Important Dates

Monday 24 November – Board meeting 6.00pm
Friday 28 November – Year 11 Celebrations 1.30-3pm
Monday 1 December – Year 13 Celebration evening 6.00pm
Tuesday 9 December – Year 9 Celebration 9.15-10am and Year 10 Celebration 11am-12.15pm
Tuesday 9 December – End of Term

What’s Happening

New Zealand Mathematical Olympiad Competition (NZMOC)

Recently Elijah Michel took part in the 2025 NZMOC and after 2 rounds he received a Silver award in what is a very difficult competition.

Subsequently he has also been invited to take part in the NZMOC Residential Camp taking place from 11 January to 17 January 2026. This camp is for the top 30 students from New Zealand and will aim to further develop their Mathematics. From the camp a squad, and then a team of six students, will be selected to represent New Zealand and compete in the 2026 International Mathematical Olympiad in China.

Elijah has also been invited to participate in the BMO1 (British Maths Olympiad Round 1) this year as part of being invited to the 2026 NZMOC January training camp. The BMO1 will be held this week.

This is a fantastic achievement and we wish him well.

Year 11 Art Show

This exhibition showcases work from our Year 11 artists from our Practical Art, Digital Art and Toi Māori classes. Each student has selected an artwork to showcase from the range of disciplines they have investigated this year (printmaking, painting, drawing, sculpture, whakairo, kо̄whaiwhai, illustration & design).

It is a wonderful opportunity for students to share their work with you and to celebrate the effort they have put into their artmaking throughout the year. We warmly encourage you to come along, view the work, and support our talented young artists.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Monday 24 November – 3:30pm – 6:00pm at the Wellington High School Art Department (D219 & D224)

Year 11 Horticulture

On Friday 14 November, the Year 11 Horticulture class went on a field trip to Newtown School. We brought some trays of seedlings our students had propagated and helped the Newtown students plant up their garden. Our students absolutely made the school proud with how kind, caring and supportive they were to the younger students. A great afternoon was had by all.

The Flannel –Journalism at WHS

Having just released the 34th edition of The Flannel, it is proof indeed that journalism is far from declining in Wellington and certainly not in Wellington High School. A great profile on student voices has featured in The Post, written by Jessie Davidson who also attended WHS, and is well worth a read.

The Flannel was first published at Wellington High School in 1991.This year’s magazine features 150 pages of student-written articles.
Jessie Davidson

Achievements

Jean Stonell is inducted onto the Wall of Fame

The late New Zealand basketball and cricket representative Jean Stonell was inducted onto the Wellington High School Wall of Fame last week. After attending Wellington Technical College in the mid 1940’s, Jean represented her country in the 1950’s and 1960’s, before also getting involved as a cricket administrator on the former New Zealand Women’s Cricket Council.

She never married or had a family of her own and died in Wellington in 2008 aged 79. Representing her was her 88-year-old former Wellington cricket team mate Maureen Thomson (nee McQueen), who travelled down for the day from the Kapiti Coast. Like Jean, Maureen also went to Tech and finished there as a student, 70 years ago as the Head Girl Prefect as well as being a former House Captain, and playing member of the girl’s cricket and hockey, and basketball sides as well as in the school athletics team.

After the induction, Maureen then went on a tour around the school before having lunch there and then later going back to the Wellington Railway Station to catch the train home.

Joseph Churchwood – Roundsquare

Churchward Roundsquare was chosen for Bugonia. (Images: Universal, Amazon, City Gallery)

A former student of Wellington Technical College, the late Joseph Churchward was an internationally renowned typeface designer whose work continues to grace billboards, newspapers, literature, record covers. More recently his signature font design, Churchward Roundsquare was chosen by Yorgos Lanthimos for the marketing campaign of his movie Bogonia. Read more about the fascinating life and work of Churchward here

Careers

Year 10 – Careers Introduction Programme

Over the month of November, the Careers and Pathways team have engaged with every Year 10 class and we have run 2 sessions with each class.

We always do this at this time of the year because it makes good sense for us to start to engage students in some activities and thinking about “what’s out there for me”?

Session 1:

Introduction to an updated careers information website – www.tahatu.govt.nz (replacing the old www.careers.govt.nz)
Looking at themselves Quiz – likes/dislikes and interests/no interest
Unpicking the results of the quiz which highlights areas of personal strengths and some job suggestions that fit their profile in a range of different broad areas of work
Students have been encouraged to share quiz results with parents and to start conversations about ideas they have.

Session 2:

Looking further at self – skills you have, subjects that you are good at/enjoy, Personal Qualities, Workplace values
With a bigger/fuller picture of self, students were then encouraged to explore further ideas, add them to a list and then “drag and drop” them into a rank order.
In 2026, the Careers/Pathways team will again have activities for Yr 11 students when they are getting ready to choose subjects for Year 12 (2027)

Community

Taiohi Gig

On Friday 28 November, Te Tai Ohinga are hosting a taiohi gig to celebrate the end of exam season. This is to acknowledge the hard work students have put in throughout the year and give them a chance to unwind, connect, and have some fun.

The evening will include games, activities, prizes, kai, and performances from young artists. This will be a special late-night event running until 9pm.