SA’s 2022 SACE results show shock drop in median ATAR scores for top private schools

Median ATAR scores at some of Adelaide’s most prestigious girls’ schools have dropped, including at Wilderness, Walford and St Peter’s Girls. See how much they fell.

An alarming trend has emerged of drops in median ATARs compared with last year among the top private colleges that disclose them.

The Advertiser scoured school websites and social media pages on Tuesday for details of Year 12 results.

Only a small minority of schools surveyed have made their median ATARs public, mostly those which can boast of scores in the 90s and 80s.

But of those, most have dropped compared to 2021 results.

Among prominent private girls schools, St Peter’s Girls School’s median dropped from 93.55 to 90.55, while Walford’s fell from 92.9 to 91.6. Wilderness still had the highest median of all the schools The Advertiser searched, but it too recorded a fall from 95.5 to 95.05.

Prestigious all-boys St Peters’ College decreased from 91.23 to 90.25.

All-girls Seymour College and boys school Prince Alfred College are yet to release median ATARs, citing the need to wait until International Baccalaureate results are released in early January.

FULL RESULTS: See which school has the top year 12 class of 2022

School students sitting exams. Picture: iStock

Prince Alfred College’s website said: “With a significant number of our students studying the IB Diploma and a large portion of our SACE cohort studying a subject in the IB, we look forward to sharing a complete picture of our results on January 5 when the IB data is converted to an ATAR.”

Some schools that offer the IB have released interim SACE results that will be updated later.

Co-ed private schools Pulteney Grammar and Westminster also recorded median ATAR falls, the former from 87 to 86.2 and the latter from 84.8 to 83.6.

Immanuel College bucked the trend, rising from 82.4 to 85.1, as did Concordia which lifted its median from 81.23 to 81.3.

Concordia attributed its increase to supportive teachers and students who had shown “amazing resilience” through the year.

Its director of learning Paul Bannister said the students’ “ability to actively seek support from teachers and their peers” had demonstrated their capacity to “independently progress and strive in their own learning”.

Many schools have praised their students for showing perseverance during a tough period of high schooling through the Covid-19 pandemic.

Mandy Hore, acting principal at Walford, said her school’s Year 12s had showed an “enormous resilience and didn’t let the challenges of Covid and changing agendas get in their way”.

“They are a determined and hardworking group,” she said.

The Hyde Park Anglican school had six students achieve an ATAR above 99 – with one, Madeline Walker, achieving the highest possible 99.95 and five Merits.