Impressive New Chapter in Kuranui Success Story

The latest chapter in the Kuranui College success story makes for impressive reading, with strong NCEA results leading to greater numbers of students gaining entrance to university and a roll which continues to rise, as more and more families make the South Wairarapa college their number one choice for secondary education.
Kuranui achieved an 83.6% pass rate NCEA Level1 in 2011, along with 80.8% and 74.3% in Levels 2 and 3 respectively and a university entrance rate of 60%. A new $2.2 million science and mathematics building has just been completed and the Ministry of Education is investing $450,000 towards a new arts facility, which will enable the college to remain at the forefront of innovative teaching in a range of associated subjects.
The college has also recently launched the Kuranui Outdoor Education Academy, which offers specialised tuition for students from Kuranui and many local primary schools. It provides opportunities to combine education with the environment, whilst providing a grounding in a wide variety of outdoor skills.
Kuranui College Principal, Geoff Shepherd, was delighted with this impressive list of recent achievements, although he is adamant that standards must continue to rise, along with expectations. “Our NCEA results are a good indicator of the excellent progress we are making across the board academically,” he explained. “Our Level 1 figure of 83.6% has increased from 74.5% in 2010 and 70.2% in 2009, which is all the more impressive when you consider that the roll is rising steadily and now stands at over 530 students.
“We have worked hard to develop and deliver a diverse curriculum which caters for young people who have strengths in a broad variety of subjects from traditional arts and science through to dance, aviation and outdoor education. Our students have responded by producing some excellent work, but we all know there is much more to come as we strive to achieve even more in 2012 and beyond.
“College staff are focused on ensuring that all our students have the support to achieve Merit and Excellence endorsements in all levels of NCEA and Scholarships at level 3. We are expecting up to 20% of our level 1 students to achieve Merit or Excellence endorsements and up to 15% at levels 2 and 3.
“At Kuranui we set high standards for our students and recent results have demonstrated that more and more of them are reaching and exceeding our expectations. Our new facilities will ensure that we can continue to raise the bar and we know that our students are already looking forward to taking up that challenge.”
All families are welcome to attend the Kuranui College Open Day on 8 August and the Open Evening on 9 August. For further information on these events, or for a copy of the prospectus, please contact the Kuranui office on 06 304 9116 or email office@kuranui-college.school.nz.