New criteria for McGlashan's academic awards focus on excellence within individual subjects.
In the early 2000’s the college introduced a system of recognising top academic achievement in the senior school. It was focused on excellence and was measured by either by the total number of excellence credits that a student achieved or by an overall grade point average (GPA). Boys that gained 50 or more excellence credits or a GPA equivalent, gained a scholars tie. Over time this has become a sought after accolade and boys wear this symbol of academic achievement with pride. In some years we would have as many as 1/3 of all boys in Year 11 gaining this recognition as achievement levels continued to rise.
It is now time to review this system and to lift the bar higher again. One criticism of the past structure has been that it is relatively easy for boys to gain the required number of Excellence credits across a large number of subjects, without necessarily being a top student in any one particular subject. Simplistically put, boys were picking off the low hanging fruit to achieve their scholars' tie.
We feel strongly that to be considered a scholar in the true sense of the word, a student should show a real depth of learning in a range of subjects. A consistently good average is not the same as excellence. To this end, we will utilise the subject endorsement feature of NCEA and based on exam results released in Jan 2020, a minimum of 3 subject Excellence endorsements will be required to gain a tie.
For 100 Club & 200 Club awards, similar, but higher, requirements will replace the current criteria.
Minimum Criteria from 2019
Scholars Tie:
3 Excellence Subject endorsements*
100/200 Club
4 Excellence Subject endorsements (or 3E + 2M)
* An Excellence subject endorsement is awarded when a student gains a minimum of 14 Excellence credits in that subject. It must come from a combination of both internally and externally assessment standards. i.e. a student cannot gain this through internal standards alone.
For boys undertaking the IB Diploma in Year 12, a total score above 35 would be expected to be in contention for either award.
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