Academic excellence is one of the key drivers for families choosing a Kristin education for their children, and Kristin’s proud record in this arena has been further strengthened with another set of excellent examination results for 2020. Kristin’s Senior School students choose to follow either the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme or NCEA pathway, and the recently released 2020 results are evidence of the strength of both programmes of study at Kristin.
In the IB Diploma, Kunli Zhang achieved the perfect score of 45, placing him in the top 0.3% of candidates worldwide. Judy Chen and Jessica Liu followed closely behind on 44; while Victoria Deschamps, Jamie Hyde, Beibei Liu, Edmund Lu and Vanessa Xiong all achieved scores of 43. They were among 18 Kristin students to achieve a score of at least 40 points qualifying them as New Zealand IB Top Scholars. The median score of Kristin students in 2020 was 37 points, compared to the world median of 32.
With his trademark humility, Kunli said “Before I opened up my results, I was quite nervous, but I was relieved when I saw that I had passed. I'm so proud of many of my friends and classmates who were able to achieve amazing results this year, and I wish the best of luck to those sitting exams in the future.” Jessica also commented, “I was really nervous when the results came out, and it took me 30 minutes to build up the courage to check them. To say that I was shocked about my grades was an understatement. Overall, I saw great improvement compared to my previous results, especially in visual arts, as I only got 4 out of 7 last year. I would like to thank all my teachers, family and friends for their constant support. If I could give one tip for everyone, it would be to never give up. Two years is a long time, and lots of things can happen. Keep working hard and believe in yourself.”
With over 30 years of experience in teaching the IB Diploma, Kristin had the largest number of candidates of any New Zealand school in the November examinations session, and over the past 10 years boasts an average pass rate of 98%, compared to the world average pass rate of 79%.
Kristin’s NCEA results also demonstrate the level of academic excellence achieved by Kristin students. With an overall NCEA pass rate of 96%, Kristin’s commitment to the national qualification is celebrated throughout the school. A total of 174 students sat NCEA Level 2 and 3 at Kristin in 2020 and of those, 113 (65%) were awarded Merit or Excellence endorsed certificates, compared to approximately 55% from similar schools (decile 8 – 10). Kristin’s top achievers for NCEA in 2020 were Vincent Cherry and Will Smith who both achieved over 90% of their credits at Excellence level.
Senior School Principal David Boardman is incredibly proud of his students’ achievements. "In a year when many have predicted, quite understandably, that student results would suffer, our students and staff have shown that through planning and perseverance they can continue to achieve at the highest level. How students adapted to working from home and on-site was truly amazing and I believe that in many cases they have come through that experience stronger and better prepared for the challenges ahead of them than they would have otherwise."
