Rotorua Lakes High School

Welcome to Schoolpoint! 

NCEA - National Certificate of Educational Achievement

The National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) is New Zealand's main qualification for secondary school students. NCEA sits on the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) alongside more than 800 other national qualifications and is recognised by employers and used for selection by universities and polytechnics in NZ and overseas.

Most students will complete a level of the NCEA qualification as they move though the senior school;

• Year 11 - Level 1
• Year 12 - Level 2
• Year 13 - Level 3

However, there is flexibility for some students to take courses at more than one level in a year in order to better meet their academic needs.

Literacy and Numeracy

Students are required to achieve 10 literacy credits and 10 numeracy credits at level1 to gain the NCEA level1, 2 and 3 qualification.

NCEA Level 1

• 80 credits which include;
• 10 Literacy credits
• 10 Numeracy credits
• Maths, Science and English compulsory

NCEA Level 2

• 80 credits in total
• 60 credits from Level 2 or higher
• Level 1 Literacy & Numeracy

NCEA Level 3

• 80 credits in total
• 60 credits from Level 3 or higher
• Level 1 Literacy & Numeracy

Scholarship

New Zealand Scholarship Examination is available for most subjects and this expects a performance beyond Level 3.

Understanding NCEA Courses

• Each course contains several Achievement Standards, Unit Standards or a combination of both.
• Each standard (like a topic) is worth a number of 'credits' which relates to how much work is needed to complete the standard.
• Achievement Standards (AS) can be Achieved, Achieved with Merit and Achieved with Excellence.\
• Students will receive a description from their teacher at the beginning of each standard of what is required to gain an achieved, merit or excellence result.

Internal and external assessment

• Most courses have a combination of internally and externally assessed standards.
• Achievement Standards can be assessed internally (within school) or externally (an exam at the end of the year, or a portfolio of work which is sent away to be marked).
• Unit Standards (US) are normally assessed as achieved or not achieved, although some now offer to Excellence Level and are always internally assessed.

Getting Started with Online Course Selection

Making informed decisions about which academic courses to study is really important. Lakes High School offers a variety of courses at each year level. The Lakes Schoolpoint selection tool is designed to help you make the best possible choices by giving you information about individual courses and showing how they pathway from the junior into senior school and beyond.

There are prerequisites that must be met to gain entry into most courses for NCEA and you will find information about any prerequisites in the course information.

It is important to take advantage of the opportunities for advice which the school provides as you plan your courses for the coming year. Please visit the Careers Department and make an appointment  if you need advice in planning for your future.