Rotorua Lakes High School principal Jon Ward. Photo / Andrew Warner
Rotorua principals are proud NCEA results are improving, with the Level 1 pass rate for one local secondary school last year jumping by more than 30 per cent in the past decade.
Despite this, school leaders believe the 2021 results "reflect the nature of a Covid impacted year" - saying lockdowns, remote learning and students entering the workforce early caused significant disruption.
The 2021 results for the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) were recently released to the Rotorua Daily Post.
Last year, 87.9 per cent of the 141 Rotorua Lakes High School students who attempted Level 1 passed. This was a more than 30 per cent jump on 2012's 55.6 per cent pass rate.
Data shows 86.8 per cent of Year 12 students achieved Level 2 last year, compared to 57.4 per cent in 2012.
And the 2021 Level 3 attainment rate was 78.2 per cent, compared with 44.7 per cent in 2021.
School principal Jon Ward said the improvements were "an absolute credit to the professionalism of staff and the effort they put in to improve student outcomes.
He said whānau also played a "significant role in supporting students to high achievements".
While there was more work to be done, he said "the trend line is absolutely in the right direction".
"I think that just shows there was a recognition that we have had to put more support around our students, and it has worked."
He said there had been a "massive change" in education since 2012 and more recently the school had focussed on broadening the curriculum outside of academic subjects.
This included tracking and monitoring students' performance, and bringing in early interventions when needed, he said.
He believed the pandemic shed light on the significant need to support students' wellbeing and ensure a safe learning environment.
Academic success still remained "vitally important", but he felt there had been a shift to a "more holistic view of education".
Ward said earlier this year the school had been recognised by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority for Māori students performing significantly above the national average.
But he said the school still had a long way to go.
"We are doing better perhaps than other schools, but that's not a cause for us to ease up."
At Rotorua Boys' High School, 79.1 per cent of 234 students who attempted Level 1 passed - a 10 per cent increase on 2012 statistics.
Last year, 91.7 per cent of 169 students passed Level 2, which was a boost of almost 30 per cent compared to 2012's 62.7 per cent.
Seventy-seven per cent of 105 students passed Level 3 in 2021, and 40 per cent gained University Entrance.
Rotorua Boys' High School principal Chris Grinter said last year's results showed improvement since 2012, but also "reflect the nature of a Covid-impacted year".
The school had to face the situation where students left to join the workforce for either part of the year or permanently. And many families moved to other locations for employment, he said.
Despite this, the school's "blended learning approach" of online along with classroom teaching enabled students to succeed above national averages.
Asked what main impacts the pandemic had on students completing NCEA, Grinter said: "It just has been harder for students to build consistent success and develop a smooth academic profile.
"Clearly there is a 10-year span across these two sets of results but as a school we have worked to make our school more responsive to the needs of our young men. Our response over this period has been sustained and ongoing and covers all facets of school life."
The school also made "significant shifts" that allowed Māori students to achieve at the same level as non-Māori students in recent years using a multi-faceted approach, he said.
"This has for us paid significant dividends and allowed our young Māori men to achieve at levels they never have before."
He said a fulltime learning support mentor had recently been appointed to work with specific boys who had been "severely impacted" by challenges of recent years and were at risk of not achieving.
At Rotorua Girls' High School in 2021, 73.3 per cent of students who attempted Level 1 passed. In 2012, 59.9 per cent passed.
Eighty per cent of students passed Level 2, compared with 67 per cent in 2012, and 73 per cent of 75 students achieved Level 3 - a 13 per cent increase on the 2012 pass rate of 60 per cent.
Twenty per cent of 75 students gained University Entrance last year.
School principal Sarah Davis said she was disappointed by the 2021 results - particularly for Year 13 students whose learning was significantly disrupted after the August lockdown.
"2021 was such a tough year around the whole Covid space. And the timing of the lockdown made it really hard."
She said a lot of students returned lacking "fire and enthusiasm" after the lockdown - and there were only two weeks left of term.
"Yes we are doing better, but my expectation should be we are doing even better than those results," she said.
Davis reiterated the importance of putting "systems of support" around students to ensure their learning needs were met.
Students at Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Te Koutu, which has a small cohort, also achieved highly in 2021. All of the 17 students at Level 1 and eight at Level 2 passed and of the seven students who sat Level 3, 87.5 per cent passed.
The kura principal was approached for comment.
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