Remarkable Success for Macleans College in 2015 Scholarship Examinations

The 2015 Scholarship results reveal Macleans College to be the top Auckland school, top co-educational school and second in the country overall, an outstanding accomplishment.

A Premier Scholarship was awarded to Zhong Qian Huang (Rutherford House), one of a total of nine nationally. Seven students achieved an Outstanding Scholar award, out of a total of 57 nationally, namely David Jin Uk Kim (Rutherford), Joseph Meltzer (Rutherford), Henry Jiang (Rutherford), Saffron Shan Huang (Rutherford), Lucas In Gyu Lee (Hillary), Daisy Huang (Rutherford) and Wendy Lee (Rutherford). There were two Top in Subject awards: David Kim for Chemistry and Wendy Lee for Media Studies. Twelve students achieved a monetary award for gaining three or more Scholarships and overall, candidates achieved a total of 164 Scholarships, up from 131 the year before. The school has been the top co-educational school each year since the examinations started in 2005. A total of 11 Premier awards have been awarded to Macleans students since 2005 and this number ranks the school first equal in New Zealand.

Principal Byron Bentley is justifiably proud of the staff and students undertaking this exacting course of study. He believes it provides exceptional opportunities and incentives for the school's most able students; they can aim for tertiary study at the highest level, especially in limited entry courses, and they receive monetary awards to assist with costs. The comprehensive programme is taught by a large number of dedicated staff and is overseen by a small executive team which includes a counsellor. All those involved work many extra hours to ensure students are well-prepared. The students who enrol have to juggle the time given to their regular class studies with the demands of the programme, and are fully supported by their parents.

Students are assessed against challenging standards, and are expected to demonstrate high-level critical thinking, abstraction and generalisation. Examinations are resource-based and require students to integrate, synthesise and apply knowledge, skills, understanding and ideas to complex situations.

Approximately 3 per cent of Year 13 students nationally are awarded Scholarship in subjects with large numbers of candidates. At Macleans 15% of our Year 13 students achieved at least one Scholarship. The work of the highest scoring candidates is reviewed by marking panels, to identify the top candidates in each subject. The information below indicates the required level of performance and monetary value, awarded only if the candidate pursues tertiary study in New Zealand and maintains a B Average over the period of study. Achieving the minimum requirement does not guarantee an award, however, as numbers are limited.

Premier Award

• For the very top 5 to 10 candidates. Achievement of at least three Scholarships at “Outstanding” level in the same year.
• $10,000 each year for up to three years.

Outstanding Scholar Award

• For the next 40-60 top candidates. Achievement of three Scholarships with at least two at “Outstanding” level in the same year, or more than three Scholarships with at least one at “Outstanding” level in the same year.
• $5,000 each year for up to three years.

Scholarship Award

• For candidates who achieve Scholarship in three or more subjects in the same year.
• $2,000 each year for up to three years.

Top Subject Scholar Award

• For the top candidate in each one of the Scholarship subjects.
• $2,000 each year for up to three years.

Single Subject Awards

• For candidates who achieve Scholarship in one or two subjects in the same year.
• A ‘one-off’ award of $500 per subject (maximum payment $1000).

The 2015 results are: