Two Important Considerations for Academic Achievement
This week we have held year level assemblies to point out to students how important it is to
make academic achievement their primary focus for Terms 3 & 4. Ensuring excellent attendance is critical to high academic achievement. Whenever a student misses a class, it creates an immediate gap in their understanding of the sequence of learning in a topic.
As our community is aware, this year we have introduced a school-wide electronic attendance register. Teachers mark their roll on their computer every period. This is enabling us to monitor our attendance statistics for both individual and groups of students much more frequently and closely. For example, the following tables shows the attendance rates for each year level last term and for the whole school in Terms 1 and 2:
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Attendance Rate per
Year Level Term 2
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Attendance
%
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Year 9
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91.35
|
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Year 10
|
87.81
|
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Year 11
|
88.86
|
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Year 12
|
86.57
|
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Year 13
|
85.98
|
|
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Whole School
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Attendance %
|
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Term 1 - 11 weeks
|
89.48
|
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Term 2 - 11 weeks
|
88.26
|
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Well done to the Year 9s for reaching 90%+ attendance. We would like to see all year levels reaching at least the same level over the rest of the year.
At the assemblies, I spoke of the growing competitiveness in terms of getting into courses at various tertiary institutions. This is revealed in the School Leaver Admission requirements recently published by the University Of Auckland. All of their undergraduate programmes now have a limit on the number of places available. This means that all undergraduate applicants are given a raw score based on their NCEA results which determines whether they get into a course or not – depending on whether or not it reaches the guaranteed entry score the university has set for the course.
For example, for a BA at Auckland University in 2011, a student must gain a score of 140 in NCEA Level 3 in order to be accepted. This is based on the best 80 credits at Level 3 in up to 5 approved subjects, weighted by the level of achievement attained in each set of credits.
Excellence (x4) Merit (x3) Achieved (x2). This information is available from our Careers Department.
Overall then, as I told the students in assembly, we want the very best for them in terms of their future options. Having good choices available is increasingly dependent on the academic results gained in NCEA. Hence, making academic achievement the priority in their school lives over the next two terms is essential.
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Notices
View our Community Engagement Plan
Read our latest ERO report
View our Strategic Plan 2009-12
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Selwyn College, 203-245 Kohimarama Rd, Kohimarama, Auckland
Phone:
(09) 521 9610 Fax: (09) 521 9620, Email:
info@selwyn.school.nz