Wellington East Girls' College

Wellington East Girls' College
File:WEGC Logo.svg
Address
Austin Street, Mount Victoria, Wellington, New Zealand
Coordinates	41.3028°S 174.7852°E / -41.3028; 174.7852
Information
Type	Single Sex Girls State Secondary (Year 9-13)
Motto	Lumen accipe et imperti "Accept the Light (of knowledge) and pass it on"
Established	1925
Ministry of Education Institution no.	274
Principal	Sally Haughton
School roll	1,036 (February 2024)
Socio-economic decile	8P
Website	www.wegc.school.nz

Wellington East Girls' College (Maori name: Te Kura Kōhine o te Rāwhiti o Te Upoko o Te Ika) is a state single-sex girls' secondary school which sits directly above Mount Victoria Tunnel, Wellington, New Zealand. Serving Years 9 to 13 (ages 12 to 18), the school currently has 1,036 students.

The College primarily serves families of the eastern and southern suburbs and inner city Wellington. However, it also has students from all over Wellington, the Hutt Valley and Porirua City. The school has a Special Needs Unit catering to approximately 20 students, some of which are integrated into the school system.

Ethnicities of Students are:

• European/Pakeha 57%
• Māori 9%
• Samoan 8%
• Indian 7%
• Chinese 5%
• African 3%
• Other Asian 3%
• Other European 3%
• Other Pacific Island 2%
• Other ethnic groups 3%

School leadership

The school's longtime principal Janice Campbell retired halfway through 2007 and was replaced by Sally Haughton.

Currently the Senior Leadership Team consists of the principal herself and three deputy principals. There is also a principal's nominee, a staff member nominated by the principal who is responsible for maintaining quality within the School to ensure the validity and credibility of assessment for qualifications according to the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA).

The school also employs a Guidance team (composed of one international and five year-level deans, careers advisors, counsellors, and a Guidance Leader) as well as a sports director and many department heads.

History

Wellington East Girls' was built on reserve land bordering Wellington College in 1925, to cope with the demand for female education in Wellington at the time. By the end of the First World War, there were over 800 pupils at Wellington Girls’ High School (now Wellington Girls' College) in Thorndon, and teaching became severly hampered by the overcrowding - so much so that rooms in nearby houses were rented out to use as classrooms. Miss A. M. Batham, who had served on the staff at Wellington Girls for 22 years and would be the first Headmistress of Wellington East, petitioned the Board of Governors repeatedly until it was a agreed that a new school would be founded on the other side of the city. The school was originally named Mt Victoria Girls College but was changed to avoid confusion with Victoria University of Wellington, which was called Victoria University College at the time.

Houses

In 1931, Headmistress Batham divided the school into six houses for sports competitions. These six houses were named Islington, Ranfurly, Onslow, Jellicoe, Fergusson, and Bledisloe, and were named after:

• The Lord Islington, the 15th Governor of New Zealand.
• Lieutenant-General The Lord Freyberg , the seventh Governor-General of New Zealand.
• William Onslow, 4th Earl of Onslow, the 11th Governor of New Zealand.
• John Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe, the second Governor-General of New Zealand.
• Sir Charles Fergusson, 7th Baronet, the third Governor-General of New Zealand.
• Charles Bathurst, 1st Viscount Bledisloe, the fourth Governor-General of New Zealand.

Sometime before 1975, both the Ranfurly and Freyberg Houses were renamed. They became Cobham and Freyberg, in honour of The Viscount Cobham (the ninth Governor-General) and Lieutenant-General The Lord Freyberg (the seventh Governor-General). Then, sometime between 1975 and 2012, Freyberg and Cobham were dismantled and students in either became parts of the other four houses.

The four current houses at Wellington East Girls' College are:

• Onslow (Blue)
• Jellicoe (Green)
• Fergusson (Yellow)
• Bledisloe (Red)

Buildings and Grounds

Wellington East Girls College shares with Wellington College the administration of the Gifford Observatory.

The architecture of the original building is interwar stripped classical. The grand main building has a Category I listing in the New Zealand Historic Places Trust Register.

In 2011, earthquake strengthening work was begun on the building, but was halted when engineers found it to meet just 17% of the national building standard (the minimum for existing buildings is 34%). The building, which was built in 1924, was empty until late 2014, when work was restarted with the aim of strengthening and redeveloping the building. The redevelopment project will keep the facade of the old heritage building while a new multi-story block is built behind it.

The old block only held nine classrooms (not including the music department) which held 250 pupils, as well as spaces for staff. The new building will contain a Wharenui, as well as 28 classrooms and spaces such as a new library, art studios, food technology rooms, music facilities and a media suite. A second additional two-storey building will be constructed, housing three additional classrooms and spaces

Since the closure of the Main Block, areas previously housed inside the building have been forced to relocate. The Mathematics department, along with the School Office, Student Services Centre, Hauora Centre, and the Senior Management offices were all located in the areas deemed unusable in 2011, and have since been housed in "The Village"; a set of pre-fabricated buildings that has existed since late 2011 on the old lower netball courts. The music department was located in a portion of the Main Block still usable until its demolition in 2014; it is now housed in pre-fabricated buildings located on the top field. It is soon to be joined by another set of pre-fabricated buildings, which will house the Art Department until completion of renovation on the South Wing (built in 1966).

Most buildings on the school site are being redeveloped in some way or another. In the past two years, the Sports Center has seen strengthening and repainting. The Homecraft Block, which was built in 1952, is set to be demolished. The Fabrics room as well as the food technology room and the school canteen will shift into the new buildings upon completion. The baths, which since construction in 1958 have already witnessed the removal of the diving pool (replaced by the Special Needs Unit), are undergoing total reconstruction. Plans in place are set to redesign the outdoor swimming pool to have more of a community focus - the new design renders the pool indoors and heated. Seemingly, the only buildings on site left untouched by the redevelopement will be the East Wing (built 1956) and the Science Block.

The entire project is currently due to finish January 2019, and the school will be able to cater to approximately 1250 students.

He Huarahi Tamariki

He Huarahi Tamariki is a teen parent unit under the jurisdiction of Wellington East Girls College. It serves approximately 50 teenage parents in Years 9–15 (age 12–19) in continuing secondary school education. The unit is largely autonomous and is located in Porirua, and incorporates the Griffin 2 School, an Early Childhood Centre that caters for the children of its students. It is noted that the Teen Parent Unit roll is returned with the one belonging to Wellington East Girls' College.

Notable alumni

Main category: People educated at Wellington East Girls College

Years denote leaver year as student

The Arts

• Dawn Sanders (1968) - theatre scholar and found of the Shakespeare's Globe Centre New Zealand
• Jennifer Ward-Lealand (1975) - screen and theatre actress
• Chelsie Preston Crayford (2003) - actress
• Rae de Lisle (1965) - Head of Piano and Senior Lecturer at the University of Auckland
• Avis Higgs (1935) - painter and textile designer
• Aivale Cole (1995) - Opera singer
• Janice Campbell - Headmistress of Wellington East

Science

• Abigail Arulandu, Engineering student (2006) - developing robotic limb assistance for stroke patients
• Emma Dangerfield (nee Smith), Chemistry student (2002) - created a greener process of developing designer drugs using non-toxic chemicals

Politics and public service

• Mary Varnham (1961) - Wellington City Regional Councillor, author, publicist

Sport

Swimming

• Meda McKenzie (1978) - first woman to complete a double crossing of the Cook Strait and the first to complete a circumnavigation of Rarotonga
• Natasha Hind - Silver and Bronze medallist at the 2010 Commonwealth Games
• Michelle Burke (1990) - Bronze medallist at the 1990 Commonwealth Games
• Emma Robinson (New Zealand swimmer) - 2016 Summer Olympics swimmer
• Ellen Quirke - Athlete at the 2014 Commonwealth Games
• Samantha Lee - Athlete at the 2014 Commonwealth Games

Football (Soccer)

• Wendi Henderson (1987) - New Zealand player
• Renee Leota (2007) - New Zealand international football player

Hockey

• Niniwa Roberts (1994) - Black Sticks team member and Olympic athlete in 2004 and 2008