Brisbane private school’s score best ATAR results in the state

They are the results the state government doesn’t want you to see. Now Queensland’s top private schools’ ATAR results can be revealed. SEE THE LIST

These are the Year 12 school results the state government doesn’t want you to see.

But thanks to the release of school annual reports, The Courier-Mail can finally share with parents which top private schools scored the highest ATAR results last year.

Neighbours Brisbane Girls Grammar School and Brisbane Grammar School recorded the best results in the state, with more than 70 per of students who shared their ATAR results scoring a rank above 90 per cent – the equivalent of about an OP1 to 5 in the previous system.

Incredibly, more than 16 per cent of students at BGS received an ATAR of 99 or above, with the school recording a median ATAR of an astoundingly high 94.6 – about an OP3.

More than 15 per cent of students at BGGS also scored above 99 – an OP1.

At BGGS, more than half of all students scored above 95, with the school recording a median ATAR 95.55 – the highest of any school.

All girls schools dominated the top schools, with St Aidan’s Anglican Girls’ School, St Margaret’s Anglican Girls School, All Hallows’ School, Somerville House, and

Ipswich Girls’ Grammar School all recording stellar results.

At least half of all students at the top 10 schools received an ATAR of 90 or above, placing them in the top ten per cent of students in the entire state.

BGS Headmaster Anthony Micallef said the school’s strong academic culture was not dependent on a particular year group, or specific students.

“Everyone contributes to our culture,” he said.

“We value and celebrate personal bests: every boy works to continually improve and meet his own standard of best.

“We also know that learning is an inherently social activity and foster a culture where collaboration is the norm.”

Mr Micallef said the school’s planning for the transition to the new Queensland Certificate of Education began “the moment of its announcement”.

Brisbane Girls Grammar School Principal Jacinda Euler with Year 12 students Annika Nayak Mia Combis, Catriona Brown and Emily Wilson ahead of this year’s Year 12 exams. Picture: David Clark

“Curriculum and pedagogy have always been BGS signature strengths,” he said.

“We planned every part of the transition to the new QCE: adjusting teaching and learning and adjusting our calendar of events and timetable.”

At BGGS Principal Jacinda Euler said despite the disruptions of the Covid-19 pandemic last year, the school took on the new system with a “quiet confidence” after also spending many years preparing for the change.

“While we could not know where our results would land, I did know that there could be no school whose teachers had worked harder to deliver the new system, or been more dedicated to the task of preparing our students to succeed within it,” she said.

“The students of Year 12 2020 remained deeply committed to their studies throughout significant disruptions, and were very deserving of their strong results.”

While the school is renowned for its consistently high academic results, Ms Euler said the final mark was “never the focus”, but admitted there are high expectations of the students and of the staff.

“Anything that might compromise our intellectual culture, or the inspiring and supportive environment of learning, won’t be tolerated,” she said.

“We keep a close eye on accountability but, ultimately, provide our teachers with a great deal of freedom to deliver an inspiring education.

“And it is the hard work of the girls themselves that counts.”

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Last year was the first for Year 12 students to receive an ATAR - which is calculated by the Queensland Tertiary Admissions Centre - rather than an OP, under the new QCE system.

Also for the first time students were allowed the option of keeping their ATAR a secret from their school, with about 6100 students or about 22 per cent choosing not to share their result.

Until this year, the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority’s annual Year 12 Outcomes Report revealed how every school’s – public and private – senior students performed.

The scrapping of the report meant parents were kept in the dark of how their child’s school performed comparatively, with Year 12 result data information only published on a state-wide basis.

While the overwhelming majority of private schools have released detailed ATAR information via their annual reports, state school reporting has been inconsistent.

Only a few schools, such as Brisbane State High School, have publicly shared their results.

Bizarrely, the majority have stated in their annual reports that “ATAR data is not held by the department”, despite all Queensland schools being able to access their own results.

Education Minister Grace Grace has previously argued that there was a wealth of information parents could publicly access on the MySchool website.

But no Year 12 results are - or have ever been - available on MySchool.