A Premier Scholar and Top in Country for Saint Kentigern

It is with great pride that we announce that Kevin Shen, our IB Diploma Dux medallist for 2016, has been named as a recipient of a Premier Scholars Award by NZQA – granted this year to the top ten Scholarship students in the country. Kevin sat Scholarship exams at the end of 2016 in Chemistry, Physics, Statistics, and Calculus and was rewarded with Outstanding Scholarship passes in each of his subjects, qualifying him for a Premier Scholars Award. This award offers a grant of up to $30,000 towards further studies.

Another outstanding achievement goes to Andrew Chen who came top in the country in Statistics. This in itself is a remarkable feat but is made all the more remarkable knowing that he was only in Year 11 when he sat the Scholarship exam! The Top in SubjectAward offers a grant of up to $600 towards further studies. Andrew also gained a Scholarship in Calculus.

Both of these students have been invited to attend a ceremony at the Beehive in Wellington where they will be presented with their Awards.

New Zealand Scholarship examinations assess students against challenging standards and are demanding for the most able students. In the 2016 end of year exams, 34 of our students gained a total of 44 scholarships with 5 classed as Outstanding, across a broad range of 16 subjects.

Other noteworthy results came from Dominic Devlin, who gained an Overall Scholarship by gaining three individual Scholarships in Chemistry, Geography and Statistics, and Cameron Low, Nicola Williams, Tate McGregor (Year 12) and David Thibaud (Year 12), each gaining two Scholarships each.

At Saint Kentigern, our brightest NCEA students can elect to study towards Scholarship exams. Scholarship exams are offered by NZQA and are, therefore, aligned to NCEA. Where course content is similar, our IB Diploma students can also elect to sit Scholarship exams. However, in many cases this is not possible for some of our brightest IB Diploma students as each year there are examination clashes. 

Scholarship exams are rigorous, requiring high level abstract thinking and the application of knowledge and ideas to complex situations. NZQA’s intention is that 3% of the total number of Year 13 students in the country sitting Level 3 in each of the 27 available subjects will be awarded a Scholarship, provided Scholarship standards are met. Of this top 3% nationwide who gain a Scholarship pass, a small number, equating to approximately 0.5% nationwide, will be accorded an Outstanding Scholarship. In 2016, 7500 students participated in New Zealand Scholarship examinations. 

We take pride in the achievements of our students’ in all their fields of endeavour but academic outcomes remain our core business. These results will open doors to the next stage of learning as they continue on to their tertiary education.

There is great monetary incentive for students to aim to achieve in these exams. New Zealand students who do well in Scholarship gain substantial monetary awards. A Scholarship in just one subject receives $500, as a single payment. An overall Outstanding Scholarship Award is worth $5,000 each year for up to three years for as long as the recipient maintains at least a ‘B’ grade average each year of their tertiary study. An overall Scholarship Award is worth $2,000 each year for up to three years for as long as the recipient maintains at least a ‘B’ grade average each year of their tertiary study.  A Premier Scholarship Award is worth $10,000 for up to three years as long as the recipient maintains a ‘B’ grade average each year of their tertiary study. For the top candidate in each of the Scholarship subjects the recipient receives $2,000 each year for up to three years as long as a ‘B’ grade average is maintained each year of their tertiary study.