Senior Assessment Rules

ATTENDANCE IN CLASS

Regular attendance is required for course completion. Please note that for Te Punga - Year 11 Certificate, 95% attendance (no more that 5% unexplained absences) is required.

AUTHENTICITY

1. You need to do your own work for any assessment you submit. If you copy something from another source, like a sentence, paragraph, picture, or even part of a sentence, you have to put it in "quotation marks" and say where it came from.

2. If you do some parts of the assessment outside of school or with someone else's help, you need to sign a statement saying that the work is authentic (100% your own work).

3. Inauthentic work means that it's not really your own work. It can happen if you don't understand the assignment or what counts as plagiarism (copying without giving credit), if you copy from someone else or from a public source, if you use an AI tool like ChatGPT to do your assignment and pretend it's yours, if you get too much help from a teacher, parent, or tutor, or if you share your work with other students.

4. If a teacher thinks you broke these rules, they will tell the Deputy Principal, Senior School. If the Deputy Principal finds enough evidence that you broke the rules and it makes the assessment less credible, you will get a "Not Achieved" grade for that assessment. The Deputy Principal will let your parents or caregivers know about this in writing as soon as possible.

5. You have the right to appeal if you think the decision about breaking the rules is unfair. You need to write to the Principal within 7 days of being notified about the decision.

6. If you break the rules for an assessment in a subject, you won't get another chance to do the assessment for that subject.

MISSED OR LATE INTERNAL ASSESSMENTS

1. Each department will tell you when your assessments are due. Generally, these can be found on your SchooBridge App - under Assessment Calendar.

2. If you don't submit your work by the deadline and you had enough time to complete it, you'll get a "Not Achieved" grade, unless one of these situations applies:

i. You were sick or had an accident.

ii. You were on a school trip that was approved by the school.

iii. Something really important and out of your control happened.

If you know one of these situations exists before the deadline, talk to your teacher about getting more time or withdrawing from the assessment. Usually, you'll need proof (like a doctor's note) to get an extension or withdrawal. Just a note from your parents might not be enough. If the assessment is a test, you'll have to take it when you come back to school or as soon as possible after that.

3. If you miss work, you can't just get a special grade for it. You can only pass if you have enough valid and real evidence that relates to the assessment. If there's no evidence, it will be marked as "absent" or "not submitted."

FURTHER ASSESSMENT OPPORTUNITIES

Students must take every opportunity for assessment as the ‘best’ opportunity. Further assessment opportunities are not offered in every standard. Students need to be aware of those standards where one further assessment opportunity is offered. These will be publicised by the department.

APPEALS

1 Students have the right to challenge an assessment decision they think is unfair. The first step is to talk to your subject teacher about it.

2 If you can't resolve the issue with your teacher, you can appeal to the Head of Department within two school days after receiving the assessment back. You'll need to explain why you're appealing using the Assessment Appeals Form.

3. The Head of Department will let you know the result of your appeal in writing. If you're still not satisfied, the final step is to appeal to the Deputy Principal, Senior School.

CHECKING ENTRIES AND GRADES

1. Students should regularly check their entries and grades on the NZQA website. You'll get a card from NZQA with their website address, your student number, and instructions on how to register. You need to create your own login and password on the NZQA website, as the school doesn't have access to it.

2. You'll have a chance to make sure your grades are recorded correctly on the results database. You can do this by looking at and confirming the grades on KAMAR. By signing off on these grades, you're saying that you accept them.

3. If you see any mistakes in the entries or grades, they need to be fixed before you sign off on them.

SPECIAL ASSESSMENT CONDITIONS

If you need extra help in your learning, you might be able to get special assistance during tests and exams. This applies to both tests done in class and those done outside of school. To get this help, you should talk to the "Learning Centre" and their Head of Department. They will guide you on what you need to do.

CATCH UP CREDITS

If you leave school without getting a qualification like University Entrance (UE), you won't be given extra chances to make up for it the next year. So, it's important to do well in each assessment opportunity and earn enough credits to complete your qualification before you leave school.