Qualifications in the Senior School

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NATIONAL CERTIFICATE OF EDUCATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT
To complete an NCEA certificate students must earn credits.  They attain credits by meeting standards in their chosen subject areas.  Some standards, such as practical work, will be assessed internally by the school.  Others will be assessed nationally in external examinations.  Credits may be gained by achieving either achievement standards or unit standards.

 

ACHIEVEMENT STANDARDS
These may be achieved internally or externally.  Achievement standards are designed so that satisfactory work is awarded an “achieve” grade, good work receives a “merit” grade and outstanding work receives an “excellence” grade.  These grades indicate how well a student has performed but do not alter the number of credits gained for that standard.

 

UNIT STANDARDS
These are all internally assessed and credits gained may count towards NCEA and various National Certificates.  They differ from achievement standards in that they can generally only be awarded an “achieve” grade. 

 

LEVEL ONE CERTIFICATE

  • Students need to gain 80 credits from Level 1 or higher.
  • Of those 80 credits, 10 must be literacy credits which are gained from specified achievement standards available through a range of subjects, and 10 must be numeracy credits available mainly through Mathematics.

 

LEVEL TWO CERTIFICATE

  • Students need to gain 80 credits.
  • Of these, 60 must be from Level 2 or higher.  The remaining 20 credits may come from Level 1.

 

LEVEL THREE CERTIFICATE

  • Students need to gain 80 credits.
  • Of these, 60 must be from Level 3 or higher.  The remaining 20 credits may come from Level 2.

NB:   Level 3 courses are academically demanding and require specific pre-requisites.  Completing NCEA Level 2 does not guarantee entry into Level 3 subjects.  For some students, broadening their Level 2 qualifications will be a more appropriate choice.

 

CREDIT INCLUSION

  • ‘Credit equivalents’ from other qualifications such as CISCO and Young Enterprise Certificate can contribute towards NCEA.
  • Credit equivalents may only be used ONCE to count towards NCEA.
  • Credit equivalents do not count towards University Entrance or appear on the Record of Achievement.
  • Students studying these subjects are strongly advised to talk to Mr Lineham regarding the conditions for credit inclusion.

 

CERTIFICATE ENDORSEMENT

  • Students are able to achieve Level 1, 2 or 3 NCEA with Merit or Excellence Certificate Endorsements. 
  • Merit Endorsement at a particular level requires 50 credits at “merit” or “excellence” at that level or higher. 
  • Excellence Endorsement at a particular level requires 50 credits at “excellence” at that level or higher. 
  • Students can accumulate merits and excellences over more than one year and their record will be checked annually to determine whether they are entitled to an endorsement of any NCEA certificate.

 

SINGLE SUBJECT ENDORSEMENT

  • Course endorsement provides recognition for students who perform exceptionally well in individual courses that they study during the year.
  • Students will be able to have their strengths in individual courses recognised with a course endorsement at Merit or Excellence. 
  • The course name is the school name for the course. The endorsement is at the lowest level where the merits and excellences necessary come from.
  • To gain an endorsement for a course students must gain all of the following:
    • 14 or more credits at Merit or Excellence from the course;
    • at least 3 credits from externally assessed standards and 3 credits from internally assessed standards (Visual Arts and Physical Education are the exception); and
    • the necessary credits in a single school year.

 

OTHER NATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS

  • There are many National Certificates, National Diplomas and other qualifications.  Credits gained at school for Levels 1, 2 and 3 NCEA, together with those from further study and the workplace can be used towards these certificates and diplomas.
  • To gain a National Certificate you must have a specified number of credits, usually gained over 2 years.
  • Nayland College offers credits towards National Certificates in Business, Tourism, Horticulture and Mechanical Engineering.
  • Some courses allow progress towards other qualifications, eg SPEC (South Pacific Educational Courses Limited).

 

NEW ZEALAND SCHOLARSHIP

  • Scholarship is a monetary award to recognise top Level 3 students.
  • It does not earn credits towards a qualification, but does appear on a student’s Record of Achievement. 
  • Scholarship in each subject can be gained at two levels, either ‘Scholarship’ or ‘Outstanding Performance’.
  • The content assessed in each subject is the same as that covered in the Level 3 Achievement Standards. 
  • Candidates may enter scholarship in one or more subjects and this decision is made during the year. 
  • Students interested in scholarship should discuss it with their teachers early in the year.

 

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