Senior Curriculum, Years 11 - 13

Offering a broad range of courses to meet the needs of diverse students.

We operate a 25-period weekly timetable for delivery of the curriculum (five one-hour periods from Monday to Friday).

Info      Year 11  Year 12  Year 13

Alongside the regular curriculum is our Tutor Mentoring programme that promotes metacognitive approaches to understand how to learn and mentoring processes focused on reflection on academic goals and progress.

The curriculum meets the requirements of the New Zealand Curriculum where the Key Competencies and Values are developed within the eight learning areas.

Information and Communications Technology (ICT) are integrated throughout the curriculum as well as provided as specialist Digital Technology classes from Years 11 to 13, emphasising design and programming.

Pathways

Option Information is available, providing an overview of the senior pathways offered as well as course descriptions at each year level.

BDSC Year 11 Diploma

Year 11 students will be eligible for the BDSC Year 11 Diploma. This diploma will acknowledge a student’s academic achievements throughout the year. It will reflect the level of achievement attained in NCEA and school-based assessments across all subjects.

To gain a BDSC Year 11 Diploma, a student needs to meet each of the following criteria:

  • Achievement of the Literacy and Numeracy co-requisite package or literacy and numeracy standards (10 credits in each). This is during the transition period of the Ministry of Education timeline for NCEA change which is subject to regular review and change.
  • Attendance Rate (90%) - Justified absence will be taken into consideration. The Ministry of Education has defined justified absences from school as being absence due to medical appointments, short term illness, approved leave for national representation, exam leave and school closures e.g. lockdowns, extreme weather events etc. Unjustified absences include school approved holidays in school time, parent explained absences for reasons other than above, and truancy.
  • Academic achievement throughout the year through NCEA and school-based assessments across courses. Academic Pass Rate – average of 4 or better on the 12-point scale across all subjects. Diplomas will be awarded indicating the level of learning demonstrated. These will be 0-3 No Diploma, 4-6 BDSC Diploma, 7-9 BDSC Diploma with Distinction, 10-12 BDSC Diploma with High Distinction.

School based assessments will be marked using a 12-point scale:

0 No work has been submitted;
1-3 Beginning;
4-6 Developing;
7-9 Consolidating;
10-12 Excelling.

More specific grade descriptors will be attached to each assessment for each course.

NCEA

National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA)  Levels 2 to 3 are offered. These have a mixture of internal assessments and external examinations.

NCEA allows students the opportunities to excel in their own areas of strength. The reporting of individualised results, instead of giving a percentage mark, provides a breakdown of student attainment in every aspect of the subject, giving both students and parents more accurate information upon which to make decisions about future option choices and career pathways.

From 2023 NCEA will change substantially following sector feedback, and advice from the Ministry of Education, NZQA and the NCEA Professional Advisory Group (PAG). For further information please refer to:
https://ncea.education.govt.nz/what-ncea-change-programme

YEAR 11

At BDSC we are making changes to our L1 NCEA programme to coincide with national changes to NCEA. Level 1 NCEA is not an exit qualification for most of our students. In 2023 we will move away from offering a full NCEA Level 1 programme of 18-22 credits per subject. Our Level 1 courses will provide rich learning that focuses on development of knowledge, skills, and capabilities. By reducing the number of assessments, students sit through the year, our focus will be on teaching and learning rather than credit collection.

In 2023 Level 1 there will effectively be three main types of courses:

  1. the majority of courses will offer one NCEA
    internal or external assessment (worth credits) and three school-based assessments that do not award NCEA credits.,
  2. Vocational Pathway subjects doing a range of unit standard-based assessments (worth credits) e.g., Trade Skills, Food and Hospitality.
  3. NCEA Level 1 subjects (Mathematics, Japanese, Physical Education and Outdoor Education) that are piloting the new achievement standards that will become mandatory in 2024. These pilot courses will generate credits (maximum of four achievement standards) as part of their commitment to the NZQA trials.

In 2023 a typical Year 11 student programme will typically comprise 7 courses. English, Mathematics, Science and Active Well Being are compulsory for all students. Students will choose an additional 3 courses from those on offer. Each course will typically generate 3-5 credits. A typical Year 11 student would therefore expect to gain 35-41 credits in their Year 11 programme. The exceptions to this are the differentiated courses noted in the bullet point above.

Core Compulsory Subjects

English, Mathematics and Science courses are chosen for the student by the Head of the Learning Area according to the student’s grades from Year 10.

  • English

English (1ENG)
English – Alternative (1ENA)
English – Extended (1ENE)
English – Literacy (1ENL)
English – as an Additional Language (1ENS)
English – as an Additional Language (1ENP)

  • Health and Physical Education

Active Wellbeing (1AWB)

  • Mathematics

Mathematics & Statistics (1MAT)
Mathematics & Statistics – Alternative (1MAA)
Mathematics & Statistics – Numeracy (1MNU)
Mathematics & Statistics – Accelerated (2MAX)

  • Science

Science (1SCI)
Science with Biology/Chemistry (1SCB)
Science with Physics/Earth & Space Sci (1SCP)

Option Subjects

Students to select THREE options.

  • Commerce (1COM)
  • Dance (1DAN)
  • Design and Visual Communication (1DVC)
  • Digital Technologies (1DIT)
  • Drama (1DRA)
  • English Language Support (1ELS)
  • Fashion & Design Technology (1FDN)
  • Food & Hospitality (1FAH)
  • Food Technology (1TEF)
  • French (1FRE)
  • Geography (1GEO)
  • Health Education (1HED)
  • History (1HIS)
  • Japanese (1JAP)
  • Maori (1MAO)
  • Media Studies (1MED)
  • Multi Material Technology (1TEM)
  • Music (1MUS)
  • Outdoor Education (1OED)
  • Physical Education (1PED)
  • Science with Biology/Chemistry (1SCB)
  • Science with Physics/Earth & Space Sci (1SCP)
  • Trades Skills (1TSS)
  • Visual Art – Practical (1ART)
  • Visual Art – Digital (1DRT)
  • Work and Community Skills (1WCS)

YEAR 12

( Level 2 )

Learners study four periods a week of compulsory English and FIVE option subjects. In addition, they have one period a week of study.

We offer six subjects at Year 12 to ensure students the broadest range of subjects possible while providing sufficient learning time to maintain high standards.

Core Compulsory Subjects

This is chosen for the student by the Head of English according to the student’s grades from Year 11.

  • English

English (2ENG)
English – Alternative (2ENA)
English – Extended (2ENE)
English as an Additional Language (2ENP)
English as an Additional Language (2ENS)

Option Subjects

Students to select FIVE options.

  • Accounting (2ACC)
  • Art History (2ARH)
  • Biology (2BIO)
  • Building Skills (2BSS)
  • Business Studies (2BUS)
  • Calculus – Accelerated (3MAX)
  • Career Pathways (2CAP)
  • Chemistry (2CHE)
  • Chinese (2CHI)
  • Classical Studies (2CLS)
  • Dance (2DAN)
  • Design and Visual Communication (2DVC)
  • Digital Technologies – Info Systems (2DIT)
  • Digital Technologies – Programming (2DIP)
  • Drama (2DRA)
  • Early Childhood Education (2ECE)
  • Economics (2ECO)
  • Engineering Skills (2ESS)
  • English Language Support (2ELS)
  • Fashion & Design Technology (2FDN)
  • Financial Studies (2FIN)
  • Food & Hospitality (2FAH)
  • Food Technology (2TEF)
  • French (2FRE)
  • Geography (2GEO)
  • Health Education (2HED)
  • History (2HIS)
  • Japanese (2JAP)
  • Maori (2MAO)
  • Mathematics & Statistics (2MAT)
  • Mathematics & Statistics – Alternative (2MAA)
  • Mathematics & Statistics – Extended (2MAE)
  • Media Studies (2MED)
  • Multi-Materials Technology (2TEM)
  • Music (2MUS)
  • Outdoor Education (2OED)
  • Outdoor Education – Alternative (2ODA)
  • Physical Education (2PED)
  • Physics (2PHY)
  • Psychology (2PSY)
  • Sports Studies (2SPS)
  • Travel and Tourism (2TSM)
  • Visual Art – Design (2DES)
  • Visual Art – Painting (2ART)
  • Visual Art – Photography (2PHO)
  • Work and Community Skills (2WCS)

YEAR 13

( Level 3 )

Learners study four periods a week of FIVE option subjects. In addition, they have four periods a week of Independent Learning Group (ILG) study, and one period of general study.

Option Subjects

Students to select FIVE options.

  • Accounting (3ACC)
  • Art History (3ARH)
  • Biology (3BIO)
  • Business Studies (3BUS)
  • Calculus (3MAC)
  • Career Pathways (3CAP)
  • Chemistry (3CHE)
  • Chinese (3CHI)
  • Classical Studies (3CLS)
  • Dance (3DAN)
  • Design and Visual Communication (3DVC)
  • Digital Technologies with Programming (3DIP)
  • Digital Technologies with Info Systems (3DIT)
  • Drama (3DRA)
  • Early Childhood Education (3ECE)
  • Economics (3ECO)
  • English – Extended (3ENE)
  • English (3ENG)
  • English – Level 2 Booster (3ENB)
  • English as an Additional Language (23ENP)
  • English Language Support (3ELS)
  • Fashion & Design Technology (3FDN)
  • Financial Studies (3FIN)
  • Food & Hospitality (3FAH)
  • Food Technology (3TEF)
  • French (3FRE)
  • Geography (3GEO)
  • Health Education (3HED)
  • History (3HIS)
  • Japanese (3JAP)
  • Maori (3MAO)
  • Mathematics (3MAT)
  • Multi Material Technology (3TEM)
  • Media Studies (3MED)
  • Music Practical (3MUP)
  • Music Studies (3MUS)
  • Outdoor Education (3OED)
  • Physical Education (3PED)
  • Physics (3PHY)
  • Psychology (3PSY)
  • Sports Studies (3SPS)
  • Statistics & Probability (3SAP)
  • Statistics & Probability – Alternative (3SPA)
  • Travel and Tourism (3TSM)
  • Visual Art – Design (3DES)
  • Visual Art – Painting (3ART)
  • Visual Art – Photography (3PHO)

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