand champions Rangitoto College, who went on to win the tournament. The game was a hard fought affair ending in a 4 all draw with Westlake leading into the final quarter. The team now turn their attention to the nationals in Wellington in mid-april. Tournament results were as follows: V Mt Maunganui win 6-5 V Wellington East loss 5-8 V St Kentigern win 8-3 V Rangitoto draw 4-4 V St Kentigern win V Eggs win 9-7 5th /6th V Baradene win 3-2. Cricket Our premier cricket team recently played in the National qualifying tournament held during the summer sports week. They played Diocesan, St Cuthberts, Epsom, Diocesan and Kelston and won all these matches. Liz Olney made 82 runs not out against Kelston and Westlake bowled them all out for 13 runs. Unfortunately the premier team lost the first match to Baradene, but on count back, on the run rate, Westlake won the pool. They then had to play off for 1 st and 2 nd place against St Kentigerns. Westlake batted first but unfortunately only made 66 for 5 wickets. St Kentigerns made 67 for 8 7 were catches and 1 run out. So the Premier team finished runners up in the Auckland competition. Badminton Ex-Pupil Anona Pak has just recently been crowned NZ Women s singles champion after winning the title at the National Championships at North Shore on the weekend. Rayna Phillips and Rebecca Goddard have been selected to represent NZ in the Oceania Junior Championships and Rayna has also been selected in the team for the Australia Youth Olympics. Deborah Yin and Selena Wu has been selected to represent Northern Region in the Australasian Team and Individual Championships to be held in Australia over Easter.

4 Discovering the Wonderful World of Waitomo Do you know how sometimes the idea of something is better than the thing itself. For me, the opposite is true of school field trips. I have been on Geography trips for many years and I often think beforehand. Oh no, another trip. Organising relief for my classes, endless hours on a bus, uncomfortable beds and, worst of all, toilets down the corridor. But I always enjoy myself and this year s trip to Waitomo was no exception. We are blessed with lovely young ladies at Westlake. Students who are respectful and responsible, polite and helpful and this is what makes our trips such a pleasure to go on. For some it is their first trip away on their own. For most they are going to an unfamiliar part of New Zealand. For many there is the adventure of black water rafting, and for all of us there is the pleasure of exploring caves and witnessing the wonder of glow-worms sparkling in the dark. Year 12 Geography Tongariro Field Trip As exchange teachers from the United States we were fortunate to accompany the year twelve geography trip to the Tongariro National Park this past weekend. It is so wonderful and valuable that within four hours drive the students can be immersed into an experience where they can apply what they are learning in the classroom. On the Great Plains in our home states of Indiana and Iowa, students don t have the same opportunity. Westlake students are certainly privileged to have access to such a rich diversity of landscapes so close to home. It really makes Geography come alive. The resources provided at the Volcanic Activity Center in Wairakei were very impressive and enabled us to quickly learn about volcanic formation and activity within New Zealand. The hardware models, interactive displays and audiovisual material provided a rich learning experience. The class even got to experience a simulation of the magnitude 6.8 Christchurch earthquake! The scenery in the Tongariro National Park was astounding and we couldn t wait to tell our Moms we were actually on an active volcano. Te Maari crater was still spewing steam on the northern side of Tongariro after its recent eruption last November. Fortunately our students were safely tucked into the Mangetepopo valley on the western side. Here we learnt about the glaciation, volcanism and physical weathering that created the landscape within the valley. On Mount Ruapehu the aim was to investigate the effect of altitude on climate, soil, and vegetation. The students set up numerous quadrats on both sides of Ruapehu. Inside these sampling sites the students measured and recorded variables such as vegetation height, number of plant species, % vegetation cover and soil depth. Climatic data such as temperature, humidity, wind speed and air pressure were also collected. This should allow the students to study the relationship between altitude and these previously mentioned variables. In the coming weeks the students will be processing, presenting and analysing their research data. We are so grateful to have been a part of these classes and learn more about New Zealand s geography. The students and teachers were so kind and willing to share their knowledge and allow us to work alongside them. Cassie Caccavo and Allison Jones The students learn about the interesting lifecycle and biology of glow-worms, the formation of the unique karst landscape and the impact of tourism on the caves and the town of Waitomo. But they learn more than just Geography. They learn about each other and about themselves. For two students the thought of eating wetas was enough to reduce them to tears (no wetas were harmed in the making of this experience, chocolate fish were though). Facing the fear of small dark places is tested by students during the black water rafting. This year we also had to contend with energy sapping temperatures (31 C on Monday) and the cool environment of the caves was a welcome relief. The students had endless questions and were fascinated and attentive in equal measure. I was very proud of them. They always matched the moment with their behaviour. They kept me amused and also reinforced my reasons for becoming a teacher. So while the idea of going on this trip did not always fill me with joy, going on the trip did. So thank you Year 11 Geography, I had a great time. Judith Morrogh

5 Extension Art Classes Year 9 students are enjoying extension Art classes after school. They have the opportunity to make a stop motion movie, use paper clay, make digital prints, paper dolls and cut out sculptures. Ms Marshall explaining the finer points to Saria Houkal and Jane Kim in the paper clay workshop Preetika Anand, Yu-Ying Lee, Laurice Sciarone, Carly Russell, and Ella Worrall preparing backgrounds for their digital prints. An Evening of Shakespeare at Westlake Girls We invite you to a special fundraiser and outdoor performance of selected scenes from Shakespeare by Westlake Girls High School. On 5 April, groups competing in the regional Shakespeare Globe Centre New Zealand University of Otago Sheilah Winn Shakespeare Festival (SGCNZUOSWSF) will put on a special show featuring scenes from various Shakespearean plays, performing outside of the school s Administration building (just off Shakespeare Road Extension). Entry for this evening is $5 at the door. Performances will start at 6pm, and will be followed by wine-and-cheese in the staffroom. All funds for the evening will go towards a trip to England for Westlake prefect Alice Allfree. Last year, Alice and her group performed their excerpt from Love s Labour s Lost at the National Festival in Wellington. As a result of this, Alice has gained one of only twenty -five places in the Shakespeare Globe Centre New Zealand s Young Shakespeare Company (SGCNZYSC). In July, the SGCNZYSC will be visiting London to take part in a series of theatre workshops and perform on the Globe stage. Our outdoor performance evening will give you the chance to see Alice Allfree and her fellow students from the Wellington festival in action, as they perform in a range of genres, including tragedy and comedy. Excerpts from plays being performed include Richard III, The Merry Wives of Windsor, and Antony and Cleopatra. Please bring cushions and blankets to sit on outside. In the case of wet weather, the performances will be moved to the Drama Room (H1) down by gate two. If you enjoy what you see on 5 April, you are invited to attend the Auckland North Regional Festival, held the following week at Albany Junior High School on 12 and 13 April. For more details, please see the Shakespeare Globe Centre New Zealand website: New Art Initiative On Monday 25 March the Year 12 Art History students took part in a pilot programme run by Christa Napier-Robertson of the Auckland Art Gallery to assist students engage productively with art work. This formed part of an internal assessment. Stephanie Johnstone and Briar McGlynn discussing a Gordon Waters Selena and Christa from the Auckland Art Gallery discussing contemporary New Zealand painting.

6 Farewell To German Exchange Students Pictured left are Year 12 German students Olivia McNeill (left) and Abby Fitchett (right) who spent two months on exchange in Germany in the last holidays. With them are their partners Sally Schimer and Daniela Wesemann who both come from Bavaria in Southern Germany and have spent the last two months experiencing life and school on the North Shore. They return home after Easter. Cultural Week Comes to Westlake Westlake s Cultural Week is coming up in Week 11, from 8 12 April. This is a chance for all to experience the cultures of our many different ethnic groups in the school. There will be lunchtime activities throughout the week, with a concert in the WGHS Hall on Wednesday 10 April and Cultural Food stalls on Friday 12 April. Important Parking Reminder Please can we remind parents not to park in Smales Farm when picking students up after school as this parking area is reserved for their tenants and clients only. New Representative at EnviroLeaders Forum Erin Ramsay (pictured right) has been selected to represent Westlake Girls at the Sir Peter Blake Youth EnviroLeaders Forum. The forum will be held in Christchurch from 28 April to 2 May. Students will learn about fresh water and resource management as well as undertake research around the re-build of Christchurch. They will also have the opportunity to meet experts from the Ministry for the Environment and community leaders. We are looking forward to hearing about Erin s experience. Westlake Girls Parents Forum We would like to welcome you to the Parents Forum. We form a link between the school and the community and are a volunteer, non -profit organization. Joining us is a great opportunity to get to know more about the school, to meet new people and form friendships. You might know that we have been fundraising for the Parents Forum Hardship Fund in We will continue to do this in In order to have another successful year we need all the help we can get. Please contact us if you would like to join us. You can be involved as little or as much as you like and we would like to welcome any parents to come along to our meetings. For updates please access our page on the website: Click on community and then go to Parents Forum. Our meetings will be held on the following dates at 7:30pm in the Staffroom: 16 April 21 May (AGM) 25 June 30 July 27 August 24 September 22 October 9 November (Friday) - Teachers Morning Tea 26 November (last meeting) Contact details: barbarascholten@xtra.co.nz Thank you and we are looking forward to meeting you. Regards, Parents Forum

7 Community Notices

8 Community Notices Please Vote for Mairangi Bay Surf Club Mairangi Bay Surf Lifesaving Club provides lifeguarding for the entire coastline from Takapuna to Long Bay over the peak summer period as well as responding to many call outs in the Devonport area. With such a large area to patrol the IRBs are a vital and important part of our lifesaving equipment. We currently have only two engines in working condition and have struggled to maintain lifeguarding this coastline with our insufficient equipment. A brand new IRB for our next summer will contribute significantly to our service to the community where we can guarantee to have two to three IRB's up and running and providing support to our lifeguards on these beaches. These are the beaches where your students and their families spend their summers. Across New Zealand there were more than thirty drownings this summer. The service provided by Mairangi Bay SLSC helped keep the East Coast Bays beaches safe this year and drowning free. Mairangi Bay SLSC also provides Beach Education classes for many of the North Shore primary/intermediate schools. Mairangi Bay is currently sitting 9th with 495 votes where the top beach is on 3650 votes, if you follow this link it will take you to the competition - Let s put in a huge effort and bring the IRB to the Bays.