Nelson principals are again celebrating successes in national qualifications, although most acknowledge that there is still room for improvement.
The New Zealand Qualification Authority last week released National Certificate in Educational Achievement results for 2011, with a warning that factors such as decile, roll numbers and courses offered could influence a school's statistics.
Nelson College headmaster Gary O'Shea said results in level 1 and 2 were well above the previous year, but the school had taken a "thump" in level 3.
He said 2010 had seen the school's strongest year in a decade in terms of NCEA Level 3 results, but last year the school saw a significant drop.
"That's not easy to explain, but we have this sort of rollercoaster with year 13s."
The result was partly due to the changing demographics of the school, he said.
Maori and Pacific students now accounted for a quarter of the roll, up from 6 per cent in 2007 when Mr O'Shea took over as headmaster of the school.
"We've got a much greater diversity coming into level 3 than we have ever had in the school's history, so it's a challenge for us, but it's a good challenge, they want to be here."
Students were also staying in school later, with more than 95 per cent of last year's year 12s staying on for year 13 this year, as well as 15 "year 14s" who were repeating year 13.
"Some are here because they didn't get enough merits and excellences for medicine or engineering, and there are others who have taken several years to get Level 2."
The school's scholarship results were pleasing, with the boys earning 14 out of the 27 scholarships for boys, he said.
Nelson College for Girls principal Cathy Ewing said she was delighted with her students' results, which were up on 2010 in all year levels.
"Our students did fantastically well," she said.
The school had also performed well with scholarships, with 15 students earning them for a variety of subjects, including one boy from Nelson College who earned a scholarship for art history, and one year 11 girl who gained a scholarship in Spanish, she said.
Nayland College principal Rex Smith said his school had seen improvement across all year levels, but he was particularly happy with the NCEA level 1 and 2 results.
The school also did well with scholarship results, earning 14 overall, as well as one outstanding scholar award.
As the Ministry of Education had been encouraging schools to focus on NCEA level 2 results, the school's performance was pleasing, he said.
Level 3 results were slightly down on last year, but when he looked at the different cohorts involved the results were not unexpected.Waimea College principal Larry Ching said he was pleased with the results, which he said were an improvement on the previous year at all year levels.
"On the one hand our achievement level compared to similar decile schools around the country is very good, but on the other hand it's not good enough for me," he said.
The school was looking to increase the number of students who were gaining merit and excellence results, and so far they had been succeeding, he said.
"The quality of the results is OK, but we would just like more people to be getting those results," he said.
It was often a challenge to balance academic results with extracurricular activities, and it was important to find a balance, he said.
"Each time they are away doing something else it can have an effect on their final results," Mr Ching said.
Golden Bay High School principal Roger File said he was generally pleased with his students' results.
"At level 2 our students achieved better on average than the average for all secondary schools by five percentage points while at level 3 the achievement rate was outstanding, 15 percentage points above the national average," he said.
Principals at other schools in the region failed to respond in time for this article's publication.
- © Fairfax NZ News
The New Zealand Qualification Authority last week released National Certificate in Educational Achievement results for 2011, with a warning that factors such as decile, roll numbers and courses offered could influence a school's statistics.
Nelson College headmaster Gary O'Shea said results in level 1 and 2 were well above the previous year, but the school had taken a "thump" in level 3.
He said 2010 had seen the school's strongest year in a decade in terms of NCEA Level 3 results, but last year the school saw a significant drop.
"That's not easy to explain, but we have this sort of rollercoaster with year 13s."
The result was partly due to the changing demographics of the school, he said.
Maori and Pacific students now accounted for a quarter of the roll, up from 6 per cent in 2007 when Mr O'Shea took over as headmaster of the school.
"We've got a much greater diversity coming into level 3 than we have ever had in the school's history, so it's a challenge for us, but it's a good challenge, they want to be here."
Students were also staying in school later, with more than 95 per cent of last year's year 12s staying on for year 13 this year, as well as 15 "year 14s" who were repeating year 13.
"Some are here because they didn't get enough merits and excellences for medicine or engineering, and there are others who have taken several years to get Level 2."
The school's scholarship results were pleasing, with the boys earning 14 out of the 27 scholarships for boys, he said.
Nelson College for Girls principal Cathy Ewing said she was delighted with her students' results, which were up on 2010 in all year levels.
"Our students did fantastically well," she said.
The school had also performed well with scholarships, with 15 students earning them for a variety of subjects, including one boy from Nelson College who earned a scholarship for art history, and one year 11 girl who gained a scholarship in Spanish, she said.
Nayland College principal Rex Smith said his school had seen improvement across all year levels, but he was particularly happy with the NCEA level 1 and 2 results.
The school also did well with scholarship results, earning 14 overall, as well as one outstanding scholar award.
As the Ministry of Education had been encouraging schools to focus on NCEA level 2 results, the school's performance was pleasing, he said.
Level 3 results were slightly down on last year, but when he looked at the different cohorts involved the results were not unexpected.Waimea College principal Larry Ching said he was pleased with the results, which he said were an improvement on the previous year at all year levels.
"On the one hand our achievement level compared to similar decile schools around the country is very good, but on the other hand it's not good enough for me," he said.
The school was looking to increase the number of students who were gaining merit and excellence results, and so far they had been succeeding, he said.
"The quality of the results is OK, but we would just like more people to be getting those results," he said.
It was often a challenge to balance academic results with extracurricular activities, and it was important to find a balance, he said.
"Each time they are away doing something else it can have an effect on their final results," Mr Ching said.
Golden Bay High School principal Roger File said he was generally pleased with his students' results.
"At level 2 our students achieved better on average than the average for all secondary schools by five percentage points while at level 3 the achievement rate was outstanding, 15 percentage points above the national average," he said.
Principals at other schools in the region failed to respond in time for this article's publication.
- © Fairfax NZ News
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