Haul of seven medals best in the country

St Andrew’s College students recently won seven of the coveted ICAS medals for highest academic marks in the country. St Andrew’s College Rector, Christine Leighton says, “It is most unusual for a school to gain more than one medal and so it was a proud moment for St Andrew’s to gain more medals than any other school in New Zealand.”

Educational Assessment Australia (EAA) has been conducting the International Competitions and Assessments for Schools (ICAS) for 30 years and now attracts more than 2 million student entries annually. The competitions are administered by the University of New South Wales and are conducted throughout New Zealand, Australia and the Asia-Pacific region with twenty countries participating globally.

Medals are awarded to any students who gain the highest score in the country for their year level in the ICAS subject. Assessments are in English, Mathematics, Science, Writing, Spelling and Computer Skills.

A total of 114 medals were presented to students at the medal ceremony held last weekend at the University of Auckland Business School. Seven of these medals went to St Andrew’s College students, most of whom were at the ceremony with their families.

Christine said it was a wonderful opportunity to celebrate academic excellence, particularly given how disruptive the year had been for Christchurch students.

“The students had worked very hard to achieve at this level and I thank their teachers and families as well for the support they give their students.”

The medal recipients were: Sarah Wright (Year 13) for Science; Elizabeth Ray (Year 9), Frances Campbell (Year 10), Alex McHugh (Year 10), Merrila Babu John (Year 12) all for Writing; Juliette Newman (Year 5) and Callum Stewart (Year 6) for Computer Skills.