Search
Close this search box.

Community

School Board

2024 Meetings 

  • 27 February 
  • 9 April 
  • 14 May 
  • 2 July
  • 13 August 
  • 17 September 
  • 12 November

Meetings start at 6pm in the Conference Room of the Gernhoefer Admin Centre. All are welcome. 


Board wrap-ups in the school newsletter

After each Board meeting, our school newsletter features a list of highlights and topics discussed. Here are the latest offerings. 

28 July 2023 meeting

2 June 2023 meeting 

4 April 2023 meeting

28 February 2023 meeting

15 November 2022 meeting

27 September 2022 meeting

20 September 2022 – welcome to new members

16 August 2022 meeting

7 July 2022 meeting

24 May 2022 meeting

5 April 2022 meeting

22 February 2022 meeting 


 

Board Members

Victoria Mahan 

Presiding Member

I am thrilled to be Presiding Board member at Westlake Girls High School this year.  My family and I live in the local community and my daughter Isla is a current student at the school. 

I have been fortunate to have developed a significant amount of governance experience having served as Board Chair at both Takapuna Normal Intermediate School and Northcote Primary School over the last few years.  I am really proud of the achievements the team I worked with made in the terms that we served for both schools.  I have also held Board positions at Dress for Success Auckland and HP New Zealand. 

In my position, I can offer the school my experience from the commercial sector, as well as my knowledge and experience of governance, and my personal passion to help steer the school into the future. I am passionate about community engagement, staff and student welfare and creating an excellent learning environment for all students.  

I am a qualified Chartered Accountant and member of the Institute of Directors, as well as a member of Global Women New Zealand. I have extensive and unique commercial experience both in NZ and abroad.

I have been fortunate to spend the last 18 years working in the IT industry and currently hold the position of Spark Group Lead, working across the Spark New Zealand business to help to deliver important outcomes. I recently transitioned into this role from the CEO role at Entelar Limited (a Spark New Zealand subsidiary) where I worked with the team for 2 years to grow and transform the business. 

I am looking forward to continue working with the Board to ensure we provide the best environment for all students, and to ensure all students have access to the many opportunities that a school such as Westlake Girls High School can offer. 

 


Sunny Patel

Deputy Presiding Member 

I am privileged to be on the WGHS Board and look forward to continuing in my role as Deputy Presiding Member to work with the existing and new members to build upon the great work that the previous board achieved.
I have lived on the North Shore ever since my wife and I emigrated from the UK in 2004. I have two daughters at the school.
I have a Master’s degree in International Security and a Bachelor’s degree in Business, majoring in Human Resource Management.
My policing career started in the Metropolitan Police in London, and for the last 15 years, I have worked for the NZ Police where I am the Waitākere Area Commander. This involves working closely with our community, key government stakeholders, non-government organisations and private businesses. I am committed to delivering successful outcomes for our community.
I am a keen golfer, cricketer and footballer and currently play for local teams. I am also a qualified cricket coach and coach my daughters U16’s club cricket team.
I bring a diverse set of skills to the Board, and I will utilise my knowledge and experience effectively. As a leader working in a senior managerial position for several years, I have substantial experience in empowering teams to achieve desired goals. I have a pragmatic approach and my experience working in the police allows me to view issues with a broad perspective and find solutions to complex situations. Staff and student wellbeing is a crucial focus area to ensure our school reaches its potential.


Jane Stanley

Principal

 width=I was appointed Principal of Westlake Girls with effect from 1 May 2017. Following a degree in Physical Education from Otago, my first teaching position was at Epsom Girls Grammar School. I then went on to teach at Rangitoto College for 10 years. More recently I worked at Birkenhead College where I held the position of Assistant Principal for 12 years.

Prior to taking up this position, I was the Athlete Life Manager at High Performance Sport New Zealand for four years, where I led a team of advisers to develop a programme designed to maximise the potential of our elite athletes.

I have lived on the North Shore for more than 30 years and am married to husband Mike and have three children, two sons and a daughter who all attended the Westlake schools. As a former champion rower I am still involved in this sport and I love to spend as much time as I can enjoying outdoor life.

I enjoy working with the Board as we build on the success of Westlake Girls and ensure that our students make the most of every opportunity and are fully equipped to meet the challenges that lie ahead of them.

 


Russell Clements

Member

 width=Thanks for voting me back onto the WGHS Board for a second term; I will do my best to help steer the school to best meet the needs of ALL students.  My daughters Frederika (y13 in 2023) and Delilah (y10) are currently at Westlake Girls High School, and Abigail was but is now a second year student at Otago Uni.

I am constantly impressed by the various opportunities available to our daughters at Westlake Girls, and the way they are encouraged to stand up for themselves and what they believe in, guiding them to develop as strong independent women.  I believe the distractions of social media and misinformation need to be offset by real life interactions, building positive relationships and mindful perspectives better preparing our daughters for the future.

I have served on the Board at three of the four levels of our local Community of Learning, Te Kāhui Ako o Pupuke. I spent 6 years on each of Takapuna Primary School and Takapuna Normal Intermediate School Board of Trustees so have worked with 5 principals and Boards previously.

The skyscape and potential population of our local area is rapidly changing and is putting pressure on our already stretched resources. I have seen the real issues of attracting and retaining great teaching staff to our school but I believe we have a great team and will continue to improve.

I currently run Appliance Outlet (the real one) in Burswood with approx. 20 staff who sell and service new and refurbished appliances so have broad experience in operations and managing people.  I am a qualified accountant and have been on the finance committees of all school boards I have sat on (incl WGHS); bringing financial expertise to the board table.  I also offer a Dad’s perspective; much to my daughters delight!

 


Kim Tay
Member

Great teachers, a supportive community, and access to a wide range of academic, sporting and cultural opportunities are fundamental to equipping our girls to thrive in a rapidly changing world, and to develop as well rounded people.

I am honoured to be working with a strong and experienced Board that will continue to ensure Westlake Girls is well placed to keep providing an excellent education with high quality teachers and resources.

I have a BA in Psychology and bring a range of skills and experience from diverse fields – market research, marketing, brand strategy, human-centred design, and more recently, training people with science-based skills to boost resilience, wellbeing and productivity.

I’ve held senior roles in companies (such as Colmar Brunton) and have run my own consultancy for many years, working with a wide range of businesses and organisations to help them better understand their customers, donors and clients, and to use these insights to develop successful strategies.

Within education, this includes conducting research with students, teachers and parents to help schools with their long term plans, strategy and marketing, as well as research for Education NZ and a number of NZ universities to understand how to better attract and support students.

Both my two daughters have enjoyed the many opportunities on offer at Westlake Girls, and I look forward to helping the school continue to enable all students to reach their potential.

 


Anna Cooper
Teacher Member

As a parent to two high school aged daughters and a teacher to a hundred or so teenagers most days, student success and staff morale and retention are my priorities whilst serving as a board member.

After past lives in both Australia and New Zealand working as a disability home carer, a personal trainer and a teacher aide, I eventually made use of my Bachelor of Fine Arts degree to become a Visual Arts teacher, working happily at WGHS since 2015.

I hope to contribute our voice as a staff to clarify and reinvigorate the many positive processes that help to connect our students, staff and parent community.

 


Jappan Kaur, Year 13
Student Member

Hi, I’m Jappan Kaur, a Year 13 student at Westlake Girls High School. I was born in New Zealand and my parents migrated from Punjab, India in 2001. After facing many hardships in New Zealand because of their race, religion and socio-economic differences, they continued to pursue through those tough times and are now successfully and happily living on the North Shore. My parents made many sacrifices to give me a life much easier than theirs and I want to thank them for this and their constant support because they are the reason why I am here.

I am very grateful for being elected me as the Board’s Student Representative of Westlake Girls High School. I will continue to try my absolute best to fulfil all the promises I made and represent the student body and their concerns. I would also like to thank everyone who took the time to vote, not just for me but any of the other capable candidates, because I am proud that you took action to get closer to changing our school for the better. I would also like to thank all my teachers and staff for supporting me and a special mention of thanks to the other candidates.

Here in my time at Westlake, I’ve tried to make the best of the opportunities our school offers and I am very grateful to be here at this school and for all the amazing teachers and peers that supported me every step of the way and still continue to do so. I have previously been part of the school tennis team, the CYGNET programme, and many different clubs and events. I am currently an Amnesty International leader, librarian team leader, participating in the Bronze Duke of Edinburgh and many other clubs and activities ranging from participating in the Westlake Model United Nations to Junior Debating and Philosophy Club. This school has helped me excel in school as well as out of school helping me to win speech competitions, sports competitions and encouraging me to help my committee through volunteering.

Standing up for this role was a step outside my comfort zone, challenging my confidence, abilities and self-esteem. I am grateful I did this because I believe that growth only happens when one is willing to put themselves in an uncomfortable and challenging situation. That’s how I believe one can truly grow and become a better person for both themselves and the society around them.

Now elected for this role of student representative I will take the problems and concerns of the students to the Board so real, long-lasting change can happen that enhances the student and staff life here at Westlake Girls’ High School. I am dedicated to helping my peers and my teachers. As promised, I want to be the voice of the students and have this voice heard loud and strong. 

Once again thank you to everyone who took the time to vote and also supported me along the way.

 


Annual Reports

You can find our 2022 Annual Report HERE.

You can find our 2021 Annual Report HERE.

You can find our 2020 Annual Report HERE.

 

The field is set to true