Peer Support!

27/01/15 PORTFOLIOS

Prefect Portfolio - Sam
> team building activities
> lunch together once a month
> strengths and weaknesses

Sport - Duke
> Variety of involvment

Kapa Haka - Tumai
> Promotion
> Video
> Collab with ISC

Callum

Studnets @ Risk -Rewa
> councelling for older kids
> goal: no one gets kicked out based on behaviour and attendance
> collab with the councellers

Performing Arts - Molly
> healing through arts
> supporting sport teams
> theatre sports

Peace - Molly


Event Manager - Fizz
> 13 camp - Term 1 Holiday (3 days)
> Reviewing events

Environment - Kyle
> Involvment and interest in the environment
> Selling plants

ISC - Keegan
> Involvment with the mainstream and vice-versa
> Promotion
> Events
> Work with sport with an event

Hauora- Melissa
> Peer support
> Collabs with sport

Breakfast Club - Dardanelle
> Promotion (assemblies, posters, flyers, social media)
> Sponsporing (fonterra, santierium)
> Fundraising
> Collab with Environmental, use produce

Cultural - Luana
> Feast (motivational speakers, all cultures, sponsership, auction of cultural arts)

IT - Ban
> competitions
> tutorials
> 3.05 section
> event for techies/ how to deal with your computer
> student IT guy

Visual Arts - Jasmine
> juniors involved
> keep the art work up in A block
> talent show category

Service/ Community - Maddy
> blood drive
> Carnival
> Volunteering
> bullying

Peer Sexuality - Hazel
> Sexual Awareness
> Sexual appreciation
> Body/ slut shaming
> Big gay out
> Collab with health
> bullying

Marketing - Chris A
> Positively promoting the school to the community (make a film)
> Promote and market school events, encourage and engage students
> Unite different areas (half time shows)

HEAD PREFECTS

Samantha Parker, Molly Fausett, Melissa Waru

Chris Moore, Rewa Clark, Calum Milne

First Impressions

Dirty, crime-ridden and unsafe; West Auckland has never had the best of reputations. I often find it is the butt of jokes and racial comments. When I was 14 years old and my parents and I were looking for a good high school to attend, we looked as far out of West Auckland as we could. We remained open minded, however, and attended many open evenings around the suburb, hoping to come across something that would fit. We were pleasantly surprised when we attended Waitakere College open evening. We were greeted by energised students with big smiles, we were informed by the principal about the values of the school and finally, a leader of the school lead us around the campus, showing us just what the school was capable of. To say that we were a little surprised, is an understatement. Waitakere College was last on the list, given its reputation for drugs, fighting, low pass rates and again, the humour that surrounded it, but there was something special about it. 

We took a chance and I began my journey. Never have I ever felt so welcomed. The school is its own functioning and loving community. Waitakere is very diverse and we are not only taught to respect, but we are also taught to learn about each other’s cultures. Watching my friends perform the Haka makes me quite emotional and we really do have some rich heritage which is celebrated daily at Waitakere College. It has inspired me to learn about other cultures, languages and maybe one day travel the world. 

Another thing I really love about my second family is that we get loud and we get excited. We’re not afraid to show our appreciation, our support and our respect. A leadership team from the college recently attended an overnight camp at AUT with other leadership teams from other colleges around Auckland. They turned up in their uniforms, blazers and began as quite reserved. Waitakere College were there in shorts and rec shirts, ready to go. We were definitely the most enthusiastic school and we threw ourselves head first into every activity. We were lucky enough to have some amazing AUT ambassadors to help us along the way and our team really benefited from the experience. 

I could go on and on about everything that I love about Waitakere College. The teachers, the atmosphere, the inclusion support unit that aids disabled students to have full high school experience and so on. It has become very clear to me that what I once thought about the college was wrong. Our pass rates continue to go up and up, in an increasingly dramatic fashion. Our teachers and older students put endless amounts of extra time into making sure that each and every one of our students cross that finish line. Our tolerance for drugs and any kind of bullying has always been zero and we continue to put programmes in place to ensure that it is not a part of our community. We are always moving forward, we recently made it compulsory for year nines to bring in chrome books so that we can develop efficiently in this technology run world. 

But the thing, that I love most about Waitakere College, is we recognize that everyone is different. We celebrate and nurture each other in our strengths and weaknesses and this ultimately helps us to grow into people that can contribute and give back to our communities outside of school. This year is my last year at Waitakere College and I hope to make it a really good one because I am so sad to leave. 

I am privileged to be a part of the Prefect leadership team this year and it is my goal to not only be a great role-model for other pupils but to leave a legacy through my ideas and hard work around the school. I owe it to my school for all the hard work they have expended on me. My school believed in me and I will be forever grateful for that. 

- Molly Fausett