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Dear Parents and Caregivers
In Week 8 of this term, Year 10 students will be sitting their end of year examinations and assessments. Students in 10A and 10W will sit their examinations and assessments, including the NCEA Common Assessments, in Week 9 rather than in Week 8. This ‘variation’ is due to the fact that students will be away on winter camps in Week 6 (10W) and Week 7 (10A) and will therefore miss many examinations and CAAs preparation opportunities. They will all have Week 8 to prepare for their assessments.
In this newsletter, I will provide you with details about the assessment programme and information that we are providing to students in the form of learning resources, hints and tips. At St Andrew's College, we believe strongly in having our students sit end of year assessments and examinations, so we expect all students to sit all their assessments as per the timetable that they have received via email this week. The results provide excellent summative information about students’ achievement to teachers, help inform teacher decisions about class placements for next year, and provide feedback to the students on their areas of strength and on areas where they need to improve. Sitting these examinations also helps students prepare for their higher-level examinations in NCEA from Year 11 onwards.
On Thursday this week, Year 10 students will have the first of two pre-examination briefings with me and will be made aware of the expectations of them and of our rules and processes for these examinations.
Please feel free to contact me via email with any questions that you may have about any matters raised in this newsletter at DBV@stac.school.nz.
Kind regards
David Bevin
Head of Teaching and Learning – Secondary
Most examinations and assessments are online and therefore provide students with the opportunity to complete assessments in the way that they are being increasingly delivered for external examinations. We have particular expectations of our students when completing online examinations and teachers have been informing them about this over this term. It is really important that students understand our expectations for device readiness for each examination and do not expect the College to simply provide them with one for an examination; this will only be done in exceptional circumstances.
(Note that students are receiving a lot of information about the examinations in the form of Teams posts, year group meetings with me, year group hui with the Dean and in tutor time. They are expected to be responsible for knowing what is happening and when with their examinations week).
When are the examinations?
Examinations and assessments take place in Week 8 of this term. Students will sit their examinations according to a timetable that will be emailed to them next Wednesday, 26 August.
What type of examinations are they?
In keeping with the digital platform for NCEA examinations in many subjects, students will sit their English and Social Studies examinations online, using the exam.net platform that is used widely in assessments in the College. They will sit two 1-hour assessments on different digital platforms for the Science examinations. The Mathematics examination will be completed on paper.
More and more NCEA examinations are sat online (especially at Level 1) so having our students sit their examinations in this way gives them excellent practice for what they will be expected to do in national assessments.
How long are the examinations?
Examinations are of varying length depending on the subject. Papers are set with realistic timings for completion in the set time frame. All NCEA examinations are three hours long so, again, students are having practice in completing examinations over a longer period of time.
Where are the examinations sat?
Almost all examinations are sat in Gym 2 in full NCEA-style conditions. Other classrooms in Gym 2 will be used where we cannot accommodate a full cohort in Gym 2 alone or where a number of students have SAC entitlement. Students are identified and are fully informed by our Learning Support department; their staff will ensure that students who qualify for an SAC receive their full entitlement (some students have ‘extra time’ entitlement and will still sit their examinations in the main room).
Each examination session requires students to assemble for a roll-call with their year group Dean earlier than the examination start time. Students are required to stay for the full duration of an examination.
What are students told about appropriate examinations behaviour with an online examination/ assessment?
Exam.net has a locked-down browser that means students must not move out of the browser window at any stage during the examination. This enables us to ensure that students are acting honestly during their examination.
Bringing in study notes, cell phones and wearing smart watches is prohibited as is the case in national examinations.
Do students have study leave from classes?
Students do not have study leave, i.e. days away from school, but may possibly be given some study time in some classes between examination sessions.
How important is students’ attendance at their examinations?
All students are expected to sit all of their examinations and assessments at the time that is timetabled. If a student is unwell and unable to attend an examination, they may possibly be able to sit the examination later but it is hoped that this will not be necessary. Students must not make appointments in this week that cause them to miss an examination, or part of an examination. If a student is absent the usual procedure for notifying the college is expected to be followed.
Below is information about the Special Assessment Conditions (SAC) arrangements for the examinations.
English, Social Studies:
Mathematics:
In May, Year 10 students sat two of the three Common Assessments (Reading and Numeracy) that must be passed in order to gain an NCEA certificate. Please click on this link if you need to refresh your understanding of how the NCEA Literacy/Numeracy corequisite works Literacy and Numeracy - NZQA
Possibly more than one assessment…
During the end of year examinations week, most Year 10 students will also sit the Writing Common Assessment and those who didn’t achieve the Reading or Numeracy assessment will also have another opportunity to sit one or both of those. Our aim is to have most Year 10 students gain the Literacy/Numeracy co-requisite for NCEA this year and students are being prepared for the writing assessment in particular in their classes during this term.
We expect all students who are sitting online examinations to ensure that their device is always in full working order and will have sufficient battery life to enable them to complete each examination. They are expected to come to each examination with the computer fully ready for effective use; if a student forgets to bring their device, they may be able to request the use of a school device from Mr Bevin just prior to an examination, but this is not encouraged.
Year 10 students have previously all worked with Mr Dekkers on device readiness and setting up their NZQA Learner Login so that they can access their assessments and results, so we are relying on them to remember what is expected of them in this second Assessment Event. Students’ examination timetable will show where their NCEA assessment/s take place.
All students are expected to attend their NCEA assessment/s as scheduled. A catchup assessment opportunity may be offered to a student who is absent due to sickness but in keeping with NCEA rules, entitlement to this must be validated, that being that a medical certificate must be provided from a doctor within 24 hours emailed directly to me at dbv@stac.school.nz.
Results will be available to students through their NZQA Learner Login as follows:
This term, we have provided advice and guidance to all students as they prepare for their upcoming examinations and assessments. The following information has been posted on each year group’s Teams page:
How can I learn more effectively to prepare myself for examinations?
Although there are a number of weeks before examinations, it is important that you begin a revision programme to ensure you are in the best possible space to succeed.
Did you know that re-reading and highlighting notes is an ineffective way of learning unless you practice getting that information out of the head without notes?
Retrieval practice is the most effective way of doing this, as it makes your brain work to recall information, which helps strengthen your memory and learning. Your brain then has space to transfer this learning into new contexts.
Why do I need to work at getting content out of my head? You need just the right amount of challenge to make the learning stick. Like exercise, learning works the same way: If there is no pain, there is no gain.
Watch this video here that explains this: Dr. Becky on The Learning Space
Here is a video that explains this: Examination Series: Retrieval Practice
Your subject teacher will guide you with specific information related to that subject and there are a range of very useful resources for study available here: stac.nz/EffectiveLearningStudyResources
These two documents have also been linked to Teams as a reference:
An outline of the pomodoro technique to help focus your study:
Six strategies that are proven to be effective for learning.
The examinations period is a very busy time for students and staff will be emphasising to them that they must prepare for these events and attempt to do their best. There will be a lot of instructions provided to students and there will be information to read and emails to check so they do need parents’ support by checking in on them that they are aware of what is going on, where and when and by keeping them up to the task of studying, revising, setting targets for their preparation and by ensuring that their device is ready and in good shape for each assessment.
For Year 10 students, there is an added layer of importance in the form of the NCEA CAAs and Cambridge examinations, so it really is a busy time for them and being organised and focused, aware of timelines and rules and expectations are all big considerations.
