source : the age
Even if high-achiever Kaia McNeal was sick, her mind was abuzz with applying her VCE biology studies to her body’s immunity.
“You can imagine your immune system is kind of working behind the scenes, and imagine what it’s doing. I think that helped me remain motivated … especially if you connect it to what you are going through,” she said.
Year 12 VCE student Kaia McNeal from MacRobertson Girls School has got over 40 in multiple subjects, including biology.Credit: Eddie Jim
The Mac.Robertson Girls’ School student said consistent work and flash cards helped her achieve a study score of more than 40 in biology, along with 60 other students in her year at school.
The select-entry government girls’ school had the most students in Victoria with a VCE biology score, a chemistry score or psychology score of 40 or above this year.
There were 23,494 VCE study scores of 40 or above in Victoria this year, with 15,339 students achieving at least one study score of 40 or above. There were 664 students who obtained at least one study score of 50.
“I’m pretty happy with my results, I feel like my hard work paid off. I also feel a bit strange because all this work has resulted in just a number,” Kaia said.
Kaia received an ATAR of 99.85, with five study scores above 40: a 41 in specialist maths, 44 in maths methods, 47 in biology, 46 in philosophy and 50 in French.
She’s hoping to study a bachelor of science at Melbourne University, and go on to medicine or scientific research.
Her proud mother, Jedda Bradley, said debating the course content helped cement her daughter’s knowledge.
“She’d have conversations with us travelling in the car or around the dinner table about what she was learning in biology, or the latest philosophers and we’d debate the ideas,” she said.
Mac.Robertson Girls’ High School principal Sue Harrap said the school was celebrating its best results in seven years, with a median ATAR of 95.7 and 80 per cent of the cohort achieving scores above 90.
She said that for the past four-and-a-half years, the school had focused on changing students’ mentality to stop worrying about the scores and instead focus on growth and feedback from peers and teachers.
“What that has done is remove a fair amount of ongoing anxiety the kids have had, and pressure they put themselves under,” she said.
She said the science department had a collaborative team, developing formative assessments and addressing students at their point of need, and saw learning and wellbeing as “inextricably linked”.
The data only includes VCE results that were published, and can be skewed if the school has more students. Some schools may have a higher percentage of their students agree to their results being published, which can influence the results.
Haileybury College had the most high-achievers in general maths and English, while Haileybury Girls scooped up the top marks for legal studies.
The school had 104 students achieve a score of 40 or above in English, and 62 students achieved a 40 or above in general maths.
Deputy principal and head of senior school at Haileybury Dr Nicholas Grigsby said the school had five students who achieved perfect scores, and more than half the students scored an ATAR of 90 or above.
He said their success in English and maths was due to a long-standing commitment to their educational philosophy, explicit teaching, ensuring students became self-sufficient learners from year 7, but also ensuring teachers were specialists in their fields.
“It’s built on absolute structure, recruiting and really looking after the most exceptional teachers who are total specialists in what they do, and a culture of hard work, but also making sure that high-performing, high-achieving students are really looked after as well,” he said.
Haileybury dux Clarence Antonmeryl, who achieved an ATAR of 99.95, received a perfect score in specialist maths, a 47 in English and a 47 in maths methods.
“[For English], Haileybury really focuses on critical thinking, on deep thinking, what are the deeper implications of the text, the historical context of the text and to understand the author’s intents of how they were presenting it in that way,” Clarence said.
“It’s also very collaborative. We are able to learn from each other and teach each other and grow as a cohort.”
Clarence said the school community and teachers were always flexible and supportive.
“I have many high-achieving friends. We all push each other, it’s a very healthy competition. Rather than putting our personal egos first, let’s push this for Haileybury Berwick. That’s what’s helped us quite a lot.”
Melbourne High School achieved the most study scores above 40 in maths methods in Victoria, with 109 students.
There were 68 students who achieved an ATAR of 99 or above, with the median ATAR at 95.8, up from 95.45 last year.
Principal Tony Mordini said he was very happy with this year’s results but stressed ATAR wasn’t the only measure of success at the school, with the kids involving themselves in extracurricular and co-curricular activities, including compulsory sport.
Mentone Grammar School recorded 38 students with scored of 40 or more in VCE business management, which was the most of any school in the state for that course, the second year in a row.
St Kevin’s Toorak had 37 students achieving 40 or above in physical education, while Firbank had 31 students achieve 40 or above in health and human development.
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