St Margaret’s College announces top NCEA and International Baccalaureate results
Christchurch, 16 February 2017 - Students from St Margaret’s College, Christchurch, achieved a 100% pass rate in 2016
NCEA Level 1 with similar success echoed in Level 2 and Level 3 with 98.9% and 96.6% pass rates respectively. Year 13
students also earned a 95.5% pass rate at UE. This success rate is up to 34.2% higher than the national average and up
to 20% higher than the Decile 8-10 school average.
The hard work of the students and teachers was further rewarded with over half (51%) receiving Excellence in NCEA Level
1 and 43.3% earning Merit. In Level 2, 49.5% achieved Excellence and 39.8% Merit. For Level 3, 36% earned Excellence,
double the Decile 8-10 average, and 40.7% earned Merit.
St Margaret’s College academic success was not just limited to NCEA. Students also excelled in the International
Baccalaureate Diploma with a 100% pass rate. In addition, three students, Grace Sullivan, Madeleine Tilley and Gabriela
Coates achieved distinction with 40 marks or higher (out of a possible 45) putting them in the top 3% of students in the
world. Of particular note is Gabriela's perfect score of 45 and she has been offered a major scholarship to study
medicine at the University of Queensland
The students’ academic success has set them in good stead for their tertiary education with four girls receiving an
Academic Excellence Scholarship from the University of Otago – Islay Fowler, Grace Sullivan, Millie Boren and Georgia
Bell. Millie Borren also received a significant scholarship offer from the prestigious Princeton University in the USA.
A further four, Aryn Azlan, Izzy Goddard, Madeline Tilley and Dinuki Karunasekera, were awarded University of Auckland
Top Achiever scholarships. Isabella Fanselow and Lily Marshall received the Emerging Leaders Scholarship at University
of Canterbury. In addition, over 30 other university scholarships were awarded to the class of 2016 from St Margaret’s
College.
Gillian Simpson, executive principal of St Margaret’s College said, “The St Margaret's community is proud of the 2016
examination results for both NCEA and the International Baccalaureate Diploma. Those with excellence endorsed NCEA and
Distinction in IB are to be congratulated and celebrated. Equally the high percentage of girls of all abilities should
celebrate achieving their personal academic goals through hard work and perseverance and huge support from teachers and
parents.
“We are committed as educators to empower every girl to achieve her academic goals. Our commitment to working towards a
current and relevant graduate profile gives each girl the best start possible in her journey beyond school where she
faces an exponentially changing world of work in a global society. We educate young women to live and lead.”
St Margaret’s College is an independent day and boarding school for Year 1- 13 girls and comprises Junior, Middle and
Senior Schools. It also has a Pre School for ages three to five. St Margaret’s College was founded on Anglican Christian
values and has a proud history of academic, sporting and cultural success. Students are offered a world class learning
and leadership experience. St Margaret’s College is the only school in Christchurch to offer the International
Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (Years 12-13).
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