29 July, 2026

Post-Covid lessons help Westlake Girls win excellence award

Celebrating success… Westlake Girls High School principal Jane Stanley with deputy head prefect Charlotte Mawston (left) and head prefect Dorsa Jahedi

A post-pandemic shift in leadership strategy contributed to Westlake Girls High School winning the secondary school Excellence in Educational Leadership award at the inaugural New Zealand Education Excellence Awards.
The school was nominated alongside two others for the secondary school category. Judges said Westlake Girls had a “deliberate and well-executed focus on developing the whole learner”.
The award follows Westlake Girls excelling in eight areas in its 2026 Education Review Office (ERO) report, including leadership, student achievement and school improvement.

Principal Jane Stanley says the award is the result of the school listening closely to students and staff. “I am thrilled that this leadership award and our recent ERO report recognise not only our commitment to growth, but also the practical steps we have taken to bring that commitment to life.”
Post-Covid, student feedback showed some were missing a deeper connection with their learning, and valued a sense of belonging, trusted relationships with adults and clear expectations.
In response, the Student Growth Profile was created in collaboration with students and staff. The profile is a document offering a clear pathway for learning, personal growth and leadership starting from Year 9 through to Year 13. Academic tracking was also modified in 2023 to give students greater awareness of their progress throughout the year.

Following the Student Profile’s success, this year both the Teacher Profile and a “how girls learn best” Pedagogical Framework were developed for staff to guide a more consistent approach to learning across classrooms.
Looking ahead, a new Leadership Profile is being developed to support leadership growth across the wider school, for both students and staff.
“We have always been determined that our profiles and Pedagogical Framework should be much more than lofty, abstract statements on a page,” says Stanley.
In 2025, 93.4 per cent of students achieved NCEA Level 3, and 87.2 per cent University Entrance. Westlake Girls also had a record Scholarship result, with students gaining 119 scholarships, 10 of them rated as “outstanding”.

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