The Year 10 Prize Giving and Graduation ceremony was held on December 13th, at St Margaret's College. This is Suzanne Water's speech about the joint Year 10 Dux recipients.
This year our Hagley Year 10 Dux award is going to be shared. This is unusual for us, but when we sat down to do the numbers there was just no way to choose between these two exceptional students.
Both of these students have already received multiple subject prizes this evening and their teachers have told us that they are strong in every subject that they have attempted this year and last. They both had exceptionally high Te Putanga scores - 95% of over for every term - which highlights their remarkably strong learning skills. They also held top scores in the placement exams for courses in Year 11.
These students are determined and persistent. They work hard in every class, seek feedback, and plan for and meet stretch goals regularly. They self-monitor. They also demonstrate strong trust in their teachers and in their own progress over time. This year our Year 10s were shuffled for each topic in Maths, being retested and reshuffled every few months. In a feedback session about this, one of these students told her teacher that she wasn't worried about which group she tested into each topic because she knew that she would always be placed in the right place for her own learning.
These students are also enthusiastic about their learning and about their time at Hagley. They are involved in the wider school, and have spent time building strong relationships with peer groups that they know will support them. Both are involved outside of academics in the performing arts and in physical activities. They project a clear enjoyment and gratitude for life and the opportunities available to them.
But, probably most unusually, these student also show incredible humility and generosity. They are supportive friends and kind humans. When we sat down the last time to try to pick a Dux for this year we realised that if we asked either of these students that if it had to be just one of them, who it should be - they would both say they other deserved it more... So we decided to award it to them both!
This year's Year 10 Dux Awards go to... Hana Hollister and Eva Fenwick.