Westlake Girls High School

Course Planning Information

Years 11 and 12

August 2015

Academic goals for 2015

• What do you want to achieve from your next year at school?

• The final 2 years of school are very important to your planning for higher education and/or future career choices

PRE-REQUISITES

• These are entry requirements for a courses at higher levels.

• Read carefully, if you don’t meet these requirements you will not be able to take the subject. They are NOT the same for all subjects.

• Check the course booklet

• Restricted entry courses at university – what subjects may I need to consider taking in year 13?

• This may determine my choices for Year 12

Thinking Ahead

• How do I know if I have chosen the right subjects? This is not an easy question to answer.

• There are no right or wrong subjects individually but which subjects will work together towards a goal is an important consideration

Thinking Ahead

Thinking Ahead - Picking up Subjects

• Studying subjects at level 3 is demanding. (so is level 2)

• Do not plan to pick up more than one new subject at level 3.

• Therefore your course for 2016 (and 2017) needs to be thought through carefully.

Thinking Ahead - Year 12 Students

• Do not choose too many subjects at year 12 that do not follow on to year 13 “approved subjects”

• this is very important if you are planning to attend university in 2017 or 2018.

Student Subject Confirmation Guidelines

Year 8

Years 9 & 10

Years 11 & 12

Subject selection finalised at enrolment interview

No course changes after this time

Subject selection in October

Indiv Individual subject selection

interview with Deans/Careers/Guidance to

confirm student subject selection in November

In December students receive final report, and then may request a subject change up to one week

after school term finishes

Subject selection in August

Indiv Individual subject selection

interview with Deans/Careers/Guidance to

confirm student subject selection in October

After receiving NCEA results, students may request subject

changes based on pre-requisites. These can be made in person or by

email before the end of January, the week before school starts. After timetabled classed have

begun, changes will not be made.

Please Note: 1. The above course confirmation guidelines apply only to students and their parents. 2. School directed changes to students’ timetables may still be necessary as a result of timetable constraints and course pre-requisites.

Course confirmation

2016 - Qualifications

• NCEA – Level 1 (for students who may not gain this in 2015)

• NCEA – Level 2 (Year 12 students)• NCEA – Level 3 (Year 13 students) • University Entrance – Year 13• Year 13 students may also need to

consider what rank score they require for certain University courses

10 Level 1 Literacy + 10 Level 1 Numeracy + 60 other Level 1 credits = 80 credits in total

NCEA Level 1 NCEA Level 1 with Merit (for 50 Merit and/or Excellence)

NCEA Level 1 with Excellence (for 50 Excellence) Course Endorsements with Merit or Excellence (14 Merit and/or Excellence, 3 internal, 3 external, plus 8 others in a

designated course)

60 Level 2 credits + 20 credits from any level = 80 credits

NCEA Level 2 NCEA Level 2 with Merit (for 50 Merit and/or Excellence)

NCEA Level 2 with Excellence (for 50 Excellence) Course Endorsements with Merit or Excellence (14 Merit and/or Excellence, 3 internal, 3 external, plus 8 others in a

designated course)

Entry to NCEA Level 2 courses (Check course pre-requisites for entry criteria)

60 Level 3 credits + 20 credits from Level 2 or higher = 80 credits

NCEA Level 3 NCEA Level 3 with Merit (for 50 Merit and/or Excellence)

NCEA Level 3 with Excellence (for 50 Excellence) Course Endorsements with Merit or Excellence (14 Merit and/or Excellence, 3 internal, 3 external, plus 8 others in a

designated course)

University Entrance

10 credits Mathematics

In Level 1 or higher

10 credits Literacy In Level 2 or higher

being 5 credits writing 5 credits reading

42 credits Level 3 or higher

14 credits in each of three approved subjects

+ Level 3 NCEA

Entry to NCEA Level 3 subjects (check course pre-requisites for entry criteria)

NCEA Outline

Full course details can be found in our curriculum handbook www.westlakegirls.school.nz

Certificate Endorsements

• To gain any NCEA certificate with Excellence you need at least 50 credits at excellence

• To gain any NCEA certificate with Merit you need at least 50 credits at Merit or higher

Course Endorsements

• Students will gain an endorsement for a course where they achieve:

• 14 or more credits at Merit or Excellence at the lower level that supports the endorsement

• at least 3 credits from externally assessed standards and 3 credits from internally* assessed standards

• sufficient credits in a single school year.

*Physed and Level 3 Visual Arts are exempt

There are other qualifications that you may begin or continue to gain credits for, also.E.g National Certificates in Travel, Computing, Business Admin, Hospitality, Mathematics, Employment Skills,etc.

• 10 credits in Mathematics/Numeracy at Level 1 or higher• 5 credits at Level 2 or above in Reading• 5 credits at Level 2 or above in Writing• Level 3 NCEA• Note that these requirements are the absolute minimum

and may not be enough for some University courses

University Entrance Standard

14 credits at level 3

or higher in an ‘approved

subject’ area

14 credits at level 3

or higher in an ‘approved

subject’ area

14 credits at level 3

or higher in an ‘approved

subject’ area

Approved Subjects for UE

• The full list is available in the option book on our website.

• Think about the subjects you need to carry on with for Year 13

University Entry – Rank Scores

• Most universities now have restricted entry to many courses

• Students will be allocated a rank score based on their 80 best credits at level 3 or higher over a maximum of 5 approved subjects.

University Entry – Rank Scores

A rank score is calculated from the best 80 credits at level 3. A maximum of 24 credits from each subject can be included

• Achieved = 2• Merit = 3• Excellence = 4

Rank Scores - an example

Approved subject Excellence

CreditsMerit

CreditsAchieved Credits

English 8 6 6History 0 6 10

Statistics 4 4 16Geography 0 10 10

French 0 0 24subtotals 12 26 66

Best 80 credits 12 26 42Points calculated 12 x 4 26 x 3 42 x 2

Rank Score 210

Advice to Students from Auckland University

“You are encouraged to do your best in your high school studies to ensure your application is competitive as possible.”

Subject Requirements for Degrees (Auckland University)

• Some Degrees require students to meet certain subject requirements for entry into courses.

• e.g. Bachelor of Health Sciences currently requires 250 points from NCEA and a minimum of 18 credits in one subject from Table A and a minimum of 18 credits in one subject from Table B

Note that this is just one example of increased course requirements and these may increase further for 2017 and 2018 – other universities may have different requirements

Subject Requirements for Degrees (Auckland University)

Table A Table BClassical Studies Accounting

English Biology

Geography Chemistry

History Economics

History of Art Mathematics or Calculus or Statistics

Te Reo Maori or Te Reo Rangatira

Physics

Scholarship in Year 13

• An extra examination for very high performing students in each subject. If you are achieving at excellence level in most standards for a subject you should be entering the NZ Scholarship examination in that subject.

• Top 3% (approx) in each cohort may reach scholarship standard.

Scholarship in Year 13• Extra tuition for Scholarship may be

through tutoring at lunchtime or after school or extension assignments

• Practical subjects (Art, Graphics & Technology) – students submit their portfolios for both NCEA and Scholarship

• See list of scholarship subjects in the course booklet

• More information on this next year

Additional information

• Have you checked your NCEA entries on the NZQA website?

• Go to www.nzqa.govt.nz then on the right hand side you will see “LOGIN”

• This is where you visit to check your entries and internal results so far – and later in January your external results

NZQA Examination Fees

• Ensure that you have paid your NZQA fees to the payments office or the school website ($76.70) so that we can pass this payment onto NZQA

• Otherwise late fee payments ($76.70 + $50) must be made directly to NZQA after early September

Important links

www.westlakegirls.school.nzLook under “Curriculum” for course information.