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NZ Scholarship - Emily Ng
 

Scholarships and Awards

Sarah Kirk —

Scholarship will extend our best secondary students and enable top scholars to be identified and acknowledged.

Scholarships

Scholarship will extend our best secondary students and enable top scholars to be identified and acknowledged. The aim is to assess a student’s ability to synthesise and integrate concepts – to apply higher level thinking based on in-school and independent learning. Scholarship is entered additionally to the student’s enrolled course.

The content assessed for Scholarship will be the same as that covered for Level 3 Achievement Standards. It is expected that Scholarship candidates will have completed a full year of Level 3 studies at a secondary school.

Assessment is standards-based and all assessment is external. Standards have been developed for each Scholarship subject.

Scholarship is an award, not a qualification and it will not attract credits. It will, however, earn a financial reward. There is no fee for New Zealand residents.

Scholarship Subjects

The following subjects are available for Scholarship in 2025:

  • Accounting

  • Agricultural and Horticultural Science

  • Art History

  • Biology

  • Calculus

  • Chemistry

  • Chinese

  • Classical Studies

  • Dance

  • Design and Visual Communication

  • Drama

  • Earth and Space Science

  • Economics

  • English

  • French

  • Geography

  • German

  • Health and Physical Education

  • History

  • Japanese

  • Latin

  • Media Studies

  • Music

  • Physics

  • Religious Studies

  • Samoan

  • Spanish

  • Statistics

  • Te Ao Haka

  • Te Reo Māori

  • Te Reo Rangatira

  • Technology

  • Visual Arts

Scholarship Awards

  • Students who are awarded Scholarship in up to two subjects receive a one-off award of $500 per subject.

  • For a student who gets three Scholarships there is $2,000 each year for three years as long as the student maintains a ‘B’ average in tertiary study.

  • For students who are the top of one of the Scholarship subjects there is $2,000 each year for three years as long as students maintain a ‘B’ average in tertiary study.

  • For the top 40 – 60 students who achieve three Scholarship subjects there is $10,000 each year for three years as long as the student maintains a ‘B’ average in tertiary study.

  • For the top 5 to 10 students who achieve three Scholarship subjects there is $10,000 each year for three years as long as students maintain a ‘B’ average in tertiary study.

Excellence Awards

In addition to the Endorsed Certificates and Course Endorsements, students are encouraged to aim at achieving Villa Maria Subject Excellence Awards.

Subject Excellence Awards are presented at Prize Giving for students who achieve 14 credits with Excellence in a NCEA subject. This includes results of the College examinations.
Other prizegiving awards include Diligence (effort and attitude put into school work) and general excellence, for all year levels. Year 13 have a number of other awards. The top academic student will be named as the College Dux.

Further Academic Awards are presented at the annual High Achievers assembly in February. These students will be presented with an academic bar to be worn on their blazers. Gold Award recipients will have their names added to the Honours Board currently displayed in the Hall.

Those who achieve 50 or more credits with Excellence in Level 2 or 60 or more credits with excellence in Level 1 in the previous calendar year, receive the Silver Academic Award.

In addition, all students who achieve an Excellence Endorsement, but no other Academic Award, receive an Excellence Academic Award in a school assembly.

Gifted and talented students

At Villa Maria College we want to help your daughter to broaden her potential. Students with particular gifts and talents are included on the Villa Maria College GATE Register. These ākonga are monitored by the Innovation and Enrichment Lead and extended by classroom teachers. This may include differentiation, acceleration, multi-level studies or personalised learning programmes.

There are also many opportunities for enrichment outside of the classroom that allow students to further demonstrate and develop their skills. These include competitions, quizzes, workshops and courses. These will be promoted by the Innovation and Enrichment Lead or relevant subject teacher and advertised in the student notices, on the academic noticeboard and on the Villa Students' team.

Enquiries to: Innovation and Enrichment Lead, Dr. Wilson