Academic Achievers

Villa Maria College aims to bring out the best in all students and they are encouraged to apply themselves and develop an appreciation for life-long learning. Our girls are known for their integrity, self-assurance and compassion. View a list of our top 2008-09 Academic Achievers or our Dux Honours Board.

In addition to the achievements of individuals, we can also note other indicators of high achievement:

Year 11   
- 94% of the Y11 students achieved Level 1 NCEA, with an outstanding 52 students gaining this with Merit, and a further 17 students gaining excellence.         
- 99.3% achieved numeracy, 96.4% achieved literacy.                       

Year 12
- 93% gained NCEA Level 2, with 35 achieving this with Merit and six students achieving with excellence.

Year 13
- 85% achieved NCEA level 3, and 74.4% achieved university entrance.  14 students achieved this with merit, and four students achieved with excellence.

 

ICAS Examinations

In 2009 four Villa Maria College students received High Distinction in the annual ICAS English exam and 23 students received Distinction. For a list of the successful students and more information about ICAS exams click here.

   

Languages

German language students at Villa Maria College have consistently achieved top honours in recently years at the 'Oskars', a German language competition for students in Year 10. This competition is judged by representatives from the Goethe Institute in Wellington and the German Languages department at the University of Canterbury.

Kate Johnstone (year 13) was a 2009 scholarship recipient for "The Society for New Zealand - German Exchange".

Holly Hill (year 10) was selected in 2009 to go to Nikaho, Japan in January 2010 with 12 other Christchurch Secondary School students under the Newton Dodge Exchanges programme. In 2008 Ali Aikin (year 10) was selected to attend the Christchurch City Council Sister City Exchange to Kurashiki, Japan.

 

The Bishop Lyons' Shield Competition

Teams from Villa Maria College compete each year against teams from other Catholic Secondary Schools in Canterbury for the honour of winning the Bishop Lyons' Shield. Students compete in debating, speech making and religious question sections at junior and senior levels. Villa Maria College most recently held the Shield in 2001 and 2008. The Villa team has won the senior debating competition for the past two consecutive years.

  

Debating

The 2009 Senior debating team of Sarah Holmes, Fran Chapman and Kate Johnstone won the Bishop Lyons debating, placed 2nd in Canterbury Press Debating and 3rd in Mini Press competition.

Kate Johnstone was awarded the Best Speaker in the Bishop Lyons competition and Sarah Holmes was Highly Commended at the Canterbury Press competition.  Rosie Rassmussen of the Intermediate (Year 11) team was Highly Commended speaker in the Junior Press competition.

The College Junior (Year 10) debating team of Sophie Crews, Caitlin Pugh and Laura Maskill won the 2009 Canterbury Junior Interschool Debating Competition. 

 

International Young Physicists

The Villa Maria College team, in their inaugural entry, won the local competition to secure a place in the finals of the International Young Physicist Tournament (IYPT) in 2009. Team member Sarah Holmes was selected to try out for the final NZ team to compete in Beijing.

 

  

2009 TVNZ ACTIVATE Cooking Show Winners!

Holly Minehan, Brittany Campos, Rosie Rasmussen represented Villa Maria College in the TVNZ television cooking show and competition, Activate. The Villa team took out first place honours against other secondary schools from around New Zealand.

  

  

Christchurch New Zealand Junior Hospitality Challenge

Villa Maria College's team of Louise Densie, Laura Williams, Amy Price and Alice Torrance took out honours in the 2008 Christchurch New Zealand Junior Hospitality Challenge.

Working together to cook four portions of an entree and main course within 90 minutes, the team prepared an entree which had to be based on potato and a main course fetauring at least 3 seasonal New Zealand vegetables. Both their work in the kitchen and the final dishes were judged.

The team came away with a Silver medal in the Cold Fruit Dessert Class, bronze in the Schools' Challenge Live Cooking Team event, bronze in the Schools' Challenge Live Cooking Team event and bronze in the Blueberry Muffin class.

  

Technology - Computing

Each year Villa students work towards the National Certificate in Computing at levels 2 and 3. In 2009 16 students met the requirements for the National Certificate at Level 3 and 31 students were awarded the National Certificate at Level 2.  For a full list of the 2009 Technology Achievers click here .

 

Social Studies

Villa Maria College teams participate annually in inter-secondary school quiz competitions run by the Otago Daily Times and The Press newspapers. In 2009 Villa sent a record 12 teams to the Otago Daily Times Current Events Quiz. Questions in these quizzes address subjects such as New Zealand places, countries, flags, famous people and a newspaper scavenger hunt.

In 2009 the Villa year 10 team placed 3rd in the Press Social Studies Quiz.

 

2009 Academic Achievers

At the Villa Maria College High Achievers' Assembly in February 2009 we recognised our highest achievers in NCEA in front of their peers and parents. Students were presented with their Villa Maria College Gold or Silver badges at this ceremony.

 

The following students are again congratulated for their academic achievement:

Level 1             Gold     (80 or more credits at excellence)
Michelle Doherty
Hyo Jin Bae                   

Level 1             Silver   (50 - 79 credits at excellence)
Hayley Mercer   
Georgia Cassidy
Anna Hibberd        
Katiana Rasmussen 
Amy Rose Pfeifer        
Danielle Mather 
Tess O'Rourke  
Olivia Steel                 
Tara Overwater
Grace Prendergast         
Rachel McCann 
Aimee O'Connor
Brylea Smith                 
Lysandra Broughan        
Natasha Langan

Level 2             Gold     (66 or more credits with excellence)
Kate Johnstone 
Ying Zi Lin 
Sarah Holmes               

Level 2             Silver   (50 - 65 credits or more with excellence)
Hannah Palmer 
Fran Chapman              

Level 3 and Scholarship                                                                                       
Four students achieved L3 with Excellence, as well as gaining scholarships:
Julia Clendon                                         (Scholarship: Physics, Statistics, Calculus)
Jayne O'Connell                                      (Scholarship: Classics)
Julia Rutherford                                      (Scholarship: Media Studies)
Jenna Donaldson                                    (Scholarship: Biology)