Epsom Girls Grammar - embracing NCEA

Epsom Girls Grammar is a school that has recognised the flexibility of NCEA and is taking full advantage of the opportunities it presents.

The state school in the heart of Auckland has a diverse range of students and staff that are working hard to ensure that their girls get the best deal possible from NCEA.

Teachers in the school are enthusiastic about how NCEA has allowed them to tailor programmes for their Year 11 and Year 12 students.

Deputy Principal Gay Roberts, left, and Qualifications Manager Dawn Moffatt.

Dawn Moffatt, Qualifications Manager, and Gay Roberts, Deputy Principal, both agree that the flexibility of NCEA helps staff and students to design a programme of study in which each individual student may achieve and which will assist students and staff to monitor student progress on a more individual basis.

This flexibility is illustrated in many subject areas. Steve Nowell, Qualifications Manager for Year 11 and a science teacher, says the science department has been able to organise its curricula into half-year courses at Year 11. The curriculum in each half-year course, eg in physics, has been assessed through the use of unit standards and achievement standards. Students can take two or four options including, for those interested, geology and astronomy, as well as other sciences. Human biology, however, remains a full-year course.

"With achievement standards we are also able to be flexible about the placement of investigations. In the senior school, for example, students taking some combination of level 3 physics, biology, chemistry, mathematics with statistics and geography could be coping with investigations and research in many of these and we don't want to overload them," he says. "This issue is being discussed at the moment.

"On top of that teachers are realising that NCEA does offer scope for things like environmental science and bio-technology to be taught." The school may consider offering these in 2005.

"We have noticed that in all subjects, including the sciences, standards based assessment encourages higher thinking rather than just recall," Gay Roberts says. "So it is quite challenging for the more able."

The school established a Learning, Extension and Assistance Department (LEAP) some time ago. This department caters for both very able students and for those who need special assistance with their learning. NCEA means the school has the flexibility to design courses for students with different levels of ability.

Tric Milner, Head of LEAP, says, "At both Years 11 and 12, we have a full-time course called Writing for Publication that covers more types of writing than English courses and includes writing for the media and creative writing. Students gain level 2 unit standards in Year 11 and can also earn media unit standards. A level 2 film studies course is also available and students can earn media unit standards in this too."

Tric continues, "In English, it means we can create courses for Year 12 students who didn't get the literacy standards in Year 11 as well as for other students who desire less literature and more Communications English."

Dawn Moffatt says, "We can use level 1 and level 2 unit standards so that students can get the extra credits they need for level 1 NCEA and the level 2 credits for university entrance."

The school supplements its year 11 and year 12 programmes with a Learning and Time Management Literacy Skills course for students who need academic support for emotional and/or social reasons.

"Students can get an additional eight credits in level 1 unit standards doing work and study skills and note-taking techniques in this course as well as reinforcing what's happening in the other English classes. Reassessment is particularly good for these students. It clearly shows them what they have done right and done wrong, and what they need to do differently," Tric Milner says.

"Motivation is very important. Whereas in the past these girls might have given up by the time the first half of the year was over, with NCEA internal assessments throughout the year they remain motivated," she says.

The flexibility afforded by NCEA can also be seen in mathematics, where there are three or four choices at each year level for students, including an advanced course for accelerated learners. A reduced credit maths course for Years 11 and 12 offers a range of unit standards and achievement standards so that students in this course can achieve the numeracy requirements.

Steve Nowell says this reduced credit course has been very successful. "Every single student in this course passed the numeracy requirements for level 1 NCEA."

	From left to right: Sarah Stuart, Jane Watson, Manawa Pomare and Amy Bunkall get to grips with Year 11 science. Under NCEA they have more options available to them.

Starting Year 9 and 10 students off on their path to NCEA is also a feature at the school with learners in these years having their achievements expressed in standards-based terms. Students at these levels who need assistance attend literacy and numeracy classes. A few subjects offer credits to Year 10 students.

Steve Nowell says not all schools offer their students the chance to undertake achievement standards a year ahead because it means they may not achieve as many Excellences.

"It is an individual decision for schools. We believe it helps to give students the confidence and the motivation to perhaps get ahead before they get to Year 11."

NCEA has enabled the school to offer a rich array of courses such as art courses and drama to level 3. Teachers say these are proving popular with students. "NCEA has really legitimised drama as a course which can now be taken on to tertiary level or straight into the drama-based workforce in many cases. It is a subject that is growing very fast," says Dawn Moffatt. A Year 13 computer science course is planned for 2004 that will use unit standards and technology achievement standards.

Students at Epsom Girls have many opportunities to try their hand at potential career-inspiring courses. These opportunities have been extended by the introduction of NCEA and the ability to cross credit to other national qualifications. The school offers level 1 and 2 unit standards in hospitality, early childhood education and tourism up to and including level 3 textiles and design.

"We have a large range of credits that the girls can do in textile and design. We have some girls who have gone into design competitions with the work they have done at school. We actually have more students wanting to do it than the facilities can cope with," says Dawn Moffatt.

The school is planning to apply for accreditation as a provider of tourism and travel training at Year 12 and 13, which the school offers currently through an external provider. It is also looking at starting students on their National Certificate in Early Childhood Education.

"We have always had a Year 12 child development course using unit standards. We are now looking at a partnership with a tertiary provider with a view to offering a Year 13 child development course," says Dawn Moffatt.

There are future plans to develop a business school using a partnership with the National Bank as well as investigating other business links within the community.

"Being able to offer these courses gives our students the chance to try things out to see how they like it before going into further study outside school," says Tric Milner. "The variety of courses which you can do once you have gained literacy and numeracy credits really makes a difference for those who have strengths in non-traditional areas."

Gay Roberts says last year the Year 11 form dean reported a very positive attitude from the students in this cohort and this has been backed up by teachers.

"It has been good for all of the students. The more able are being extended throughout the year as they have always been. Students who in the past have had little success during the year have been able to achieve some internal achievement standards and this has been affirming for them.

"At the beginning of each year, the really good thing about NCEA is we can call students in who have achieved X number of credits and really look at what they are doing. As the standards give us such detailed information, we can tailor our advice so that the students develop their strengths.

"There has always been this small group of students who left school without good qualifications and NCEA makes these students look at school as a place where they can achieve and begin on a path that leads to a viable qualification recognised in the workplace.

"We are still exploring the possibilities of NCEA which has already enabled us to provide courses which better meet the needs of all of our students," she says.