Rewarding academic achievement and endeavour

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Academic Prizes and Merit Awards

The following information outlines the process for establishing the Academic Prize and Merit Prize winners for the final year assemblies. As a general rule, it is expected that departments will nominate only one subject prize winner.

Awarding of shared prizes is not encouraged; joint prize winners can only be awarded after discussions with the Director of Studies. Where teachers, in consultation with the Head of Department (HoD), consider that there is no worthy winner of a prize in a particular course (e.g. no students have achieved an A grade), none will be awarded. The Director of Studies will be the final arbiter of any questions regarding the awarding of academic prizes and merit awards.

Teachers are not to advise students that they have won prizes; they and their parents will be advised by email once all checks have taken place.

Where the results are very close, the examination papers of the top few students must be checked to ensure that marks are accurate.

Boys receiving Merit Prizes will also be presented with Academic Merit badges. (Badges will only be distributed on the first occasion that a boy wins this award.)

Years 11 and 12

Course Prizes

ATAR courses

Students must complete the written and practical examinations on the scheduled days in order to be eligible for a prize in a course.

Subjects with a written examination only

The course prize is awarded to the student with the highest numerical calculation from: (Mid-year Exam result) + 2 × (Trial Exam result)

Where this number is the same for two or more students, the student with the highest course mark is awarded the prize. Subjects with a written examination and a practical examination

The subject prize is awarded to the student with the highest numerical calculation from:

Highest combined score of written examination mark and practical examination mark calculated to the same ratio as per WACE requirements for that subject in Year 12:

          English as an Additional Language or Dialect: Written 75, Practical 25

          Languages, Physical Education Studies: Written 70, Practical 30

          Design, Drama, Materials Design & Technology, Media Production and Analysis,                    Music, Visual Art: Written 50, Practical 50

The theory component of this calculation should use the same formula:

(Mid-year Exam result) + 2 × (Trial Exam result)

Where this number is the same for two or more students, the student with the highest course mark is awarded the prize.

General courses

Prizes will be awarded to the student who achieves the highest overall score in the course. The prize winner must meet the requirement of academic excellence by achieving an A grade in the subject and have completed at least 90% of the assessment tasks.

Classes at MLC or shared with MLC girls at CCGS

For courses studied by CCGS and MLC students together, a prize will be awarded to the student achieving the highest numerical calculation (as outlined for ATAR and General courses). If a student from MLC is the recipient of a CCGS prize, a prize will also be awarded to a CCGS student if they achieve the second highest numerical calculation (as outlined for ATAR and General courses).

The prize and certificate will be provided by the home school and presented at the home school’s ceremony.

The criteria on which MLC base prize winners is different to that used by CCGS. Students and parents of students taking a course at MLC are directed to the MLC policy on the awarding of prizes, available through the MLC portal.

Dux prizes

Given that SCSA calculations for the Beazley medal, from 2016 onwards, are based solely on the marks scored in the ATAR exam, rather than on a combination of coursework and exams, the prizes for Dux of Year 11 and Year 12 are awarded to the student with the highest numerical calculation from the formula below, calculated on the student’s five best subjects, at least two of which must come from List A and at least two from List B.

(Mid-year Exam result) + 2 × (Trial Exam result)

The boy with the highest aggregate is the Dux.

Non-ATAR Excellence Award (Year 12)

The non-ATAR Excellence Award is awarded to the Year 12 student who is on the non-ATAR pathway (maximum of three ATAR subjects) and has:

  • demonstrated an authentic commitment to prepare himself for Technical and Further Education or direct employment; and
  • completed the required hours of Workplace Learning in Year 12 and conducted himself commendably during the Workplace Learning experience (based on feedback from Workplace Coordinator); and
  • achieved at least five C grades in Year 12; and
  • achieved successful completion of any Certificate courses undertaken.

The final determination of the award winner will be made by a committee comprising the Deputy Principal/Head of Senior School, Deputy Principal/Director of Studies and the Careers Counsellor. Heads of Department and Heads of House will be able to nominate students to be considered for this award.

Merit Prizes (two categories)

Academic performance: Awarded to a student who achieves 5 or more A grades for the year

Students receiving Merit Prizes will also be presented with Academic Merit badges. (Badges will only be distributed on the first occasion that a boy wins this award.)

Year 10

Subject Prizes

The subject prize in Year 10 is awarded on a set of criteria determined by the HoD. In core subjects, the prize will be given to the top ranked student from the extension set, according to these criteria.

A boy who has been on exchange is eligible for a subject prize, provided his overall score is the highest in the course and a second overall score (based only on assessments he has sat and using their respective weightings) is higher than the second overall score of his peers based on the same set of assessments and their weightings. This applies to all prizes except those for the trimester and unit subjects in Science and Humanities, which are of limited duration.

A formula is applied to the marks of boys who have been in extension sets so that they are placed on a comparable scale to those in mainstream sets, for the purpose of the calculation of Merit Prizes and Dux.

Merit Prizes

Academic performance: From the final Semester 2 ranked list of the average mark of the four core subjects (English, Mathematics, Humanities (average of the units) and Science (average of the trimesters)) the top 20 or so students are considered, with reference to grades in electives if required.

Students receiving Merit Prizes will also be presented with Academic Merit badges. (Badges will only be distributed on the first occasion that a boy wins this award.)

Dux of Year 10  

Calculated from the sum of the course marks in the four core areas of English, Mathematics, Science (average of the trimesters) and Humanities (average of the trimesters).

A boy who has been on exchange is eligible for a prize, provided his overall score is the highest in the course and a second overall score (based only on assessments he has sat and using their respective weightings) is higher than the second overall score of his peers based on the same set of assessments and their weightings. This applies to all prizes except those for the trimester subjects in Science and Humanities, which are of limited duration.

Years 7, 8 and 9

Subject Prizes

The subject prize in Years 7, 8 and 9 is awarded on a set of criteria determined by the HoD. In core subjects, the prize will be given to the top ranked student from the extension set, according to these criteria.

A formula is applied to the marks of boys who have been in extension sets so that they are placed on a comparable scale to those in mainstream sets, for the purpose of the calculation of Merit Prizes.

Merit Prizes

Academic performance: From the final ranked list of the average of the core subjects (English, Mathematics, Humanities and Science) the top 20 or so students are considered, with reference to grades in electives if required.

Students receiving Merit Prizes will also be presented with Academic Merit badges. (Badges will only be distributed on the first occasion that a boy wins this award.)

Dux Awards

No Dux awards are presented in Years 7 – 9.

Christ Church Scholars Years 10 – 12

At the end of Semester 1, Year 11 students who achieve four or more A grades in subjects undertaken that semester and Year 12 students who achieve four or more A grades in subjects undertaken that semester have their achievement recognised by being included in the Scholars’ List for Semester 1, as announced in Chapel. At the end of Semester 2, Year 11 students who achieve five or more A grades in subjects undertaken that semester are included on the Scholars’ List for Semester 2.

In Year 10, students are included on the Scholars’ List for Semester 1 if they achieve five or more West Australian Curriculum (WAC) A grades, with four in the core subjects (English, Humanities, Mathematics and Science) and in one of the two selected electives. In trimesterised and unitised subjects (Science and Humanities), students must achieve a WAC A grade in all completed trimesters and units, to be considered as having achieved a WAC A grade in the core subject or Humanities or Science. The same calculation is made in respect of Year 10 students’ inclusion on the Scholars’ List for Semester 2.

The title of Christ Church Scholar is bestowed upon a student who is on the Scholars’ List for both Semester 1 and 2 of an academic year. Only boys in Year 10 and 11 are eligible for the title of Christ Church Scholar and they will carry that title in the following academic year. In February each year, the names of Christ Church Scholars will be announced at Assembly, and boys will receive a certificate and a badge as well as having their names inscribed on the Scholars’ Board in the Studies Office foyer. (Badges will only be distributed on the first occasion that boys win this award.) When possible, these presentations will be made by the boy who won the Dux prize in Year 12 of the previous year.

Principal’s Commendation Awards for Academic Endeavour Years 7 – 12

Principal’s Commendation Certificates for Academic Endeavour and an Academic Endeavour badge are awarded at the end of Semester 1 to students whose work practices (overall application, effort and participation) have been highly rated by their teachers. A weighting is applied to the teacher ratings for the Collaborative, Independent and Responsible Learner work practices in terms 1 and 2, and then an average score calculated for each student. From the final ranked listed of the weighted averages the top 20 or so students are considered. Heads of House present these awards during a House Assembly early in Term 3. (Badges will only be distributed on the first occasion that boys win this award.)

Principal’s Commendation Certificates for Academic Endeavour and an Academic Endeavour badge are awarded at the beginning of the following academic year to students whose work practices (overall application, effort and participation) have been highly rated by their teachers, and to students who have shown significant gains over the year in these desirable qualities. A weighting is applied to the teacher ratings for the Collaborative, Independent and Responsible Learner work practices in terms 3 and 4, and then an average score calculated for each student. From the final ranked listed of the weighted averages the top 20 or so students are considered. Heads of House present these awards at the first House Assembly of the year. (Badges will only be distributed on the first occasion that boys win this award.)

Eagling Cup

The Eagling Cup is awarded each year to the House which has the highest proportion of A grades achieved in core subjects by its Year 7 – 11 students. It will be awarded at the Year 7 – 11 Prize giving ceremony.