Student Leadership

Every student at Westlake Girls High School belongs to one of five houses named after significant local areas. The house colours – black, gold, red, blue and green – reflect the Olympic rings to encourage the pursuit of excellence and relate to the meaning of each of the house names. The house system offers leadership opportunities for senior students and allows all students to feel connected to a smaller community within the school. Throughout the year the houses compete in a variety of events and select a house charity to support.

Each House has a House Captain, Academic Prefect, Arts Prefect, Cultural Prefect, Environmental Prefect, International Prefect, Service Prefect, Sports Prefect, Tuakana C0-ordinator – and a group of Tuakana students overseeing the Junior School. In addition, our Head Prefect and Deputy Head Prefect are highly visible leaders and role models for their fellow students at assemblies and school events. They also fulfill responsibilities in the wider school community.

Prefect Roles

Message from our Head Prefect 2021

Grace Chen

To represent such an all-rounded, diverse, hard-working school is a great honour and an invaluable opportunity for both Charis and I. I’m looking forward to representing a school that has provided me with lifelong skills and countless experiences that have helped me grow as a person. Westlake Girls High School has always pushed me to try new things and to learn from my mistakes along the way – this will undoubtedly come in handy in 2021.

Throughout my time at school, I have been passionately involved in groups such as the Westlake Concert Band, Symphony Orchestra, Amnesty, Cultural and Service Committees, Premier Advanced Debate Team, Smart Swans tutoring and being a librarian. I have also contributed to my community through external groups such as the UNICEF Ball Committee and being a UN Youth High School Ambassador. In 2020, I was the Top Achieving NCEA Level 1 student and also the Student Representative and really enjoyed learning about the well-oiled cogs and gears of our school. I have always been passionate about giving back to my community and enjoy meeting new people along the way.

For 2021, my aim is to work with the Prefect Team to amplify the cultural awareness at our school, creating a school community that is inclusive, caring and involved. I believe building a stronger sisterhood in our school will encourage our students to take even more risks and to express themselves more comfortably, which is essential for positive personal identity growth. Furthermore, after a whirlwind of a year in 2020, I want to promote values of organisation and balance to ensure that our students can learn and grow from the struggles they faced last year. All of us were faced with high stress at some point, so Charis and I aim to lead our students through 2021 with fresh, inspired, motivated mindsets.

Head Prefects