The Otago Daily Times has obtained data from the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) revealing how Otago and Southland students fared in NCEA last year.
Dunedin state-integrated school Columba College topped the rankings for NCEA level 3 achievement by year 13 students with an attainment rate of 95.9% last year.
Columba, St Hilda’s Collegiate, Lawrence Area School and Blue Mountain College all had a 100% NCEA level 2 attainment rate, and St Hilda’s had the highest university entrance attainment rate at 90.1%.
East Otago High School and Kaikorai Valley College were the most improved players, both schools’ performance in NCEA level 3 for year 13 improving 27.3% and 18.1% respectively, between 2023 and 2024.
East Otago High School principal Helen Newcombe said the school’s passionate teachers went out of their way to help their students.
Having a small cohort of students meant the school could provide extra support.
"I think the teachers work really hard to make sure that the students are getting what they need.
"I think that’s something small schools can do really well."
Ms Newcombe said the school had less flexibility in terms of subjects to choose from for students, but it was able to individually cater to each student’s needs in the courses it offered.
Every student had an individual plan to get them into the courses they wanted to undertake.
NCEA was just as much a priority as a vocational pathway was in the smaller rural school.
This year, it was planning on getting more merit and excellence-endorsed results for its students.
"Sometimes in our endeavour to provide a modern education, we forget what has worked well in the past.
"I think there’s nothing wrong with the good parts of old school.
"We need to sort of refocus on that a bit, see what’s actually worked and not throw the baby out with the bath water."
Mr Bali said he had seen how well academic tracking had worked at schools he had taught at in the past and pushed it at Kaikorai Valley College.
The school did a lot of tracking throughout the year with its students, to make sure they were on course to achieve their goals for the year.
If students were not on track, they received one-one-one guidance from the pastoral team to rectify the situation.
When appointed principal last year, Mr Bali told the Otago Daily Times his top priority was providing a "rigorous academic education".
A year into the role, he was just getting started, he said.
He wanted to sustain the early success with new teaching methods, including a school-wide homework policy where every student would receive homework at least four days of the school week.
