This booklet is designed to help you plan your courses in the Senior College. There is information for each course being offered, plus a Curriculum map to help you look ahead. In Year 11-13, students are assessed for a National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA), starting with NCEA Level One in Year 11.

Most courses are assessed by a combination of Achievement Standards, giving grades of Achieved (A), Achieved with Merit (M) or Achieved with Excellence (E), and Unit Standards, which mostly give an Achieved (A) grade only. All Unit Standards are internally assessed, whereas Achievement Standards may be internally assessed or assessed externally in the national examinations mid year and/or end of year. Each standard provides a number of credits which are earned when the standard is achieved. 

From 2024 to gain an NCEA qualification, a student must achieve a total of 60 credits at either Level 1, 2, or 3 AND achieve the Level 1 package of Literacy and Numeracy standards that are worth 20 credits in total (i.e. 10 Literacy credits & 10 Numeracy credits).

University Entrance (UE)is needed to enter many tertiary courses. A student intending to go to university or a polytechnic needs to begin planning for this qualification in Year 11. Universities also require a Guaranteed Entry Score (GES) of 150 points, made up from your best 80 Level 3 grades (A=2, M=3, E=4 points). For some university courses, a higher GES is required. 

In Year 11, all students must study English +/or Te Reo Māori and Mathematics. Students choose 4 other subjects to complete their timetable.

In Year 12 and 13, students choose 5 or 6 subjects. Students must gain the literacy and numeracy credits at Level 1 to be awarded all three levels of the NCEA qualifications.  

Mana College endeavours to run the courses that students choose. However, where the number of students selecting a subject is less than 10, we may not be able to provide a teacher for the course. In this case, we would recommend an alternative subject or enrol the student in a Correspondence School course- Te Aho Te Kura Pounamu. Similarly, in the event of a timetable clash for a student, where one or more of their subjects is on at the same time—we will need to find an alternative course. Guidance in selecting courses is available from the Senior Management Team, the Principal’s Nominee, the Year Level Deans, Learning Advisors and the Careers team.