The widening gulf between students from poor and rich backgrounds continues to grow at New Zealand's high schools, according to data analysed by Stuff.co.nz and showcased in our new online tool today.



Today, the expanded School Report tool launches here on Stuff.co.nz. The site - schoolreport.stuff.co.nz - contains National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) results for Years 11, 12 and 13 students for every secondary school in the country.

The data is broken down by gender and ethnicity and includes each school's scholarship, literacy and numeracy results.

It means all parents can search for information relating to their child's school.

Today's tool expands on an earlier version of School Report, which was launched last year to present the inaugural release of controversial National Standards results for primary and intermediate schools.

Across the board, NCEA results from 2012 showed familiar trends as the gap between low decile and high decile schools continues to increase.

The data shows that almost a quarter less children in the bottom three decile schools achieved Level 1 NCEA in Year 11 than those in the more well-off decile 8-10 schools.

The data showed that, overall, 22.4 per cent of New Zealand European students received merit endorsements compared to just 10.1 per cent of Pasifika students.

Secondary Principals' Association of New Zealand president Tom Parsons said there were many reasons for the disparity in achievement at high and low decile schools.

''Two of the big ones are resources and parental expectation.

''The thing is, those who can afford to live near high decile schools are often those who have high paying jobs and high expectations for their children.

"Sometimes that is not the case with low decile schools, no matter how bright and hardworking the students may be. So when it comes to support, to help them stay focused...sometimes the will is there, the way is perhaps not.''

At South Auckland's Manurewa High School, principal Salvatore Gargiulo said he believed a lack of organisation sometimes held kids back in lower decile schools.

''Kids who are in high decile schools often have families who are more organised, there's more structure around their homelife and the kids always get a decent feed before they go to school. That's not always the case with some of our kids. I think the biggest thing is trying to get the parents involved in getting their kids achieving.

''Encouraging kids to realise that studying helped them onto a career path was also essential, he said.

''When you ask some of our kids what they want to do for a career, they're not sure. Their parents have jobs, not careers.''

The decile two school was aiming for the national average when it came to NCEA results, he said. ''That, for me, is a positive.''

Education Minister Hekia Parata said the challenge was to try and get every kid across the line.

The Government was taking steps to do this including publishing information, such as National Standards, to identify and provide support for children earlier, investing over $300 million into the professional development of teachers and leaders, providing new scholarships to attract talented Maori and Pasifika into teaching and introducing a new mentoring programme to help priority learners achieve NCEA Level 2, she said.

Decile funding had not been an effective way of directing resources at where they could do the most good, she said.



''The decile system has a good intention in that it takes into account the different backgrounds students come from but has increasingly become the explanation for everything.

"It is not. Quality teaching and school leadership make the biggest difference so that is where we think our resources are best directed.''

Quality Public Education Coalition national chairperson Bill Courtney said the disparity between low and high deciles was a cycle that had to be broken.

''You've got to change as much as you can about the quality of these childrens' lives outside the school system.



''Why don't those kids right down the bottom with top level needs have much smaller classes, more resources and a much stronger focus on helping them to accelerate? The parents are doing the best they can, but some of them are out at 7am cleaning your office. These kids don't necessarily have people to help them study.



''What happens to your learning when every night you go home and sleep in a garage? Think about that compared to a decile 10 kid.

''The education our rich kids get is literally the best in the world. Why is that? Didn't our teachers all go to the same university? Don't we have the same curriculum. What's the difference?''



Top 5 schools with scholarships 2012:

1) Wellington College (120)

2) Macleans College, Auckland (104)

3) St Cuthbert's College, Auckland (100)

4) Auckland Grammar School (85)

5) Mount Albert Grammar School, Auckland (78)

Top 5 schools with outstanding scholarships 2012:

1) Wellington College (32)

2) Auckland Grammar School (20)

3) Macleans College, Auckland (17)

4) Epsom Girls Grammar, Auckland; Hamilton Boys High School; Mount Albert Grammar, Auckland; St Cuthbert's College, Auckland; St Paul's Collegiate School, Hamilton (14)

5) Westlake Boy's High School, Auckland (11)