The Academic Outcomes of matched Girls vs Boys Schools in NZ.

(Using University Entrance (UE) as it is a good proxy for the other levels and includes schools that do Cambridge and IB).

It has been common knowledge for a while that girls do better academically in NZ than boys. What may surprise you is how significant the gap is – even in closely matched schools that will be demographically close and have siblings in each school.

For all NZ schools:

46% of girls leave with UE.

35% of boys leave with UE.

For matching schools (listed North to South).

“Winner”.  % of School Leavers with UE 2024.

NB: The only two schools in this list in the top 50 schools UE for leavers in 2024 are Wellington Girls College (20^th/450 schools) and Wellington College (48^th/450 schools).

Whangarei Girls High School: 40.7% of students left in 2024 with UE.
Whangarei Boys High School: 26.0%

Westlake Girls High School: 76.3%
Westlake Boys High School: 71.7%

Auckland [Boys] Grammar: 76.6%
Auckland Girls Grammar: 73.8%
Epsom Girls Grammar: 73.4%

Kelston Girls High School: 19.4%
Kelston Boys High School: 9.9%

Tauranga Girls College: 36.8%
Tauranga Boys College: 33.6%

Hamilton Girls High School: 50.0%
Hamilton Boys High School: 41.8%

Rotorua Girls High School: 21.8%
Rotorua Boys High School: 18% (NZ rugby top 4 champion)

New Plymouth Girls High Schol: 48.2%
New Plymouth Boys High School: 36.6%

Palmerston North Girls High School: 54.8%
Palmerston North Boys High School: 35.7%

Gisborne Girls High School: 40.6%
Gisborne Boys High School: 25.9%

Napier Girls High School: 65.0%
Napier Boys High School: 36.8%

Hastings Girls High School: 28.1%
Hastings Boys High School: 15.2%

Wellington Girls College: 87.0%
Wellington [Boys] College: 77.2%

Marlborough Girls High School: 40.2%
Marlborough Boys High School: 25.0%

Nelson College for Girls: 58.0%
Nelson College [for Boys]: 30.5%

Christchurch Girls High School: 71.4%
Christchurch Boys High School: 49.1%

Timaru Girls High School: 40.0%
Timaru Boys High School: 37.7%

Waitaki Girls High School: 41.2%
Waitaki Boys High School: 16.9%

Otago Girls High School: 62.2%
Otago Boys High School: 58.3%

Kings High School (Dunedin): 52.6%
Queens High School: 44.2%

Southland Girls High School: 50.4%
Southland Boys high School: 28.7%

So; if it was a game the Girls win 19 – 2.

I have the full data set – showing the NZ School LEAVERS’ outcomes for 2024 – available now.

For every high school the process looks at in ranked order (including their Equity Index Number – which replaced “deciles”)
– School size
– NCEA Level 2 and 3 for Leavers (for all schools)
– University Entrance (UE) for Leavers (for all schools)
– The gap between L3 and UE (for all schools)
– The gaps – by school and aggregate – between ethnicities.
– Retention until 17 years of age (for all schools)
– Progression to Degree Level study (for all schools)
– Data split between the EQI 10ths (for all schools)
– Data that shows which schools are thriving above their demographics
– Case study data on the Super 8 Boys’ Schools and the 13 Boys’ Schools in the South Island seeking improvement
– System wide data gender, ethnicity, etc.

(NB: The UE statistics include equivalents for Cambridge and IB).

For those who would like the data set please email me: [email protected]

• if it is for personal use – a donation is appreciated.
• if it is for professional/business/school use – the costs is $350 (plus GST) I will send the data set with an invoice.