Marau Mātauranga
Curriculum
Our Structured Curriculum
Riccarton High School has designed a curriculum for the junior school (Years 9 and 10), which meets the requirements of the New Zealand Curriculum.
It allows all students to receive an education in the faculty areas of english, mathematics, science, social sciences, health and physical education, technology, arts, and languages.
Our curriculum is structured to provide students with a depth of experience in a broad range of subjects. As students progress into the senior school (from Year 11), the range of subjects that students are required to take reduces.
Riccarton High School aims to give every student the broadest possible range of opportunities to study the subjects they wish to take.
The school will make every effort to accommodate student choice but reserves the right to direct students into particular course selections where it deems that to be in the student’s interest.
Year 9 and 10
We aim for all our students to be successful academically, and to strive to reach their goals.
Our community tells us they want our students to be engaged, confident, resilient, risk-taking, flexible thinkers who respect and value others. We encourage students’ strengths and interests and support them to identify their future pathway beyond school. Our junior curriculum is structured to provide students with a depth of experience in a broad range of programmes. The learning programme for Year 9 and 10 students includes all eight Learning Areas from the New Zealand Curriculum: http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/
These programmes run for the whole year in both Year 9 and 10:
- English
- Health & Physical Education
- Mathematics
- Science
- Social Studies
Year 9 students also learn in:
- Arts – a semester each in Dance, Visual Art and music
- Learning Languages – students choose ONE of French, Japanese, Te Reo Māori or English as an Additional Language
- Technology – a semester each in Design and Visual Communication, Digital Technologies, Food Technology and Hard Materials.
Year 11
At Year 11, students are expected to take English (or an English Language Course) and mathematics as well as four other courses. At this level, students study for Level 1 of the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA).
Year 12
At Year 12, all students are required to take six subjects, mainly for Level 2 NCEA but also for other certificates on the National Qualifications Framework.
Year 13
At Year 13, students are required to take five subjects, mainly for Level 3 NCEA. Students wanting to further their studies at university will also be striving for the University Entrance qualification. There are no compulsory subjects. Some students select six subjects.
Connectivity and Collaboration
We have a strong focus on encouraging connections across all learning areas within the school. This includes:
- Teachers of the same learning groups working together
- Teachers in different learning groups working together
- Teachers sharing best practice with each other
- Students working together to develop their skills around problem solving, collaboration and resiliency
- Students and teachers working together to develop the most effective teaching practices from the student’s perspective
Student Assessment Procedures
The student assessment procedures handbook outlines student rights and responsibilities in how Riccarton High School manages assessment towards national qualifications such as the NCEA. It is an important document to refer to, especially if you are unsure of any assessment procedures or rules. As well as consulting the handbook, if you have any questions or issues regarding assessment regulations and rules, these should be raised with the subject teacher and/or whanau teacher in the first instance, or alternatively the relevant kaitiaki.
The student assessment handbook provides detailed information on the NCEA requirements, and student rights and responsibilities regarding assessment. Topics include NCEA criteria, endorsements, university entrance, scholarship, absences, due dates, internal moderation, the appeals process, prelim exams, financial assistance and more.
