Kia ora,

Our biggest focus this year is on the introduction of the new literacy standards - and numeracy, though that’s Mr Wilson’s department! 

In a nutshell: previously, Year 11 students would complete standards in English and other subjects which would count towards literacy and numeracy in NCEA. From next year onwards - the current Year 10's will be the first to be impacted by this - students will be required to complete stand-alone literacy and numeracy standards to gain NCEA Level 1. These will take the form of Reading, Writing and Numeracy tests run by NZQA for the ministry. The Ministry of Education is encouraging schools to start this year with the current Year 10 students. As we have composite classes (mixed Year 9 and 10) we will begin this process by identifying which Year 10 and Year 9 students are ready - and only those that are ready; we don’t want to set any students up for failure - and offering them the opportunity to sit these standards in the second half of the year. We will communicate the details of this to caregivers/whānau closer to the time. 

Some of the details from the ministry are still a little sketchy, but what we do know is that students will have multiple opportunities to sit the tests to gain these standards. If the students don’t have the standards by the time they begin Year 11 they will be offered opportunities to gain them as they work their way through the senior school, completing their NCEA standards in each subject area. As if that wasn’t enough, English and all other subject areas are currently preparing for an overhaul of the current NCEA Level 1 standards, with the new standards to be delivered from next year - yes, our lucky current Year 10's will be first off the block again! We’ll give you more information on that later in the year. Well, that’s quite enough to be getting along with, but we will keep you up to date with all the changes as and when we have concrete information to share with you.

Nga mihi nui

Brian Strang

HOD: English

East Otago High School