Dio Students Score Highly in Baccalaureate Exams

Dio Students Score Highly in First International Baccalaureate Exams

Top International Baccalaureate Diploma achievers Stephanie Lee and Mavis Sun from Auckland’s Diocesan School for Girls

Two Diocesan School students have scored just one point below the highest marks possible in the demanding two-year International Baccalaureate Diploma that the independent all-girls Auckland school introduced in 2008.

Stephanie Lee and the school’s dux, Mavis Sun, both scored a total of 44 out of 45 in the six subjects they took for the IB qualification which Diocesan offers as part of a dual educational pathway that also gives students the option of studying for the NCEA.

The marks are the highlight of impressive results achieved by 31 Diocesan students who studied for the IB diploma in 2008 and 2009 – the first two years the Epsom-based, Anglican school has offered students the international qualification after it received IB accreditation in 2007.

Only 115 of the 105,000 students in 2066 schools worldwide who completed the IB Diploma last year scored 45, including only 14 of the 2004 Australasian students who sat the exams.

Diocesan’s average point score of 35 out of 45 compared with the Australasian average of 33.89 and the worldwide average of 30.85. The school scored above the worldwide average in 22 out of a possible 29 subjects.

“Diocesan has to be absolutely delighted with results they have received – particularly since this was their first cohort,” said Greg Valentine, the International Baccalaureate Organisation’s regional representative for Australasia.

“Some schools have offered the IB for 10 years and they have never had a 44 or a 45.”

Diocesan’s 93.6 per cent pass rate compared with the 80 per cent pass rate worldwide.

Students studying for the IB diploma – which is a university entrance qualification in New Zealand and can also gain students entry into some of the world’s leading universities, must study six subjects in Years 12 and 13, including one language other than English and at least one science subject.

They can score up to seven points for each subject and are also awarded up to three bonus points for the philosophy-based Theory of Knowledge (TOK) and community service-based Creativity, Action and Service (CAS) papers they take as well as the extended, 4000-word, research-based essay they write in Year 13.

“It has been hard work for the past two years and the students were under a considerable amount of pressure – but at a manageable level – and their efforts have paid off with great success,” said Christine Buist, Diocesan’s IB co-ordinator.

Mavis Sun has been offered a Combined Law and Faculty of Economics and Business Scholarship for All Round Distinction at the University of Sydney this year and Stephanie Lee is taking health sciences at the University of Otago with view to studying dentistry.

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