Fees, Final Dates to Enter or Withdraw, NZTA Class 1 Drivers Licence NCEA Credit Award

If your son is studying for NCEA for 2016, the NCEA fee of $76.70 must be paid in order to receive his results. This fee is to be paid to the school before August 19 2016. Financial assistance is available if you fit into one of the following categories:

· Are on a benefit or have a community services card

· Are on a low income and could apply for a community services card

· Have 2 or more candidates in your family at any secondary school in New Zealand and would end up paying more than $200 in NCEA fees

Then you can apply for financial assistance and the rate of fees drops considerably – reducing to $20 per student or $30 per family.

For an application form ring Heather on 3757-057 Ext 188, or email he on har@shirley.school.nz, or ask your son to collect a form from the school reception.

Forms are also available online at:

http://www.nzqa.govt.nz/assets/qualifications-and-standards/qualifications/ncea/Application-For-Financial-Assistance.pdf

Families who received Financial Assistance in 2015 must complete a new application form to qualify for assistance in 2016.

Reminder

For parents who’s sons are entering Scholarship, please remember that as from 2015 NZQA put a $30 charge onto each scholarship paper being sat. For parents that have already paid the $76.70 NCEA standard fee, and their son has since decided to enter into a scholarship, you may find you now have a balance owing. Please check with Heather Ronald, the student office or Alan McIntosh if you are unsure whether you still owe any NZQA fees.

Any NZQA fees not paid to the school’s student office on or before August 19 2016 will incur a $50 late penalty charge. After this date Shirley Boys High School no longer act as the collection agency for NZQA, and and all fees will need to be made directly to NZQA. This late penalty fee is put on by NZQA not Shirley Boys High School.

Final dates to enter or withdrawal from External Achievement Standards, and Scholarship.

The close off date for entering into, or withdrawing from an External Achievement Standard is very close. In the next few weeks we will print off all external entries that students have been entered into by their teachers. ALL students need to check closely this information and verify with their teachers that they have been entered into all the correct External Achievement Standards they intended to be sitting this year. If there is an error, students need to see me before Friday 26 August in order to get the error corrected.

While you sons have this printout, please get them to check that the spelling of their name(s) is correct and that the address details are also correct. The details that NZQA work from comes directly of our Kamar system, so, if the school data is incorrect, then NZQ will also have incorrect details. If your son’s details are incorrect they can see either Mr McIntosh, Miss Nesbitt, Mr Gilmore, or the front reception to get these errors corrected.

Students who want or need to withdraw from an External Achievement Standard must do so by Friday 26 August. It is important to remember quality is more critical than quantity. A student may withdraw some standards at this stage of the year because they are:

· Experiencing difficulty with some topic or subject. Reducing the number of standards to revise for can often improve their chances of success.

· Has difficulty completing all standards well in the allocated 3 hours

· Wanting to ensure high achievement (and by reducing from three standards to two standards will likely improve their result).

A student who withdraws from an External Achievement Standard now, can be re-entered into a standard(s) at a later date if they find they are coping better in late October.

Once I have completed a data upload to NZQA on September 1, all external entries are set, and students cannot be withdrawn any External Achievement Standards for 2016.

For students who wish to enter a Scholarship(s) paper, must also have their entries completed by Friday 26 August. Please remember that there is now a fee of $30 per Scholarship paper. If your son decides to enter a scholarship now, and you have already paid the $76.70 NZQA fee, you may find you now have a balance owing. Please check with Heather, the student office or Mr McIntosh if you are unsure whether you still owe any NZQA fees.

NZTA Class 1 Drivers Licence NCEA Credit Award

The New Zealand Class 1 Driver Licence Unit Standards are now available to students. A new initiative by NZQA now offers students the ability to gain credits for working towards their driver licence. Credits from these standards can count towards learner’s achievement of NCEA and other qualifications on the New Zealand Qualifications Framework. Students can gain up to 8 NCEA credits by passing tests associated with obtaining a Class 1 drivers licence. Please note, a Class 1 drivers licence only applies to cars, heavier vehicles and motorcycles are not included in this Unit Standard.

· 29363 – Learn to drive a vehicle within the conditions of a Class 1 New Zealand learner driver licence. (Level 1, 2 credits)

· 29364 – Drive a vehicle within the conditions of a Class 1 New Zealand restricted driver licence. (Level 2, 4 credits)

· 29365 – Drive a vehicle within the conditions of a Class 1 New Zealand full driver licence. (Level 2, 2 credits)

Once a student has completed each stage of their Class 1 Driver Licence, they can be awarded these standards and gain credits on their Record of Achievement through a “recognition of prior learning” process. Students who wish to gain these credits need to obtain and complete the “NZTA Class 1 Driver Licence – Recognition of Prior Learning” form (available from the student office), bring the completed form to school along with their official photographic licence, and present this to Mr McIntosh, Miss Nesbitt, or Mr Gilmore who sight the official licence, photocopy the official licence for authenticity purposes, and complete the last section of the form.