Bosses 'snub' Cambridge High kids

1.00pm - By PATRICK CREWDSON

Students at troubled Cambridge High School are being given the cold shoulder by employers because of question marks over their qualifications, head boy Oliver Searle claims.

He was speaking out in his first full interview since the school's much-publicised NCEA debacle.

Searle - who was thrown into the public spotlight after revelations that he had stepped in to teach a class left without a teacher - told the Herald on Sunday the controversy had damaged the career prospects of his fellow Cambridge High School students.

"I've heard of people who go to job interviews ... say they're from Cambridge High and the interview is basically over," he said.

Cambridge High has been the focus of national attention since claims earlier this year of exam manipulation and staff bullying. There were also claims teachers gave students answers to test questions.

For two years the school enjoyed a 100 per cent pass rate, and in 2002's combined qualification results for NCEA, sixth form certificate and bursary, Cambridge came second behind Auckland's elite St Cuthbert's College. It was the only state school in the top 10.

Following a damning New Zealand Qualifications Authority report on the school controversial principal Alison Annan resigned only to receive a confidential settlement last week after mediation.

Searle said while negative publicity had damaged the school's reputation, the way NCEA was run at Cambridge High did not diminish the standard of students' qualifications.

The school had not broken any rules, he claimed, but rather had used educational systems which other schools had not "cottoned on to yet".

"In the end the system is either going to be changed because of public opinion or all schools will end up offering that. I know there are many other schools that offer similar programmes and many other schools that have 100 per cent pass rates."

He said Mrs Annan, who he counts as a "personal friend", was focused on helping students achieve. She was not, he maintains, trying to make the school look good in academic league tables.

The way she had been treated was "an injustice" and if he did not have exams coming up he would keep fighting for her re-instatement.

"I'm very much loyal to Mrs Annan. She's had a huge impact on my life and done an awful lot of good for me."

Cambridge Chamber of Commerce chief executive Amanda Scott said that she was shocked to hear graduating students from the college had been turned away by potential employers.

Searle, meanwhile, is planning to study law, politics and economics at Victoria University in Wellington next year.

He has not ruled out a life in politics and said he had applied to join the National Party.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY