Scholarship students’ success: St Cuthbert’s College twins Belle and Ena Yin’s record haul

Belle and Ena Yin are two of the top 10 students in the country after gaining an impressive 18 New Zealand Scholarship awards between them. But the Year 13 St Cuthbert’s College sisters have a lot more on their plate than just studying. They sat down with NZ Herald Focus reporter Cheree Kinnear to chat about their outstanding results.

Twins Belle and Ena Yin have a lot on their plate.

From excelling in subjects like physics, English and maths to extracurricular activities like robotics, coding and music, the 17-year-old sisters have mastered a juggling act that many would envy.

“There are just so many opportunities I feel like we have; we are really lucky to have these opportunities and I really enjoy them all,” Belle told the Herald.

Belle and Ena rank in the top 10 of students in New Zealand - both having been awarded Premier Scholars Awards for their 2023 results in which they achieved 18 New Zealand Scholarship awards.

New Zealand Scholarship is an award from NZQA that recognises top students. These students sit separate NZ Scholarship assessments to achieve them.

Their results contributed to a record 114 NZ Scholarships received by St Cuthbert’s College students across 27 subjects.

“We were all really surprised,” Belle laughed.

“I don’t think my mum even knew that I took so many school subjects,” added Ena.

St Cuthbert College Year 13 students Belle and Ena Yin. Photo / Cameron Pitney

Acting principal Suzanne Winthrop said the results made them the top all-girls school in the country.

“Given that we only have 1000 students in Year 9 to 13 when we compare ourselves to some of the very big schools in New Zealand who did get more scholarships than us but in fact, their numbers are so much bigger,” Winthrop said.

“So it’s thanks to girls like Belle and Ena who just worked so incredibly hard.”

Despite what could be assumed, the sisters are far from bookworms, putting their academic success down to “balance” and the mantra of studying “smarter, not harder”.

“We don’t actually spend all day studying,” Belle said. “It’s more like efficiently studying and I think that’s more important.

“One thing I do I think is very important is always ask a lot of questions,” added Ena. “So even the smallest things, very pedantic questions I would ask them just to be sure.”

Head of senior school Julie Fuge put it down to the girls’ curiosity.

“They come in, they’re eager to learn and are asking quite insightful questions that sometimes make you go away and think, and you have to come back with answers,” Fuge said.

“It’s really lovely to have that, I think they’re challenged to look outside the box.”

Belle and Ena are just two of several students excelling at St Cuthbert’s College, Fuge said.

“We have young ones coming in behind,” Fuge said, mentioning a Year 10 girl who got an NZ scholarship award this year.

“I think the door is open and [Belle and Ena] are certainly leading the way.”

Neither Belle nor Ena have locked in a decision over what they might want to do when they leave school at the end of this year - and they have plenty of options to choose from.

“Do I want to be like a research scientist or do I want to do something different?” Belle said. “But then that can change so my goal is to probably figure that out this year.

“We’ve both got our PADI licences for scuba diving,” said Ena.

“We want to get a licence to fly planes one day and also to skydive,” she added.

“Also debating [on] different committees and just a lot of things within school and outside of school too.”