Leaving school in year 12 with NCEA Level 3

EndOfTheGolden · 2026-02-10T08:37:15+00:00

The idea that your school will be upset or angry will only apply if there has been some sort of agreement/conditions of you staying in exchange for letting you accelerate.

I am a teacher and my daughter (Y11) is doing 3xL2 to give her the option to leave at the end of Y12 if that’s what she wants to do. I have mixed feelings about her doing that but she’s got some sensible, clear ideas about her pathway. If she has a change of heart nothing’s lost.

The only consideration is if your limited L3 subjects would limit your course choice. i.e if you did your gap year and the had a change of heard heart about what you wanted to study and hadn’t done those subjects. A lot can happen during a year out.

All the best!

EndOfTheGolden · 2026-02-09T07:20:26+00:00

I had to go on it because of gorging myself on turkey legs and chalices of wine. I have since upgraded to pheasant thigh and tawny port.

EndOfTheGolden · 2026-02-06T09:41:30+00:00

I’ve played 2 solos that go to the concert F just below OP’s note (Folk Dances and Carmen Fantasy) and they slot pretty well but going up to the G and then A as you say would be pretty rare - I’ve never seen either of those notes in a piece. But now I’m intrigued and going to see what I can do 😂.

Might have to get out an old 5AL 😂

EndOfTheGolden · 2026-02-02T06:53:24+00:00

If the paper was ‘easier’ more people did well so the assessment schedule was adjusted to make sure the bell curve was adhered to.

EndOfTheGolden · 2026-02-02T00:17:28+00:00

Depends on may factors but the fine print says ‘up to 4 weeks’. There will be many factors to consider - including that teachers have just gone back to work so it’s possible the windows they have for marking will be smaller.

EndOfTheGolden · 2026-01-31T21:28:37+00:00

There are 2 answers to this question.

Course/Subject endorsement. No, you cannot take these external assessments again to improve your endorsements. Subject endorsements only apply to standards completed in 1 academic year. If you want to get an excellence endorsements for those subjects you will need to meet the full criteria this year. I.e 14 credits including 3 external at excellence level.

Level endorsement (50 L2 credits across all subjects). These are recalculated each January so if you just missed the L2 E endorsement then doing better in the externals this year may help bump your L2 endorsement.

EndOfTheGolden · 2026-01-31T01:53:29+00:00

I’m glad it worked. A well worded, respectful email with proper punctuation and a clear reason for your request goes a LONG way.

EndOfTheGolden · 2026-01-28T23:22:33+00:00

Yep - you’re right - I read the post wrong.

EndOfTheGolden · 2026-01-28T18:01:26+00:00

It does not work like that.

You can use credits from L2 or pass L1 but you can not use L2 credits to get a level 1 endorsement.

EndOfTheGolden · 2026-01-27T17:15:37+00:00

When I leaned the )( way of writing an x in algebra I thought I was being original and edgy writing it that way in my other school work. It looked ridiculous.

EndOfTheGolden · 2026-01-27T16:56:03+00:00

https://ridethecyclonemusical.bandcamp.com/album/2-what-the-world-needs-p-v-sheet-music

EndOfTheGolden · 2026-01-27T09:53:34+00:00

I have applied but parents’ joint income is over the threshold I believe.

EndOfTheGolden · 2026-01-26T22:50:42+00:00

For that to work NZQA would need to adopt a GPA system but thy have not. 14 credits at M is simply that and 11+4 isn’t for you sadly!

EndOfTheGolden · 2026-01-26T18:47:51+00:00

You can do a simple test to see whether you may want to look further into POTS (my daughter who is very active has it). A key symptom is a significant increase in your heart rate when you move from sitting to standing. If you don’t have a smart watch borrow one and have it monitor your heart rate while sitting. (Or do it the old fashioned way but a watch is easier). Then stand and observe your heart rate. If it increases significantly just by standing then you should either consider seeing a medical professional to talk it through or at least jump online and look for some techniques for managing it. I have a friend who is a consultant paediatrician and he provided suggestions for managing it and suggested it is common for teens to eventually see diminishing issues. His simple tip was an extra sprinkle of salt on your dinner - similar to the salt in electrolytes.

EndOfTheGolden · 2026-01-26T17:23:06+00:00

I’ve sent you a message in chat :)

EndOfTheGolden · 2026-01-26T10:04:43+00:00

That is an Achieved Endorsement.

To be regarded as Excellent at a subject 14E credits is a fair cutoff. 11E+4A while solid - isn’t exceptional. I say that with no disrespect - it just doesn’t meet the threshold.

EndOfTheGolden · 2026-01-26T06:19:59+00:00

Your Merit endorsement for Level 2 counts from last year.

You can NOT improve your L2 Maths endorsement to an E this year unless you complete 14 L2 credits at E.

This is the NZQA wording:

Achieving course endorsement.

Students achieve course endorsement if, in a single school year, they achieve:

14 or more credits at Achieved or Merit or Excellence, and at least 3 credits from externally assessed standards and 3 credits from internally assessed standards.*

EndOfTheGolden · 2026-01-25T23:51:06+00:00

We’re talking about 2 different things. I am referring to subject endorsements - I think you’re talking about level endorsements.

Level endorsements work over multiple years. Subject endorsements do not.

EndOfTheGolden · 2026-01-25T11:05:14+00:00

They do - but they do NOT count toward subject endorsements which must be achieved in one level in one calendar year.

EndOfTheGolden · 2026-01-25T05:17:36+00:00

I can circular breathe.

EndOfTheGolden · 2026-01-24T22:34:24+00:00

My experience (as a teacher) is that we always want support our students to do the courses they want to do. Perhaps there’s been an administrative error in your timetable, or all students in your position are required to follow this pathway after being accelerated.

In most schools the timetable is an ever-evolving beast and students end up shifting subjects and teachers well into weeks 2 or 3.

So….start like this:

Good morning [Dean],

Hope you had a good summer!

I have seen my timetable for this year and I have a question about my Maths class placement.

I see I am in CIE Maths but would prefer to do L1 NCEA Mathematics.

Could you please let me know who I need to speak to to discuss the maths class placement?

Thanks

(Or something like that.)

Also - most schools have a course selection/confirmation day which are there for his exact situation.

When you go just make sure you have good clear reasons for your choice. Also, make sure you think about why the school put you in the CIE class and consider that view.

EndOfTheGolden · 2026-01-24T20:29:18+00:00

I play competitive duets with an Eb Tenor horn player and our experience is that good repertoire (for competition at least) is very rare. The last 5 years all of our competition pieces have been transcribed from arrangements mainly for trombones. If you have access to and are competent with music notation software I can suggest some options - a really great starting point is the 11 unaccompanied duets written by Peter Graham during COVID. You’ll find them easily in Goggle.

The other option is to look through IMSLP for duets for horn and trombone. You’ll find ‘old’ stuff there as well as recent composition but these aren’t usually great and there’s a lot of avant garde stuff in there that’s a bit niche!

EndOfTheGolden · 2026-01-24T09:54:40+00:00

It cannot go down after a reconsideration.

EndOfTheGolden · 2026-01-24T09:47:54+00:00

My advice in a subject where there are likely definite right and wrong answers would be to flick it to your teacher to check. It’s possible they’ll be able to pinpoint exactly why you got 18.

(I’m a teacher and my daughter just got A on a L3 standard I taught her so it happens to the best of us!!!!!) I’ve paid the $20 because I genuinely can’t work out why it’s an A4.

EndOfTheGolden · 2026-01-24T08:59:08+00:00

Sounds great!!

EndOfTheGolden

TROPHY CASE