Māruawai College, after adjusting for the new NCEA level 1 standards, achieved about 5% above the national pass rate, with 77.5% of its students passing.
NCEA level 2 was 68.4% and UE at 43.2%, but the standout was NCEA level 3, where the school exceeded the national average by a staggering 15.3%, with a pass rate of 86.5%.
Principal Mel Hamilton said this was a real highlight especially considering the size of the year group of 74 students.
She said it was the result of a lot of hard work by students and teaching faculty.
"Achieving such a high pass rate with a group this large reflects the depth of teaching and learning across our senior school, supported by a wide range of subject offerings that cater to diverse interests, abilities, and pathways," she said.
Mrs Hamilton said the results reflected the effectiveness of meeting the students’ needs and supporting their success, with "meaningful growth" in literacy and numeracy results.
Other initiatives like strengthened ESOL support, small-group instruction and skill-building were now making a "real difference in student confidence and performance", Ms Hamilton said.
St Peter’s College continued its run of excellence, with a NCEA level 2 pass rate of 88.9%, 16.7 points above the national average.
The pass rate for level 3 was 79.5%, and the UE pass rate a very impressive 61.4%, over 10 points above the national average.
Principal Kieran Udy said he was "reasonably happy" with the results, which still had the school positioned as not only one of the best performing in Southland, but New Zealand as a whole.
"Our level 3 pass rate was impacted a bit because we have quite a few international students, who because of their age, count on the level 3 pass rate but were actually doing level 2.
"But overall they were positive, they’re still really good and still put us in the top 20% of schools in New Zealand," he said.
Mr Udy said the results could be put down to several reasons.
"There’s a few factors that play into it. Hard work from teachers, from students, from parents, I think parental support is a key thing. They’re making sure they do homework, meeting deadlines, tutoring.
"All these factors help to contribute to success, the environment of the school, the classroom, and we’ve got some amazing teachers who pulled out some fantastic results," he said.
