I have been thrilled to start the new year with the positive news of our class of 2024’s academic results, and it has been especially pleasing to hear from many of these students who are delighted with their results and excited for what comes next in their lives.
All these students worked incredibly hard throughout their time at Kristin, both in and out of the classroom, and it is always rewarding for them, their families, Kristin teachers and staff and our entire community when the results reflect this hard work.
Kristin’s Senior School offers dual academic pathways so students can choose the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma programme or NCEA. For the 2024 academic year, student achievement was high for both IB and NCEA.
Highlights included having a student achieve a perfect IB score of 45 out of 45 points, which placed her among the top 1% of students globally. Overall 28% of eligible Kristin students taking the IB Diploma gained 40 or more points, which qualifies them as IB Top Scholars. Incredibly this year we had a 100% pass rate across our entire cohort of IB Diploma students. In NCEA, students achieved a 94% pass rate at Level 2 and a 96% pass rate at Level 3. Across all of our NCEA and IB students, 97% gained University Entrance (UE).
The great thing about offering two pathways is that it gives students the choice to opt for the qualification that best suits them.
The IB is a global curriculum and students choosing this pathway undertake a two-year diploma programme that starts in Year 12. This qualification focuses on inquiry-based learning where students learn through investigating, testing and asking questions. The core philosophy is around developing global perspectives, an international mindset, an understanding of cultural diversity and building critical thinking skills. There is also a strong focus on service and developing an altruistic mindset. Students opting for IB study six subjects including their first language, a second language, science, mathematics and a humanities or commerce subject. Students choose their sixth subject from the arts or they can do an additional science or humanities subject.
It is a rigorous qualification that builds a broad knowledge and skill base, developing graduates who are inquirers, knowledgeable, critical thinkers, principled, open-minded, caring and reflective.
Typically half our students opt to take IB and as an IB World School, Kristin has been offering the IB Diploma since 1986. It was the first school in New Zealand to do so and was also the first IB Continuum School. Today we have the largest number of students following IB programmes in New Zealand.
NCEA is also a rigorous academic qualification, with one of its greatest strengths being the flexibility around the subjects that students can choose from. Students taking NCEA can opt to study all three science subjects, for example. There is also flexibility in the way students study and are assessed, with a mixture of internal assessments and external examinations.
Both curricula prepare students well for life beyond school and are highly regarded by universities here and overseas. Kristin has a proud record of students being awarded scholarships at UK and US universities including Cambridge, Oxford, Stanford and Yale, as well as excellent universities across Australia and New Zealand.
Which pathway to take is the question we are asked the most as students approach their final years of schooling. The answer lies with the individual, their strengths, their interests and their aspirations beyond school. This is the greatest benefit of being able to offer choice for our students at Kristin.
