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Principal’s Notes

We hear lots in the press and media generally about declining standards in education. If you have been on any of my school tours during our Open Weeks you will know that I vigorously challenge that notion and demonstrate that by showing parents what our kids are doing and are capable of doing. I often challenge parent visitors with the statement “Could you do that?” Now that final and confirmed NCEA results for 2022 have been compiled and released I can back that up with some more detailed evidence. In our prospectus we quote Simon Wilson, the doyen of newspaper journalists, who was working for Metro Magazine when he stated that “They’re doing something right out there by the Zoo”.

Here’s how:
Our NCEA level 1 results for 2022 were 13% higher than the national average; NCEA Level 2 and Level 3 12 % above the national average and University Entrance (UE) 14.5% above the national average. I also explain to parents that actually what really matters is grade quality – Merits and Excellences. Our Merits and Excellences at Level 1 for 2022 have come in at 16.5% higher than the national average and at Level 2 a stunning 20.3% above the national average. My appraiser (an ex principal of three schools) is full of admiration for these amazing results. We say our students are “ridiculously talented” and so too are our teachers who lift them to these great heights. One more statistic – 99.2% of Springs Year 13 students leave with at least a Level 2 qualification! (All statistics from NZQA).

One metric that correlates extremely strongly with achievement is attendance. It’s logical, really – how can you achieve to the best of your ability if you are missing school? Again national figures are of concern to the government and the goal for 2024 is a 70% attendance rate. Our Springs goal in our Annual Plan is 90%. I can report (from the Ministry of Education’s Every Day Matters reporting) that Springs attendance rate for Term 1 has come in at 89.1% – among the highest rates of attendance nationally. We are proud of this and it reflects the hard work of our team of Heads of Houses and Departments and our senior leadership team in holding students accountable for both attendance and lateness. Good attendance relies on school/parent partnerships working together and we acknowledge and thank our parents for the work they do in making sure their kids are here every day – harder and harder to achieve as winter sickness starts to impact on daily attendance. We know, too that making learning engaging and school a great place to be by creating a welcoming environment all aid our excellent rates of attendance. Our beautiful new school provides a quality learning environment second to none!

Ngā mihi,
Ivan Davis
Principal

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