John Paul College principal Patrick Walsh is anticipating high results, as in previous years. Photo / File
John Paul College principal Patrick Walsh is anticipating high results, as in previous years. Photo / File
While January 14 was etched into the calendar for thousands of students around the country, one Rotorua student did not even realise the results came out today.
But opening the screen of the NZQA website without a hassle, John Paul College student Ishan Nath, Year 12 last year, could takein the hard work he had put in.
He had four subject endorsements - Level 3 physics, calculus, earth and space science and Level 2 biology.
An endorsement for a course is gained if, in a single school year, a student achieved 14 or more credits at Merit or Excellence, where at least three of these credits are from externally assessed standards and three credits from internally assessed standards.
He was also earned his three external excellences for Level 2 chemistry and is waiting on his scholarship results.
John Paul College student and 2020 deputy head boy Ishan Nath was pleased with his NCEA results. Photo / Stephen Parker
He said he did not do well in Level 3 digital technology and did not want to give his results, but this bitter spot was sweetened by the good performance of the subjects he was passionate about.
For Nath, 2020 will be a big year - his last year of high school which he would complete as the deputy head boy, and striving for even better results.
"I'll prepare more, I could've done better," he said.
And where did a young man with drive see himself in the future?
Nath was fuzzy on details, but knew it would be to either study mathematics or physics at Auckland University, the University of Otago or abroad.
On the other side of town, former Rotorua Lake High School student Stella Pinckney knew today was coming and was excited to see the outcome of "a hard year" which she endorsed with excellence.
"I have pretty high standards so I'm more likely to be disappointed," she said.
"But I was really happy."
The next month would be celebrating the end of her schooling and anticipation for her move to Otago University to attempt to get into medicine.
An attempt fuelled by a $35,000 scholarship she was awarded at the end of last year.
Rotorua Lakes High School principal Jon Ward said students, teachers and whanau worked hard all year to prepare for exams.
Rotorua Lakes High School principal Jon Ward hopes the results reflect the hard work put in by students and teachers. Photo / File
He said staff identified students who were at risk of missing their goals which were met with tutorials and extra study.
"There's always going to be things to improve on," he said.
He said while achieving a 100 per cent pass-rate was always the aim, it was not always possible.
"What we need to look at is every single student and make sure they do their best, working towards a very personalised plan."
He had not analysed the results yet and could not comment on the achievement of the school.
But for when the results did come out, John Paul College's principal Patrick Walsh anticipated similar to previous years, "nearly 100 per cent".
He said he was excited for the students who worked really hard.
It was also a time to reflect on what went wrong.
Students have an opportunity to request a review or reconsideration of their examination papers, and schools may submit corrected or late-reported results from internal assessments.
As a result of these, individual results may change, and NZQA attainment statistics are only produced in May each year.
Over the past 10 years, all Rotorua schools have improved their average NCEA achievement across all year groups.
This is according to the 2018 NZQA cumulative year data for Year 11s achieving Level 1, Year 12s achieving Level 12 and Year 13s achieving Level 3 which included internals and externals.
Reporoa College and Tarawera High School were the only schools in the district to have an average achievement, at each year level, below the national average last year.
