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Best Schools in New Zealand

Best Schools in New Zealand

Old Dec 18th 2006, 9:35 am
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Default Best Schools in New Zealand

Hi,

I'm writing from Emigrate New Zealand magazine in the UK. We are running an article about areas with the best schools in New Zealand and I can't find any ratings or stats anywhere. Can anyone help? Do you know if they have the league table system in NZ as they do in the UK?

Please email me if you can help,

kind regards,
Jo-ann Hodgson
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Old Dec 18th 2006, 8:40 pm
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Default Re: Best Schools in New Zealand

Try HERE HERE and HERE

Hope these help
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Old Dec 18th 2006, 9:46 pm
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Default Re: Best Schools in New Zealand

Originally Posted by jo-ann hodgson
Hi,

I'm writing from Emigrate New Zealand magazine in the UK. We are running an article about areas with the best schools in New Zealand and I can't find any ratings or stats anywhere. Can anyone help? Do you know if they have the league table system in NZ as they do in the UK?

Please email me if you can help,

kind regards,
Jo-ann Hodgson

try this too
http://www.tki.org.nz/e/schools/index.php
click on the school name to get the decile rating 1 is low 10 is high 'The Ministry of Education uses a decile rating system for school funding purposes.
Each decile contains approximately 10% of schools. Schools in decile one have the highest proportion of students from low socio-economic backgrounds. Schools in decile ten have the lowest proportions of these students' , also for schools, addresses, web sites etc
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Old Dec 18th 2006, 9:52 pm
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Default Re: Best Schools in New Zealand

Originally Posted by poppets
try this too
http://www.tki.org.nz/e/schools/index.php
click on the school name to get the decile rating 1 is low 10 is high 'The Ministry of Education uses a decile rating system for school funding purposes.
Each decile contains approximately 10% of schools. Schools in decile one have the highest proportion of students from low socio-economic backgrounds. Schools in decile ten have the lowest proportions of these students' , also for schools, addresses, web sites etc
Is the decile rating not related to how much the parents contribute "voluntarily" to the school budget? If so, rather blowing the classless society ethos out of the window?! I could be wrong? Am only asking!
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Old Dec 18th 2006, 10:10 pm
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Default Re: Best Schools in New Zealand

Originally Posted by Am Loolah
Is the decile rating not related to how much the parents contribute "voluntarily" to the school budget? If so, rather blowing the classless society ethos out of the window?! I could be wrong? Am only asking!

this is what the Ministry of Educations website says
http://www.minedu.govt.nz/index.cfm?...id=6161&data=l

Socio-Economic Decile Band

All schools are given a decile rating, depending on the socio-economic status of the area they serve. Schools in the lowest deciles (1-3) draw their students from communities with the highest degree of socio-economic disadvantage, while those in the highest deciles (8-10) draw the least from these communities.



my son attends a school with a decile rating of 8 & we pay $20 per term in contributions. (hope that makes sense but knowing me probably not!! )
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Old Dec 18th 2006, 10:14 pm
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Default Re: Best Schools in New Zealand

Originally Posted by poppets
this is what the Ministry of Educations website says
http://www.minedu.govt.nz/index.cfm?...id=6161&data=l

Socio-Economic Decile Band

All schools are given a decile rating, depending on the socio-economic status of the area they serve. Schools in the lowest deciles (1-3) draw their students from communities with the highest degree of socio-economic disadvantage, while those in the highest deciles (8-10) draw the least from these communities.



my son attends a school with a decile rating of 8 & we pay $20 per term in contributions. (hope that makes sense but knowing me probably not!! )
Well, $20 a term for a decile 8 makes me rethink the impression I had, which was poor areas, low incomes, low contributions, will create low decile rating schools and the situation will be self - perpetuating (?) Am trying to sound grown up and knowledgable!!!
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Old Dec 18th 2006, 10:27 pm
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Default Re: Best Schools in New Zealand

Originally Posted by Am Loolah
Well, $20 a term for a decile 8 makes me rethink the impression I had, which was poor areas, low incomes, low contributions, will create low decile rating schools and the situation will be self - perpetuating (?) Am trying to sound grown up and knowledgable!!!
Which is why the schools with the lowest socio-economic rating get more government funding....
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Old Dec 18th 2006, 10:33 pm
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Default Re: Best Schools in New Zealand

Originally Posted by Apple12
Which is why the schools with the lowest socio-economic rating get more government funding....
Does this mean it more or less evens out or there's a huge divide between the schools? Please excuse my ignorance - but with 4 waiting to attend school when we get there I'd like an understanding of how it works?!

Does the Government funding make up the difference from the parental contributions?
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Old Dec 19th 2006, 12:06 am
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Default Re: Best Schools in New Zealand

Originally Posted by Am Loolah
Does this mean it more or less evens out or there's a huge divide between the schools? Please excuse my ignorance - but with 4 waiting to attend school when we get there I'd like an understanding of how it works?!

Does the Government funding make up the difference from the parental contributions?
No - the other way around. The parental contributions need to make up any shortfall in government funding. But its a bit chicken and the egg, as the government funds schools according to perceived ability of community to pay; ie the decile ratings.

Back to original post, in NZ they tend not to rank schools officially, and tend to try to avoid elitism, and this is one issue that the main NZ opposition party has focused on a bit. Still, you speak to most parents and they tend to know which schools are good and which are not. Witness the crush to get into the right zones in Auckland and Christchurch in particular.

I have seen newspaper articles where some form of ranking has been produced based on NCEA results. I can't recall the others, but do know that Columba College in Dunedin was in the top 5 nationally, and was top in the South Island. Obviously, that is a very acadmically based measure, there are lots of other things parents should consider as well.

My impression is that are very few bad schools in NZ, but that may just be a local thing.
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Old Dec 19th 2006, 5:53 am
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Just looked at my boys school and its a 10. No wonder their yearly fee's are high...
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Old Dec 19th 2006, 8:58 am
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Default Re: Best Schools in New Zealand

Does the higher the decile mean the better the school then? Where can I find the top achieving schools?

Can anyone who lives in Auckland, Christchurch, Wellington and Dunedin tell me which schools they have heard are the 'best', which schools their children go to and how to get your children into good schools.

Is it to do with catchment areas as it is in the UK/

thanks for all your help,
Jo-ann
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Old Dec 19th 2006, 1:32 pm
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Default Re: Best Schools in New Zealand

Originally Posted by jo-ann hodgson
Does the higher the decile mean the better the school then? Where can I find the top achieving schools?

Can anyone who lives in Auckland, Christchurch, Wellington and Dunedin tell me which schools they have heard are the 'best', which schools their children go to and how to get your children into good schools.

Is it to do with catchment areas as it is in the UK/

thanks for all your help,
Jo-ann
No - the higher decile means higher socio-economic location of the school's neighbourhood. Not necessarily a better school (defined by what anyway?), although I would bet that the results of decile 10 schools are on average better than those from decile 1, purely because of the theoretical link between wealth, background, employment opportunities, support at home, life experiences available to the specific children and academic achievement. But this is NOT what the decile ratings are for - they are purely for the govt to allocate its funding more 'fairly'.

Three that spring to mind for the Auckland area would be Rangitoto College on the North Shore, Epsom Girls and Auckland Boys Grammars in Epsom. These have more than a national reputation as being 'THE' top schools. Lots of Asians come to Auckland specifically for these schools, often boarding with local families. The results and facilities are very impressive.

To a lesser extent, Takapuna Grammar (also on the Shore) and Macleans College also have very good reputations. I think Macleans has a strong national reputation for some top exam results.

But as far as I am aware, NZ does not have the same 'league tables' publication nor sad obsession with such as the UK does. We have become overly obsessed with SATs results & administrative efforts from a very young age to the detriment of the actual education on offer IMO.

Yes, these schools are all zoned and I think with good websites that you can sink into.

Last edited by uk+kiwi; Dec 19th 2006 at 1:38 pm.
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Old Dec 19th 2006, 1:50 pm
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Default Re: Best Schools in New Zealand

Originally Posted by uk+kiwi
No - the higher decile means higher socio-economic location of the school's neighbourhood. Not necessarily a better school (defined by what anyway?), although I would bet that the results of decile 10 schools are on average better than those from decile 1, purely because of the theoretical link between wealth, background, employment opportunities, support at home, life experiences available to the specific children and academic achievement. But this is NOT what the decile ratings are for - they are purely for the govt to allocate its funding more 'fairly'.

Three that spring to mind for the Auckland area would be Rangitoto College on the North Shore, Epsom Girls and Auckland Boys Grammars in Epsom. These have more than a national reputation as being 'THE' top schools. Lots of Asians come to Auckland specifically for these schools, often boarding with local families. The results and facilities are very impressive.

To a lesser extent, Takapuna Grammar (also on the Shore) and Macleans College also have very good reputations. I think Macleans has a strong national reputation for some top exam results.

But as far as I am aware, NZ does not have the same 'league tables' publication nor sad obsession with such as the UK does. We have become overly obsessed with SATs results & administrative efforts from a very young age to the detriment of the actual education on offer IMO.

Yes, these schools are all zoned and I think with good websites that you can sink into.
Hi, with regards that last post I was wondering if I could use some of your comments as quotes?

If so please email me on [email protected],

thanks for all your help,
Jo-ann
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Old Dec 20th 2006, 7:56 am
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Default Re: Best Schools in New Zealand

Originally Posted by jo-ann hodgson
Hi,

I'm writing from Emigrate New Zealand magazine in the UK. We are running an article about areas with the best schools in New Zealand and I can't find any ratings or stats anywhere. Can anyone help? Do you know if they have the league table system in NZ as they do in the UK?

Please email me if you can help,

kind regards,
Jo-ann Hodgson
The schools out here have ero reports which are like ofsted in uk.
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Old Dec 20th 2006, 4:51 pm
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I was chatting with a secondary teacher recently and she remarked that the biggest differance that she can see is that decile 10 kids can afford better drugs and booze whilst decile 1 students get wrecked on alcopops.
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