Last week we finished our Catch Up College January Intensive, again offering students an opportunity to complete unfinished University Entrance qualifications over summer, allowing them to move on to tertiary study.

We had over 90 students completing their entrance requirements for Canterbury, Otago, Victoria universities, Ara Institute of Canterbury, PTEs and overseas destinations.

Supported by the Ministry of Education and NZQA, our Catch Up College is unique in NZ, offering face-to-face teaching to students from all over the country. As expected, the largest number of students was from Ōtautahi, but we also worked with a handful of students from North Island schools: students came to us from 32 different schools in all. Standards in 22 different subjects were completed, with nearly 150 standards completed.

As well as the students who succeed in completing requirements within the restricted timeframe, we also aim to support students who don’t complete by exploring further options: sometimes students choose to transfer into Hagley classes for longer-term Catch Up arrangements, while others are introduced to the Level 4 entry pathway of our UC@Hagley partnership programme, the Certificate in University Preparation at UC. Numbers of students electing to take a gap year or to begin study in semester 2 continue to be significant, reflecting growing awareness of the flexibility in some aspects of the tertiary sector.

On behalf of the College and the students and families who have benefitted from Catch Up this year, a sincere thank you to the teaching and support staff who again made themselves so generously available.