Girls have comprehensively outperformed boys in school academic results in the first year since the abolition of School Certificate.
Seven girls' schools from Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Otago feature in a list of top 10 schools, calculated by the Herald on overall achievement in NCEA(National Certificate of Educational Achievement), Sixth Form Certificate and Bursary during 2002.
The combined list - accepted by the Qualifications Authority as a valid way of measuring a school's academic success - is the first to include results from NCEA level 1, the national qualification which last year replaced the old School Certificate.
Its inclusion has angered some principals, who claim other schools manipulate NCEA results, which makes comparisons unfair.
However, the NCEA marks do not seem to have made much difference to schools' overall academic rankings compared with previous years.
The girls' schools to reach the 10 are St Cuthbert's, Diocesan, Rangi Ruru, Samuel Marsden, Chilton St James, Columba College, and St Oran's. Only two state schools feature: Cambridge High and Auckland Grammar, the only boys' school among the 10.
A private co-ed school, the Senior College of New Zealand in Auckland, made it to sixth place despite not having entered students into NCEA.
St Cuthbert's principal, Lynda Reid, put her school's success down to quality of teaching, enthusiastic students and a culture of innovation and willingness to change.
She did not think it was fair to compare her girls and students at a state school in a poorer area, with fewer resources and lower expectations from parents.
"In the end I'm not going to apologise about the success of our kids. I'm really proud of all of them," she said.
But Otahuhu College principal Brian O'Connell said St Cuthbert's and other private schools had a head start because they could pick from the best students.
