School ditches junior exams

School ditches junior exams

Students from Hobsonville Point Secondary School. Photo / Dean Purcell An Auckland high school is skipping NCEA Level 1 to reduce assessment stress for its students, giving the teenagers an extra year before facing exams. Hobsonville Point Secondary School says the first year of the NCEA qualification is unnecessary as it doesn’t lead to anywhere except further schooling. The school, which opened in 2014, said it made the decision to switch to a two-year NCEA Level 2 programme after reviewing a national report on student wellbeing which found schools were over-assessing children, leading to anxiety, depression and eating disorders. “Why would we do that to them?” said principal Maurie Abraham. “We found the kids weren’t enjoying learning, and were instead ticking boxes. Our approach changes the focus to deep learning,…


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