Exam results and Scholars’ Awards

EXAMINATION RESULTS 2018

Academic excellence sits at the heart of all we do at Diocesan. We are one of the top achieving schools in New Zealand across any measure and our students continue to perform exceptionally well in the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) and the International Baccalaureate Diploma.

NCEA

We are immensely proud of our NCEA results for 2018. There were a couple of girls at each level who were unable to enter or finish the course through sickness or late arrival to Diocesan in the year. If we remove those girls from the calculations, we have a 100% pass rate at each level. This is quite remarkable that even as the challenge increases for each level, Diocesan girls have maintained their focus and success.

However, Diocesan girls don’t just like to pass, they aim to be the best they can be, and it is the rates of endorsements of which we are so proud. Almost all girls across the three levels have their certificate endorsed with merit or excellence – more than 85% at Levels 2 and 3 and 95% at Level 1. These rates are more than double the national levels of endorsement.

Pictured from left to right: Susan Marriott – IB Diploma Coordinator, Flora Fan, Jessica Li, Aadhya Lahoty, Heather McRae – Principal, and Margaret van Meeuwen – Head of Senior School

International Baccalaureate

Results in the IB Diploma were again excellent. IB scores are calculated out of 45 and a total of 24 is needed to be awarded the Diploma. In 2018, six girls scored 40 or higher and were acknowledged at the National Awards ceremony. This is an outstanding achievement for these girls. Overall the pass rate was 92%.

Scholarship

Scholarship results saw 34 girls awarded a total of 41 Scholarships. Elma Liao was the top student with four Scholarships in chemistry, physics, statistics and calculus. While there was a spread of Scholarships across all the faculty areas, history again had the most with 13 Scholarships.

Graduates from 2018 are now beginning their tertiary studies all around New Zealand and the globe. They have been offered in excess of $1 million in university scholarships. In New Zealand, this includes every New Zealand university and several across the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia.

Congratulations to our senior students of 2018. We are very proud of the results that they have achieved through their hard work and dedication, and we thank the teaching staff for the all the work they do to support and nurture the girls in their learning journeys.

Elma Liao pictured at Senior Prize Giving 2018 with Mr Neil Cheetham

Overall pass rate Merit Endorsed Excellence Endorsed Literacy

LEVEL 1 100.0 (85.1) 36.6 (34.6) 57.3 (20.9) 100 (85.7)

LEVEL 2 100.0 (88.9) 38.0 (25.6) 47.9 (16.4)

LEVEL 3 100.0 (82.1) 40.0 (27.4) 44.5 (15.1)

UE

96.0 (46.9)

Numeracy

100 (83.6)

SCHOLARS’ AWARDS AND DINNER

Anneke Cummack and Keshni Rasanayagam

The annual Scholars’ Dinner was held in the School Hall on Wednesday 3 April. This dinner honours the girls who, in their examination results the year before, have maintained the highest averages across all their subjects, and in the case of the Gold Scholars, have achieved 40+ in the Diploma or three or more Scholarships.

Academic Prefect Anneke Cummack welcomed the guests and reminded the girls of the prefects’ focus for the year, Ko Tatou, which means ‘this is us’. This encompasses three branches – unity, pride and personal best, which are as important to academics as any other area in the School. She compared learning to the training you need to do for a top sports team and reminded us that the 1st XI of physics or English are just as deserving of our respect. She also reminded us that the root of the word ‘excellence’ is ‘excellere’, meaning ‘to surpass’. If you are surpassing your expectations and what you’ve achieved before, then you have found excellence and ought to be celebrating, regardless of the grade you have been awarded.

It was a great pleasure to welcome Keshni Rasanayagam back to the School as the guest speaker. Keshni studied towards a Bachelor of Science degree, specialising in biomedical science, and then followed with a Postgraduate Diploma in Forensic Science and a Master of Science in Forensic Science. Since leaving university, she has worked in the Coronial Services Department of the Ministry of Justice and is currently in the forensic biology team at ESR. Keshni provided some excellent advice for the students, reminding them that it’s not all about what you learn, instead it’s about the skills and igniting the passion to become a lifelong learner (she was a member of the first Diploma cohort at Dio after all). She challenged the girls to be ready to “adapt, adapt, adapt!” In a world that is changing at a phenomenal pace it is important to also evolve or run the risk of being left behind. Keshni credited Dio for laying the foundation of a lot of who she is today – a girl living her CSI dream of being a forensic scientist, but who has taken many a diversion and had to hit back the curved balls to get there. She said: “Do not just let life happen to you. Sometimes you’ll even find that what actually eventuates ends up being so much bigger, so much better and so much more perfect for you than you could have hoped!”

ACADEMIC SCHOLARS’ AWARDS

YEAR 11 SILVER SCHOLARS’ AWARD

With a grade point average of 90 or more in Level 1 NCEA 2018

Emma Badger Isobelle Brosnahan Anna Casey Amy Choi Grace Cocker Katie Crawford Zoe Dawson Prudence Fowler Teresa Gu Julia Henderson Chloé Hickin Deborah Huang Jessica Hunter Sabreen Islam Lena Jacob Grace Lin Daniela Lin Nicole Lockie Arabella Loveridge Dianne Ma Amali Madawala Kaitlyn Mallon Francesca Masfen Hannah Mercer Zoe Mercer Stella Murray Aarushi Parasrampuria Emma Penney Emma Qiu Ella Russ Tanushree Sharma Gabby Sumner Sarah Tran Brooke Vincent Alice Waldow Jessica Woo Elena Wood Chielin Xu Zoe Zhu

YEAR 12 SILVER SCHOLARS’ AWARD

These are for Year 12 students receiving their first Scholars’ Award

Hannah Barber-Wilson Charlotte Clarke Tess Cooper Emily Hernon May Jang Anastasia Li Summer Wang Zoe Wilcken Evelyn Xu

GOLD SCHOLARS’ AWARDS

Three or more Scholarships, top in country or over 40 points in the IB Diploma

Angela Chen Flora Fan Joy Kang Aadhya Lahoty Jessica Li Elma Liao Sacha Sampson

YEAR 12 GILDED AWARD

Year 12 students receiving their second Scholars’ Award – with a grade point average of 90 or more in Level 2 NCEA or Diploma students with Academic Honours or High Distinction in 2018

Ananya Ahluwalia Cindy Bu Jemma Couillault Anneke Cummack Navneet Dhaliwal Aksheen Dhillon Selena Fu Stephanie Hobson Shellie Hu Sharon Hung Amelia Josephson Jacqui Li Olivia Luxon Fanni Meron Sofie Mulligan Katie Pearce Jemima Po Lexi Preen Amy Somerfield Sophie Stanhope Emma Wong-She

A voice for youth

Aksheen Dhillon with Simon O’Connor

Aksheen Dhillon is heading to Parliament to be a voice for those without one. The Year 13 student is the Tamaki electorate's Youth MP for 2019. The role only happens once every three years, between elections, and Aksheen’s time will run from 1 March to 31 August this year. Keen to get started, she has already attended several public meetings with sitting Tamaki MP Simon O’Connor.

As one of 120 Youth MPs, Aksheen will attend a two-day Youth Parliament where she’ll get to sit on select committees, debate legislation and ask questions of Ministers. Mr O’Connor said one of Aksheen’s responsibilities would also be to address high school students about the value and importance of voting.

“It will be a significant opportunity for Aksheen to gather the views of her peers and take these to Parliament to discuss with other young people,” Mr O’Connor said. “For any young person with an interest in politics, this programme provides a unique opportunity to understand and be a part of the parliamentary process and connect with their communities.”

He added that Aksheen’s greatest exposure to the work of an MP would happen when she got involved in local engagements such as meeting constituents and attending community events.

Aksheen won the Youth MP role by writing an essay about what she thought was the most pressing issue facing youth today. She wrote about communication and argued that: "Ideas for change and improvement come in all shapes and sizes, but it's the communication that will push these changes to happen."

She'd also like to see the discussion of mental health become more open and, closer to home, she’s aware that the quality of local beaches and water, and the infrastructure, is an important part of life in the Tamaki region. Aksheen’s family often discussed national politics at the dinner table as she was growing up, so from a young age she was exposed to the different political parties and their ideals. “I can’t pinpoint an exact time the switch flipped and I became interested in politics; it’s always just been a part of who I am and how I grew up,” she says.

“To me, politics is about educating myself on the challenges others face and how the world works so I can then contribute and make a difference in the world. It’s about leadership and understanding the needs of the people, and then creating frameworks for improving the lives of people, in particular, and the country in general.” She says politics challenges and humbles her.

This year Aksheen is studying English, mathematics, French, economics, history and biology, and wants to go on to study political science, international relations or business.

In 2018 she received Distinction in the New Zealand Economic Competition at the University of Auckland Business School, and was the only Dio girl in her year who managed to attain Distinction. In July, Aksheen attended a three-week Leadership and Global Engagement programme at Brown University, Rhode Island, in the United States. The programme sparked her interest in the human rights side of politics, and in finding ways to bring about social change. The programme at Brown explored international issues such as security and terrorism, global trade, human rights, nuclear proliferation, and environmental challenges. Through role plays, simulations, panel discussions and group projects, Aksheen and her fellow students covered topics such as the nuclear proliferation of North Korea and Iran, global climate change, United Nations interventions, and global responses to terrorism.

Aksheen aims to bring fresh eyes to long-standing issues and to be a voice for people who are not easily able to express their views. She says today’s youth should listen to what's happening in Parliament, because "the laws we make now will have an effect on our generation in the future."