Top-performing schools revealed

Five out of eight Western Bay secondary schools blitzed through NCEA last year - while three performed lower than the national average at their secondary year levels.
A table compiled by the Bay of Plenty Times compared pass rates of Western Bay schools for NCEA levels 1, 2 and 3 and showed while most students did pass the qualification, some schools did better than others.
Achieving the top result overall for 2008 is the state-integrated Catholic school, Aquinas College.
A new reporting system used to present NCEA statistics gives a more accurate outline than the system it replaces of how schools are performing.
Results this year are given as a percentage of the number of students who could conceivably take part in NCEA, rather than a percentage of the school roll as was the case in previous years.
Working at their secondary year levels and its qualification equivalent, Aquinas College topped all eight Western Bay secondary schools for the percentage of Year 11 students who passed NCEA level 1 and the percentage of Year 12 students pass ing NCEA level 2. It also topped the lead in the percentage of Year 13 students who gained university entrance.
Tauranga Girls' College received the highest percentage of Year 13 students who obtained NCEA level 3. The college also had the high est number of Year 11 NCEA students receiving an Excellence endorsement.
Katikati College had the highest number of Year 12 and Year 13 participating NCEA students receive an Excellence endorsement. Otumoetai College also performed highly, achieving above the national average for NCEA levels 1, 2 and 3 and the percentage of Year 13s obtaining university entrance. However, Mount Maunganui College, Tauranga Boys' College and Te Puke High School each performed below the national average in these categories.
Tauranga Boys' and Te Puke High School also performed below the national average of Year 13 students obtaining university entrance.
For Tauranga Boys', however, this is largely due to the fact they have a high percentage of students obtaining university entrance early, in Year 12.
Principal of Boys' College Robert Mangan, said they were looking to improve results, and decile rankings and gender weren't factored into national figures.
Mount Maunganui College principal Terry Collett, said the school was disappointed with their level 1 results but when compared with their school's decile equivalent it wasn't doing too bad.
Results did reflect a change in learning focus, adapted in 2008, he said. In line with the new curriculum, students were encouraged to be "self-manning" and tighter boundaries had been set over students' opportunities to resit internal assessments.
"We were hit greater than we'd thought ... Overall, it's not as good as we've done in the past three years."
The school expected there would be an adjustment period and would continue with the process as it did aim to set higher standards. The school had had a lift in pass rates in external examinations, he said.
Te Puke High School principal Alan Liddle said he felt his school was on track and overall did tend to be "tracking upward".
The introduction of programmes such as Te Kotahitanga, which aimed to lift the achievement of Maori students, were making a difference.
He said NCEA results were "one measure" of a school's success, and cautioned results weren't highlighted "at the expense of everything else".
Te Puke High aimed to cater to individual student needs and offered vocationally-focused courses, he said.
Through their Gateway youth apprenticeship scheme, eight out of 10 Te Puke High students went straight into apprenticeships last year.
Deputy principal of Otumoetai College, Bruce Farthing, said internal comparisons had been made at his school with year group entry level data from the cohort of Year 9s who started at Otumoetai in 2005.
Mr Farthing said he was pleased to report those students were performing above their entry ability level.
"In the end teachers do make a difference. We are defying reality if we think kids do it on their own. Teachers help by knowing their subject, upskilling, and growing their understanding."
Principal of Aquinas College Brendan Schollum, said as a decile nine school, Aquinas "should" be achieving the results they did and he was "very pleased".
Principal of Tauranga Girls' College Pauline Cowens, said students were offered "great breadth" with their education and last year's NCEA results sat within a huge amount of extra curricula activities.
Associate principal of curriculum at Bethlehem College Stuart Manners, said results were a little down on last year, but the school was still comfortable with NCEA, and felt it a "good test" for students.
Principal of Katikati College Peter Leggat, said much of his school's success could be attributed to ensuring students were in appropriate courses and their progress was monitored regularly.
Mr Leggat said the new reporting system was a positive move.
"It's a much better way and an accurate reflection on how students have done," he said.