In Week 8 and 9 of Term 3, all Year 10 students will attempt their Reading and Numeracy CAAs and our NCEA students will sit their derived grade examinations.

In the coming week, students sitting a Reading/Writing/Numeracy Common Assessment Activity or an NCEA derived grade examination will receive an entry slip containing when and where their exams will be. Attached below is a copy of the examination timetable and a list of the venues for each exam. Please note that the Samoan exams have changed.

Reminders

• Students should take these derived grade examinations seriously. Should illness, an unexpected event, or widespread internet issues impact your ability to attend or complete your NCEA exam in November, your grade(s) from the upcoming September exams will become your awarded NCEA grade(s).
  Note: If you need a derived grade in November, you have to formally apply to NZQA to have it awarded.
  [NZQA information about applying for derived grades]

• The derived grade exams give students excellent insight into how prepared they are for their NCEA exams and enable them to identify what they need to work on in the 7 weeks following their September exams, before the NCEA exams start on Tuesday 4 November.

• Preparation is the key to minimising anxiety and stress. Failing to prepare is preparing to fail. Feeling a little bit anxious is very normal. It means that you are aware of something potentially challenging and is a signal to you to take action.

• Students are expected to attempt all standards in all of their scheduled derived grade exams, unless otherwise agreed with their teacher. Voiding papers is not permitted.

• We do have the ability to catch up a missed derived grade exam but students need to do everything in their power to attend their exams as scheduled – rearrange work commitments, etc. If you do need to do a catch-up exam, please arrange this with your teacher and let Miss Vreeburg know.
  Note: In the November NCEA exams, there are no catch-ups!

• Get a good sleep the night before your exam and eat a good breakfast or lunch before heading into school.

• Arrive to your exams 20 minutes before the scheduled start time. This gives you ample time to go to the toilet and find your seat without any additional rushing or stress.

• Bring all necessary stationery in a clear plastic bag.

• Any drink bottles need to be clear/transparent.

• Make sure your device is fully charged (for digital exams) – we cannot provide charging sockets for 200+ students. If you have two exams in a day, bring your charger to school and find somewhere for it to charge between your exams.

• Clashes should have been sorted already, but any student who has a clash or thinks there is an error with their exam schedule needs to see or email Miss Vreeburg, j.vreeburg@wc.school.nz.

• Order of precedence for sorting out exam clashes:
  1. Common Assessment Activity (classed as an NZQA external)
  2. Language exam with a listening component
  3. Digital exam
  4. Paper exam including 2 or 3 standards
  5. Paper exam containing just 1 standard
  6. Scholarship trial exam (scholarship exams take precedence in the NCEA exam period but there are no derived grades available and there is no requirement for students to sit a practice exam).

Study Leave

Year 12 and Year 13 students will have study leave (no timetabled lessons) between Wednesday 3 September and Friday 12 September, inclusive. Timetabled lessons will resume on Monday 15 September.

Year 10 – there are no timetabled lessons on Wednesday 3 September and Thursday 4 September. Students are to work from home on these days and only come into school for their scheduled CAA. Lessons run as normal throughout the remainder of the examination period.

Year 11 – students who are reattempting CAAs will attend classes as normal in the morning and will sit their CAA in the afternoon. When they have finished, they are permitted to head home or return to their period 5 class.

Year 9 to 11 students who take an NCEA Level 2 or 3 subject – Year 9 to 11 lessons will run as normal throughout the examination period. However, because NCEA Level 2 and 3 lessons will not be running, any students who are in these classes are to study independently in the library when their senior class would normally run.

Year 9, 10 and 11 accelerated students to be given the following study leave provisions prior to sitting an NCEA Level 2 or Level 3 derived grade exam:

• 9 am exam – students to be granted study leave for period 4 and 5 on the day prior to the exam.

• 1 pm exam – students to be granted study leave for period 1, 2 and 3 on the day of the exam.

This study leave is optional and students may choose to attend their morning or afternoon classes as normal.

We wish all of our students the very best in the lead up to their CAAs and derived grade exams.

Website information about the Co-Requisites

Attachments

2025 CAA and DGE Timetable   PDF, 268.3 KB