Westlake musicians enjoyed an outstanding week at the 2026 KBB Music Festival, performing at Holy Trinity Cathedral and St Mary's-in-Holy Trinity alongside some of Auckland's leading school ensembles. A number of groups were selected to perform at Saturday's Gala concerts, capping off a highly successful festival for both Westlake Boys and Westlake Girls.
Westlake achieved six gold awards and one silver award, with recognition across orchestral, concert band, chamber and jazz categories. The Westlake Symphony Orchestra was awarded gold and earned a Soloist award for Shan Liu, while the Westlake Concert Band received gold and the award for Best Performance of a New Zealand Work for Karanga. Gold awards also went to the Westlake Big Band, Westlake Boys Camerata, Westlake Chamber Orchestra and Westlake Boys Symphonic Band. The Westlake Boys Stage Band added a silver award to round out an outstanding festival for Westlake musicians. These results reflect the talent and hard work of our students, conductors and music staff. Congratulations to everyone involved in this memorable week of music.
Grandparents enjoy morning at Westlake Boys
On Friday 31 July, 265 grandparents and their grandsons joined us for our annual Grandparents Day. Our guests enjoyed a special assembly with performances from the Symphonic Orchestra, followed by morning tea and a tour of the school with their grandsons. Headmaster Mr Fordham spoke about the important role grandparents play in shaping our lives. "Through my grandparents, I've seen values such as hard work, honesty, optimism, family, a sense of adventure and a love of learning," he said.
Mr Fordham encouraged students to take the time to learn more about their grandparents and the experiences that have shaped their lives. Thank you to all the grandparents who joined us and helped make the morning so special. Special thanks to Bill Speedy and the team at Oceanbridge Shipping for generously sponsoring the event.
Sir Paul inspires Scholarship students
Students and whānau gathered Thursday 20 August for our annual Scholars Breakfast, featuring distinguished Westlaker Sir Paul Baker (1973) as guest speaker. Recently appointed a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to medicine, Sir Paul spoke about his career that has included more than 30,000 anaesthetic procedures and a key role in paediatric anaesthesia at Starship Hospital. Sir Paul spoke about the importance of taking opportunities, working hard and being open to unexpected pathways.
Sir Paul also spoke about his humble beginnings, growing up above his family's butcher shop in Takapuna, and that academic success did not come easily at first. He worked hard and built a career that has had a huge impact on medicine in New Zealand and internationally. We would like to thank Sir Paul for sharing his story with our scholarship students. A special thank you to Barfoot & Thompson Milford and Kai Deng for their ongoing support of our Academic Scholarship Programme.
Squash team wins Auckland title, third in New Zealand
Westlake's Premier squash team capped off an outstanding season by winning the Auckland Secondary Schools League title for the first time since 2016 and then claiming a bronze medal at the National Secondary Schools Championships. The boys exceeded their fifth-place seeding at nationals, producing a series of strong performances to finish third in New Zealand. The results reflect a season of hard work, consistency and development across the squad.
Further recognition came with Beau Townsend-Dench earning selection in the Junior Trans-Tasman squad and Surya Sathish being named in the Senior Trans-Tasman squad. Congratulations to Surya Sathish, Beau Townsend-Dench, Zach Tuffin, Zalt Loggerenberg and Torr Beaman on a memorable season.
Premier hockey team finishes second in Auckland
Our 1st XI hockey team finished as Auckland runners-up after a closely contested final against King's College. The match was decided in a penalty shootout, with King's eventually claiming the title. While the result was disappointing, the team can be proud of an outstanding season
