Weekly Wrap - 5 April 2024

Kia ora koutou

It was wonderful to see so many parents and caregivers in at college last night for our junior parent/teacher interviews. We always see learning as a partnership between staff, students and parents. We are all working together to achieve the best outcomes and we appreciate the relationships that we have with our parent community. While the interviews are a bit like speed dating it does give the chance to make those connections and have focussed learning discussions, which can be invaluable. Information about senior interviews are further on in this newsletter.

NCEA results, 2023

We have received our final NCEA results for 2023 and there is lots to celebrate! Our results are well above national data and above or well above average schools of similar type (or equity index) around the country. Below is a table of NCEA pass rates by year level.

	Paraparaumu College	National results	School Equity Band (similar schools )
Year 11 (NCEA L1)	83.6%	61.6%	65.2%
Year 12 (NCEA L2)	94.5%	73.2%	79.2%
Year 13 (NCEA L3)	83.2%	67.6%	74.0%

Of note was some specific data:

NCEA male achievement Level 2 - 96.0%. This compares to national data of 71.7% and equity band data of 76.8% (20-23% higher). Male achievement at our college in both NCEA Level 1 and Level 3 is 10 - 20% higher than national and similar equity index band colleges.

Māori achievement Level 2 (93.2%) & Level 3 (78.6%). 93.2% of Year 12 Māori students achieved NCEA Level 2, this compares to 64.5% nationally and 73.5% for similar equity band schools. 78.6% of Year 13 Māori students achieved NCEA Level 3, this compares to 56.2% nationally and 65.3% for similar equity band schools.

There are other great results but I just wanted to highlight a few. Things are going very well at Paraparaumu College and students are achieving great success. We have high quality staff, awesome young people and a supportive community. Over recent years we have removed streaming, focussed on UDL (Universal Design for Learning), culturally responsive practice, growing our knowledge of catering for the needs of neurodiverse learners and continued taking a relational approach with PB4L. We have streamlined our tracking of students and interventions. These are all factors that have led to student achievement success and are a result of the combined efforts of many. I am conscious too that there have been changes to NCEA Level 1 this year and particularly the introduction of the co-requisites. There is uncertainty around how this will affect overall NCEA results at Level 1 this year (and other levels in future years). A great amount of work is being done to support students towards success but I’m signalling that a change in Level 1 data at the end of this year could be possible, due to such significant changes in the NCEA system.

NCEA announcement

This afternoon the Minister of Education has announced delays to the roll out of NCEA. In summary, the NCEA Change Programme will be delayed by two years. During this time the following will take place:

A review of the new NCEA Level 1 will be undertaken by the Education Review Office documenting key learnings
Additional review of other aspects of the NCEA Change Programme, including the methods for external assessments, periods of study leave, and moderation practices
The senior secondary curriculum for Year 11-13 students will be developed
An implementation plan will reflect learnings from ERO’s evaluation of Level 1
NCEA Level 1 (revised) and NCEA Level 2 will be fully implemented by 2028
NCEA Level 3 will be fully implemented by 2029

We have always argued the curriculum should be developed prior to the assessment activities that support it but I did not see such significant changes coming. We await further information around these changes but you can read the full announcement from the Minister here.

Student Success

Our student successes are posted on the College Facebook page but I would like to focus on some great success that has occurred recently.

We had a small team of students who competed at the Wellington Regional Athletics Champs at Newtown Park last week.. Congratulations to Rico who broke the Intermediate Boys High Jump record with his jump of 1.92m.

Top 3 finishes:

Eve - Junior Girls, 1st 100m & 200m, 2nd Long Jump
Daisy - Intermediate Girls, 1st 100m, 2nd 200m & Long Jump
Trilaine - Senior Girls, 2nd Shot Put
Rico - Intermediate Boys, 1st High Jump & Triple Jump, 2nd 300m Hurdles, 3rd 100m Hurdles
Luke - Intermediate Boys, 1st 100m & 200m
Lucas - Senior Boys, 2nd 200m & 3rd 100m
Freddie - Senior Boys, 2nd Long Jump, 3rd Triple Jump

Following on from this success we are pleased to announce that Lucas is off to Adelaide next week as a member of the NZ team to attend the Australian National Competition. Lucas will be competing in the U18 category in 100 and 200m. These championships attract teams from some of the Pacific nations as well so good competition for Lucas.

You may have also seen on our Facebook page that he will be attending the 2024 Oceania Athletics Championships in Suva, Fiji in June racing in the 100, 200m and 4 x 100m relay team. We wish Lucas all the best in these two competitions.

Also of note is Sammy who has been selected for the New Zealand U17 team to compete at the Junior World Championships in Calgary, Canada, in July.

Sammy had a successful Easter competing in the NZ Tournament Water Ski National Championships where he won gold in U14 boys tricks, silver in slalom, and bronze in jump. He also competed in Open Men’s trick (top 10 skiers of any age in NZ) and came 4th. Congratulations!

Save the Date! Senior Parent/Teacher Interviews (Yr 11 - 13) Thursday 9 May

Senior Parent/Teacher interviews will take place on Thursday 9 May from 3pm to 6pm. School will conclude at 2:15pm on this day.

Information about booking appointments through the schoolinterviews website will be made available at the end of this term.

Welcoming Mark Robinson

Mark Robinson will start in his role as Principal from Monday 29 April. He will be formally welcomed to the college on that day with a pōwhiri. To ensure staff are able to attend the pōwhiri school will have a later start that morning and lessons will commence at 11.30am. Buses will run at later times and supervision will be available in the library for any students that need it. I will update details in next week’s newsletter but I wish to signal this in advance.

Advance Notice PPTA Paid Union Meeting Friday 17 May

A series of Paid Union Meetings has been called nationally by PPTA Te Wehengarua (Post Primary Teachers Association). All members of PPTA Te Wehengarua are required to attend the meeting which, in our case, will be held on Friday 17th May 2024. This meeting is an official paid union meeting under the conditions of the teachers’ present employment agreement. It is not industrial action.

After consultation with the Board Presiding member, Michelle Mason, it has been decided that school will conclude at 12 noon on this day. The canteen will not be open for lunch on this day. Arrangements will be made to transport bus students home at that time.

There will be staff present at College from 12 noon and they will be available to supervise any student who may need to remain at College after 12.00 pm. Please let Tūhono teachers know if your child will be remaining at College after 12.00 pm so that necessary arrangements can be made.

Kia pai tō rā whakatā

Craig Steed