Dear Parents and Caregivers,
We are halfway through Term 3 and want to take this opportunity to offer our thanks as well as alert you to two upcoming opportunities to engage in your daughter’s education.
Firstly, we want to thank you for supporting your daughter in making her subject selections for 2026, or for our year 13 students, working with her to engage with possible pathways beyond school. Our girls have many different interests and capabilities, and we are determined to ensure that all students have opportunities to achieve their aspirations through their time here at Epsom Girls Grammar School.
Board Elections
We want to alert you to the upcoming School Board elections. SchoolED Election Pilot have been contracted to run our Board elections this year and they will email you Wednesday 13 August to allow you to cast your vote digitally (voting papers will be posted to those with no email address registered with the school). The deadline for voting is 4pm on Wednesday 10 September.
Digital voting requires you to click on each candidate in order to read their supplied statement (outlining their expertise, experience, and connection to the school), so for ease of reference, we attach here a link to the full candidate list (along with their statements), in PDF form. Please take time over the next few days to read about the candidates standing for our School Board, and then vote in the election. The leadership provided by the Board is essential for the success of our school and of our students so we thank you, in advance, for engaging with this process.
NCEA Proposed Changes
The Minister of Education has recently announced a national consultation on a proposal to replace NCEA with a new qualification pathway. This is a significant opportunity to shape a system that better supports our young people.
In summary, the changes propose:
- Removing NCEA Level 1 and introducing a new Foundational Award;
- Replacing NCEA Levels 2 and 3 with new qualifications: NZ Certificate of Education (NZCE for Year 12) and NZ Advanced Certificate of Education (NZACE for Year 13);
- Shifting focus to a structured subject approach and introducing required subjects in the curriculum;
- Strengthening achievement requirements and working with industry to integrate vocational education and training subjects into the senior secondary qualification.
The consultation is open until 15 September 2025 and the proposed rollout of the new qualifications aligns to the updated NZ Curriculum rollout (so it will not affect students currently at secondary school). We attach a summary of the proposed changes prepared for parents by the Ministry of Education here, and provide the links to consultation below:
Have your say:
- Questions? Email: NCEAconsultation@education.govt.nz
- Webinars available from 11 August – sign up on the consultation page here: Consultation on proposal to replace NCEA - Ministry of Education
Here at Epsom Girls Grammar School, we are well placed to provide excellent educational programmes irrespective of the final format of our national qualification. Epsom Girls Grammar School has always treated subjects as whole bodies of knowledge and we stopped offering NCEA Level 1 (to focus on providing more learning time in Year 11 programmes) over five years ago. Our learning areas and subject experts have already spent a significant amount of time this year identifying the scope and sequence of learning in each subject area so that students at Epsom can progress through our school (and beyond) in a coherent and planned-for way. Our staff, where appropriate, have used both the NZ Curriculum and Cambridge International curriculum in 2026 to provide learning experiences for students in Years 9 and 10 that are rigorous and robust so that Epsom Girls Grammar School students can be challenged and make positive academic progress. These changes were communicated in the Principal’s Bulletin at the start of the term. The courageous decisions and the work undertaken by our staff and leadership, over many years, is creating a learning pathway where all students can be successful in achieving their aspirations at our school. We are grateful to those members of our staff who have positively and courageously led these changes, both in our school and nationally.
Thank you for your ongoing support of our school and our students.
Sincerely,
Brenda McNaughton
Principal
Epsom Girls Grammar School
