In the NCEA and University Entrance results just released, AGGS’ success rate is astronomical – 97.5 percent for Level 3 NCEA, 97.8 for Level 2 and 91.7 for Level 1. And for University Entrance, student success rate was 91.5 percent.
And two of the measured demographics hit the 100 percent mark – all Māori students in Year 13 gained Level 3 and 100 percent of Māori students in Year 12 gained Level 2. This is the third straight year that Auckland Girls’ Grammar School has achieved numbers in the 90s but the first time the school’s hit 100 percent – AGGS’ Principal Ngaire Ashmore is proud and delighted. “We are blown away,” beams Ashmore. “I mean, even if we got close to what we achieved in 2024 we would have been really happy. But this (the 2025 results) just blew us out of the water.”
For the past three years AGGS’ numbers have grown year-on-year with the focus of the school’s Senior Leadership Team creating bespoke education plans for each and every student. The strategy under Principal Ashmore includes tailored curriculum, tutoring, one-on-one mentorships, examining how best to maximise each student’s time at school and constant check-ins with students and whānau to provide support and to act quickly if any academic tweaks or wrap-around care is needed.
Ashmore explains: “It’s no easy feat. It is planned, it is organised .. we are unapologetically focussed on making sure every single student gets opportunity. That is an exceptional amount of work by teachers, but everyone is committed to making the absolute best opportunities.”
While Ashmore is stunned by the near-perfect results, she says her team weren’t surprised: “We have these amazing Deans and Pouwhakarae who work so hard,” says Ashmore, “and they always give a prediction at the end of each year. I thought they were being really optimistic, but they obviously knew their girls and knew their data. And it came to fruition.”
“But to be honest, we are all completely ecstatic. It just is exceptional and I’m so happy for all of the girls who went onto NZQA mid-January and saw that they had achieved. They would have been over the moon. “They will be thrilled. They’ll all be thinking they’ll be able to go onto tertiary and make their way in the world ... it’s really exciting that so many how have the option to do that.”
Personally for Ashmore, who is Wahine Māori, the astounding success rate of Māori and Pacific students is especially satisfying: “When I decided to be a teacher a long time ago I thought everyone had the same opportunities that I had. Y’know a Mum, a Dad – in my case a Mum who was always at our school making sure that we got the absolute best. And then when I started teaching I realised that that’s not the case for everyone,” Ashmore says. “And in particular Māori and Pacific students. I think in New Zealand we have had a long history of under-serving those two communities. So it feels like it has been my life’s work in making sure, whatever school I was in, our Māori and Pacific students would be a real focus.”
Both Kahurangi and mainstream students are benefitting from the very specific work put in by Ashmore’s staff. The terrific results have not happened by accident. Explains Ashmore: “From year 9 to year 11 and beyond into year 13 we know what works for each and every girl. We know that a one size fits all doesn’t work. We know that some girls come with a lot of challenges and some girls don’t have those challenges .. so what works is teachers’ commitment to really understanding and making the difference.”
Ashmore also pushes her team to read the numbers regularly – fortnightly, to be precise - so that any remedies can be put in place quickly. “I think we’re evidence and data driven. Fortnightly the Deans will come together, led by our Associate Principal Maree Flannery, and they scrutinise those numbers – figure out what’s working and what’s not. If it’s not working they’ll determine what support’s needed and put it in place. Not at the end of the year, not at the end of the term, right then.”
AGGS’ Board of Trustees has also empowered Ashmore to think outside the box. “The Board invested in our Year 13 mentorship programme which kicks in at the beginning of term three each year. We employ two full-time teachers - Dr Peg Lockyer and Anne Nicolson - and their job is to work with a group of Year 13 students who may be struggling or may be at risk of not getting over the line.
“That has been a game-changer,” Ashmore says. “I asked Dr Peg to do a review, to evaluate whether it’s a good investment for the Board, and she’s come up with some stunning results and recommendations moving forward.
“So we are always looking at what it is we can do to do better. We know getting 91.5 percent and 97.5 percent is unbelievable. But we want to sustain that. We are forever tweaking and thinking about how we can do the best for our students.”
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