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Dear Parents and Caregivers
Well, we’re now at the ‘sharp end’ of the academic year, starting with our upcoming Prelim examinations. This particular event has a priority in the academic life of the College for a number of very important reasons that I’ll elaborate on in this newsletter.
The purpose of this newsletter is, along with talking about a number of other things, to talk particularly about the upcoming Prelims and highlight how this year’s examinations, and the derived grades that they provide for external standards, are very important for our students and explain why this is so.
I do admit that there’s a fair bit for you to read and absorb, so you may prefer to read this in ‘chunks’. Whichever you choose, I do earnestly encourage you to talk about what’s in here with your child.
At all times, please feel free to contact me via email with any questions that you may have about NCEA, or matters raised in this newsletter at DBV@stac.school.nz.
Kind regards
David Bevin
Head of Teaching and Learning – Secondary
Over Weeks 6–8, year group meetings are taking place where the expectations of students in the upcoming Prelim examinations are outlined. I am hopeful that they have a clear understanding of the issues and that they particularly understand why derived grades hold a great deal of importance for them. My final point in light of this was that students really must prepare as well as they can for the Prelims and aim to do their best. This will then enable them to ‘bank’ secure derived grades that are as good as they can get and that they may possibly need to use, should they be needed, for NCEA examinations. Every year, we have a good number of students who make applications for derived grades for their NCEA externals.
Students at all levels are currently working towards completion of their internal assessment programmes by the end of the term. Some courses have already completed their assessment programmes, while others will be just a few weeks away from completion. Teachers are working towards the Thursday 26 September deadline for the completion of most internal assessment programmes and any delays in the completion must have been discussed with me. In one or two subject areas, (e.g., Years 12 and 13 Physical Education for NCEA) assessment programmes are solely internal assessment-based and, as such, students in those subjects may continue to be assessed into Term 4. In the majority of subjects, though, when students sit their Prelims, they will have completed their internals and will be able to focus solely on preparing for the external standards.
In some subjects, such as Visual Arts, the external assessment is not an examination but, rather, a portfolio of work that is produced in school and then subjected to external marking and/or a marking verification process. These portfolios are usually a fairly extensive body of work produced over time and have a credit value of at least 12, if not a bit more than that. As these are external assessments, the final result for the portfolio is not confirmed until all results are provided in January of next year. The Art teachers set deadlines in October/November for completion of the portfolios, and it is extremely important that students meet the deadline. Those dates are set by NZQA and, just like an examination, there is no possibility of an extension or a late submission; students must meet the deadline for completion that is given by their teacher. A situation of sickness affecting completion is managed through the NZQA derived grade process.
Possibly a very big ‘player’ at an individual student level in the 2024 NCEA year and, so, in our upcoming Prelims.
The message is very clear that the grades that students gain in their Prelim examinations DO become very important when it comes to NCEA externals.
That is why you are asked to talk with your child about their preparation for the Prelims and about their performance, it is very possible that they will be their most important external assessments this year.
Right now, many Year 13 students (for Year 12 students, that’s in 12 months’ time) are busy preparing their CVs and making applications for tertiary Scholarships and Halls of Residence. Each application requires a student to provide their last set of completed NCEA results, namely, their NCEA Level 2 results. It’s a very competitive world and each Scholarship and Hall of Residence application is part of a contestable process. Without labouring this point, if a student made a successful derived grade application for their Level 2 examinations, with the grades coming from school examinations for which they did not prepare particularly well, the application will potentially look less ‘compelling’ - another reason for preparing well and trying to do one’s best in the school Prelim examinations.
In March of this year, I was contacted by NZQA regarding a student (Alice) whose (Chemistry Titration) Standard paper had been lost without trace by NZQA. Amongst the more than a million papers that are marked around the country, it’s not surprising that at least some examination papers will be lost, and this student’s paper was one of those. The school was asked by NZQA to provide a derived grade based on Alice’s Prelim examination paper. Fortunately, she had sat it and done well in it, and we were able to provide the grade to replace the one ‘lost’ following her examination … that was significant in what was an unfortunate and unusual situation. Papers don’t often get lost, but it does happen.
It’s appropriate to mention the academic awards that are made each year in February for students’ performance in the NCEA and Scholarship examinations. In my talks with students this week, I have reminded them of these as, again, their Prelim exam results could become our ‘reference points’ when working out those awards, depending on whether we manage to successfully run the external programme of NCEA and Scholarship examinations.
These awards are mostly for our Year 13 leavers, although can be gained by Year 12 students who study courses either fully at a higher level or in part. The NCEA thresholds must be met by those students too to qualify for these awards.
Year 12 students will be awarded with one or more of the awards of Academic 30s, Colour, Tie, Blazer and NCEA Certificate Excellence endorsement although some may also qualify for the Level 3 Excellence and/or subject endorsement awards and New Zealand Scholarship.
Year 11 students will be awarded with one or more of the Academic 30s, Colour, Tie, Blazer and NCEA Certificate Excellence endorsement although some may also qualify for the Level 2 Excellence and/or subject endorsement awards and New Zealand Scholarship.
Firstly, a reminder about the information that we provide regarding the Prelim and NCEA examinations that is accessible through StACNet, NCEA. Take a look through the FAQs for all of the details on the running of the Prelims, issues such as lateness, absence, sickness.
Please note the following information – absence from examinations is not usually a big problem at all at St Andrew's College but this is how we manage it if it happens.
We expect 100% attendance from all students.
All students must sit all of their examinations and the Deans, Heads of School and I will be very watchful about this during examination time. A case of non-attendance is very problematic and must be avoided where possible.
As per my previous comments, absence from an examination means no grade is available for a derived grade for (a) standard/s not sat.
Prelims will run from the morning of Wednesday 11 September to the end of Friday 20 September.
During the examinations, students will not be required at school other than for their examinations. Any student who has an examination must sit it – not doing so is not an option (never forgetting the derived grade!).
Students sitting subjects with external assessments that are assessed but not as examinations may have workshops that they are required to attend during the programme.
Due to the nature of setting an examination timetable, some students will complete their examinations earlier than Friday 20 September, however, many students may still have internal assessments to complete, so they should use any ‘spare’ time to work on completing internals.
These examinations include practice examinations in Scholarship subjects.
Last Friday, all students received an email from the Timetable mailbox with their confirmed personalised examination timetable. They are now very clear about when their examinations are on and where.
This is what they were told in their two emails – they are expected to have read them carefully by now.
First email sent to all students in Week 5:
Dear student
In this email, you are receiving your PROVISIONAL exam timetable for the upcoming Prelim exams that run from Wednesday 11 September to Friday 20 September. Compulsory workshops will take place between Tuesday 17 and Friday 20 September for students who are continuing to work on in-school external assessments and therefore have no end-of-year exams in certain subjects (e.g. Visual Arts). Normal timetabled classes will resume on Monday 23 September and all students are required back at school.
Please do not lose this email and note down the relevant details in your diary or calendar. You must also understand that your exam timetable is set and you are expected to attend your exams as showing. Students who have Special Assessment Conditions, such as a Reader/Writer, will be told by Mrs Broad of their rooming arrangements before each of your exams. You are required to meet her before each session in AB101 which is the room that shows on your timetable.CAAs - In this year’s Prelims we will be running the second session of the NCEA LitNum Reading, Writing, Numeracy Common Assessment Activities (CAAs). Students who are required to sit one or more of these assessments have already received information about this from me and their provisional timetable shows when they will sit their CAA/s. Once again, each CAA is completed online on the Assessment Master platform and students must bring their device that is ready for the assessment along with their NZQA Learner Login details. The CAAs must be sat at the timetabled time. Students who have SACs will receive their entitlement as normal in these assessments.
SEAs – a small number of Year 11/Level 1 subjects will be running part of their online submitted external assessment (1.3 or 1.4) during the Prelims on the exam.net website and those students who will be involved in this will see the session on their timetable. Attendance at that session is compulsory and students must bring their device that is in a good state of readiness.
More information, that you must read, will be coming to you over the next few weeks in the leadup to the Prelims. Your parents will also be kept well-informed about the exams through various forms of information that will be sent to them over the same period of time.
One other very important thing for you to remember about Derived Grades in NCEA exams….
In College Prelims, the derived grades have extremely high importance so please prepare very well for your exams and aim to do your very best. The grade/s that you gain in the Prelims for your external standard/s will become your derived grade/s and therefore will become very significant if there are any disruptions to the NCEA exams in November, if you are unable to attend NCEA exams or if you have an impairment that prevents you from giving your best performance in an NCEA exam. Note that derived grades are not available for the CAAs and the SEAs.If you have any questions about your timetable, you must speak with Mr Bevin directly - do not ask your Dean or Head of School about rescheduling an exam.
Mr Bevin
Head of Teaching and Learning
Second email sent to all students in Week 6:
Dear student
In this email, you are receiving the final version of your exam timetable for the upcoming Prelim exams that run from Wednesday 11 September to Friday 20 September. For most students, this timetable version is the same as the one you received last week but be sure to check it again as there have been changes for a small number of students.
Please note the following key reminders
- If you are a Year 11 student who is sitting one or more of the NCEA CAAs please take careful note of when you have been timetabled for your assessment. Remember that NCEA LitNum is a key requirement of the new NCEA. Remember that, for these online assessments, you are required to use your own laptop (unless you are an SAC student who is not using one) that is device-ready and you must know properly your NCEA Learner Login details.
- Year 11 students should also remember that most of your exams are online exams so you are expected to have your device for the relevant exam/s and it must be device-ready.
- Year 12 and 13 Digitech students will sit their final NCEA exam – DCAT – on 13 September and will use a school device for that assessment.
- The College will not provide backup headphones for the use of Polly nor backup laptops for exam use. We will only provide such backups in exceptional circumstances.
Your exam timetable is set and all students must attend their exams as showing. All students who have Special Assessment Conditions such as a Reader/Writer will be told by Mrs Broad of the rooming arrangements before each exam and must meet her before each session in AB101. This includes students who use a computer for their exams.
It is very important that you are well aware of when your exams are on and of the rules and expectations that the College has for you during the Prelims. You will receive a lot more information in the Student Prelim Exams booklet that Tutors will distribute early next week - be sure to read it! If you haven’t yet received your copy, please ask your Tutor for one.
Be aware in particular of the exam times:
AM session - from 9 am - 12 pm
PM session - from 1.30 pm - 4.30 pmYou are required to line up for the exam roll call with the Dean 45 minutes before each exam begins.
Please remember that your Prelim exam grades provide the ‘standard’ derived grade as explained to you in exam briefings. Therefore, please prepare very well for the Prelims and aim to do your very best!
And one final reminder about absence; don’t call the College on the absence line, rather, contact the Middle School Reception (for Years 10 & 11) or Senior College (for Years 12 & 13) promptly at the start of the day. All medically related absences require students to provide a medical certificate to Mr Bevin within 24 hours of the examination that is missed.
Good luck with your Prelim exams!
Kind regards,
Mr Bevin
Head of Teaching and Learning
This week, students are receiving from their Tutor their Prelim Exams Information which outlines all the rules and procedures that are used to ensure that the Prelims run smoothly.
It is very important that students inform themselves fully about what is happening, when and where so, for your part, please ask them just what is happening during the examination week!
Examination clashes
The shorter duration of our examinations means that we have to run multiple examinations in a session, meaning some students have two examinations on at the same time, called an examination clash. To manage such clashes, some students are required to sit one of their examinations at a time other than the set one. It does mean that those students will sit an examination after it has already been sat and we rely on students not to tell ‘clash’ students about the exam!
Special Assessment Conditions (SACs)
A number of students have had their entitlement to Special Assessment Conditions approved by NZQA. The process of application and approval was very detailed and lengthy and the time for applications has now closed. Students must use their SAC in all Prelim examinations, and it is important that they have both confirmed their entitlement with Mrs Broad and that they understand the expectations of them. They must understand that the use of SAC is very formal and must be taken seriously in all examinations.
One of the golden rules of NCEA (and of our College Prelim examinations) is about student use of cell phones… the rule is very simple…. they are not to be used by students at any stage during an examination – this includes if a student makes a toilet visit.
If a student is caught using, or having in their possession, a cell phone they will be guilty of misconduct of the most serious kind – and the penalties for this are very serious. Sadly, in recent years, I have had to deal with this situation in examinations and the students concerned were censured in a very significant way; this included losing the results for their examination amongst other things. This rule, and the associated penalties, are made very clear to students every year and will be outlined in the student Examination Booklet. If anyone takes a different view about this particular rule, they need to be very clear about what NZQA (and we!) expect. It’s serious!
The widespread use of smart watches means that NZQA has mandated that no watches may be worn in examinations. It’s not surprising but schools are expected to enforce this rule in their school examinations and Examination Centre Managers are required to enforce it in the NCEA examinations. Clocks will therefore be provided in all examination rooms and a very large digital timer will be provided for the Gym. Students who have Special Assessment Conditions Assistants will be able to ask those people for the time throughout the examination.
This year, students in a number of subjects are completing their Prelim examination/s online in preparation for doing their NCEA examination in that way in November.
I emailed parents two weeks ago about this assessment event. This is the second time for assessment of the NCEA LitNum requirement (the first time being in May) and, because there are three separate LitNum standards with individual assessments, the programme will happen on three separate days, those being Monday 9 September (Reading), Monday 16 September (Numeracy), Friday 20 September (Writing).
Students in Year 11 who are having another attempt at one or more of the standards, or who missed one or more of the May assessments, have been timetabled to sit the relevant assessment. I have repeated the email sent to students and parents as follows.
Following is an email that has been sent to your student regarding the upcoming NCEA LitNum Common Assessment programme and their involvement in it. Please do get in touch with me if you have any questions.
Regards
David Bevin
Head of Teaching and LearningDear Student
In September, we will be running the second round of assessment of the NCEA LitNum co-requisite requirement. As we did in May this year, in that time we will be running at separate times the 3 Common Assessment Activities of Literacy – Reading, Literacy – Writing, Numeracy. As you have yet to achieve one or more of the 3 standards that make up this requirement this second CAAs programme for this year will give you the chance to either continue working towards gaining LitNum or gaining the full requirement depending on which standard/s you have passed. You will, of course, remember that the gain of LitNum is essential for the gain of the NCEA certificate overall. Students can have multiple opportunities to achieve this requirement but it must be gained by sitting the relevant assessments.
If you are in Year 10, in May you may have sat one or both of Literacy – Reading and Numeracy. If you are in Year 11, in 2023, you may have sat one or both of Literacy – Reading and Numeracy and, in May this year, you may have attempted Literacy – Writing. If you have not yet sat or have not achieved one or more of these standards, in the upcoming September assessments, you will have the opportunity to attempt those again. Year 10 students will not sit Literacy – Writing until 2025.
We have put together a timetable of CAAs assessment and you have been timetabled into it. You will shortly receive a timetable that will show the relevant details and you are expected to attend your assessment/s as shown (the assessments are online so are done on your computer) – you must be sure to attend. As we did in May, we will be running the CAAs in SC204 (Senior College, upstairs Study) and you will need to bring your laptop that is ‘device ready’ and will need to remember the details of your NZQA Learner Login so that you can access the assessment/s.
Please note the following details:
NCEA LitNum co-requisite (20 credits):
Literacy – Reading standard 5 credits
Literacy – Writing standard 5 credits
Numeracy 10 credits
Programme of assessment (same standard but new exam paper):
Monday 9 September 8.45 – 11.45 Literacy – Reading
Monday 16 September 8.45 – 11.45 Numeracy
Friday 20 September 8.45 – 11.45 or 1.30 – 4.30 Literacy - Writing
You will receive more information and reminders from me soon but please note now what this means for you and when your assessment is on. If you know that you have commitments that clash with your CAAs programme, you must be sure to change your other commitments so that you can sit the CAA/s at the timetabled time. We will not be providing other sessions in which to sit your assessment.
I encourage all parents to ‘look over their child’s shoulder’ during these examinations to provide them with that extra home-based support that they do need. You could check as per these questions following (to name just a few…)
| Friday 30 August |
Students receive their final personalised examination timetable |
|
By Friday 6 September |
Students receive from their tutor their Prelim Examinations Booklet |
|
Wednesday 11 September |
Prelim examinations commence (morning and afternoon examinations) |
|
Friday 20 September |
Prelim examinations conclude |
|
Monday 23 – Wednesday 25 September |
Students receive back examination results and teacher feedback |
|
Thursday 26 – Friday 27 September |
Academic Conferences – Tutor-Student-Parent (face-to-face meetings) Day Students (Thursday 26 September) Boarding Students (Friday 27 September) |
Students are not required to attend classes at school during the Prelims. This allows them to study for examinations (some students have quite a large number of Prelims, particularly those sitting Scholarship Prelims as well as their NCEA level examinations – preparation time is essential) and teachers to mark, check mark, discuss marking outcomes with their colleagues and analyse and prepare feedback on each student’s performance. This is done ‘at speed’ so that we are able to give each student detailed feedback before the Term 3 holidays on their performance in the Prelims that also provides feed forward for their preparation for the big NCEA examinations. This feedback is discussed and given through a student’s tutor at formally scheduled Academic Conferences at the end of this term. This is not only about a tutor giving feedback but also about the student discussing with them and their parents how they performed in the Prelims and working out what their next steps in preparation are.
The Conferences take the place of end-of-year Parent-Teacher interviews and are run by the tutor and student, in conversation with the student’s parents. They are very much about a review of the Prelim examination results and discussion of the student’s next steps in preparation for the NCEA examinations in November. Information about this event has already been provided separately by me and Assistant Head of Secondary School (Academic), Helaina Coote, to students, staff and parents to help them to understand what is expected in an effective educational conversation such as this.
Following is a reminder about the student’s NCEA Current Results Summary. It’s increasingly up to date and always accessible through your own login to the College Portal. It will tell you much about how your child is progressing and will support any inquiry that you might want to make to an individual teacher.
Using your own access to the Community Portal/Results tab, you can access your child’s NCEA results to date, including the Prelims. In Term 3, the data changes regularly as more and more assessments and assessment programmes are completed.
It shows both final results for internals, perhaps some ‘indicative’ results data for external standards and then the Prelim results at the end of this term (remember, they become in most cases the derived grade for NCEA). The Summary also provides tables showing a student's progress towards the various NCEA awards as outlined above.
It’s quite difficult for busy parents to follow all of this NCEA data but we have worked hard to present it in such a way as to show accurately where a student stands in relation to the various NCEA awards and perhaps any goals for achievement that they have set for themselves. The document and its data enable parents to do a Term 3 holidays progress check in relation to those awards and goals and, even with a student who tends to have this ‘all in hand’, a good conversation can’t do any harm. Of course, for those students who tend not to worry too much about goals etc, the conversation can be very helpful and can help with the setting of targets for the NCEA examinations in Term 4. I do encourage you to set up some time for such a conversation with your student and to keep checking in on their results over the rest of the year.
Term 4 is just two weeks long for NCEA-level students hence the ‘full-on’ nature of this term’s academic life (and the requirement for internal assessment programmes to be completed by the end of Term 3, apart from those few subjects that are fully internally assessed).
With NCEA and Scholarship examinations beginning on Tuesday 5 November, students will begin study leave during the previous week. Information has been provided about these dates in previous communications from the College. Please also note that we do not provide a coordinated programme of examination tutorials for NCEA-level students once they go on study leave although individual teachers may do so where that is possible.
For your convenience, these are some helpful links to click on for more information.
