Behind the scenes at James Ruse High School: Why top HSC students get their hands dirty

In a rare peek behind the curtain, The Daily Telegraph has been welcomed inside the school which has topped the HSC for 27 years running. Read what makes James Ruse tick.

For the state’s smartest high school students, lessons on the farm are compulsory. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

Sunshine, soil and toil on the farm are key ingredients for success at Sydney’s smartest school, where teachers say it’s the students’ time outside the classroom that keeps them at the top of the class.

At James Ruse Agricultural High School in Carlingford, the state’s top academically selective school, hitting the books and getting your hands dirty must be balanced in equal measure – agriculture is a compulsory subject from Year 7 to 10.

Ruse students have also topped the HSC for 27 years running. Principal Rachel Powell is proud of this feat, but she’s also quick to make an addendum: the students here were already the cream of the crop when they arrived, and part of her job is to keep them from flaming out.

Award-winning debater Nara Gong, 16, champion swimmer and future Olympian Riley Marcellino, 14 and ‘Each for Equal’ club president Yoobin Kim, 16, with their school principal Rachel Powell. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

“I had worked with gifted kids (before); these are highly gifted students. They are on another level, to be honest,” she said.

“Their ability to perform in the classroom and outside of the classroom is quite exceptional … they represent 0.01 per cent of ability in the state.

Aurelien Xu, 16, Saamiya Abbas, 16, Flora Li, 14, and Akshara Jayalakshmi, 16. The photography club captures happy snaps of an agriculture class harvesting potatoes. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

“We need to work with the parents in collaboration to ensure that … the wellbeing of the students is really looked after, because gifted students can have particular wellbeing needs around anxiety (and) performance.”

Students take the preliminary HSC agriculture course in Year 10, and can choose to drop the accelerated subject for Year 11.

However, between one third and up to half of the cohort continue the course each year, relishing the opportunity to apply their scientific smarts to the school’s fully-functioning farm, complete with livestock, poultry, orchards and a hydroponic set-up.

Overseeing the Year 11s as they harvested potatoes for a “density trial”, farm manager Katie Twomey said the 16 acres of land are also embraced for scientific inquiry and creative inspiration in English.

“Maths (classes) come down, and so do geography,” she said.

“We got a dam in the furthest paddock and they do water tests, so it’s open to all faculties and it’s used by most.”

Ruse students Yoobin Kim, 16, Jessica Lin, 16, and Helena Han, 16, with the school’s flock of chooks. A “poultry squad” is on roster to take care of the hens’ needs. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

Under Ms Powell’s stewardship, the school’s intellectually-gifted students are pushed to pursue other passions outside of the classroom, such as sport, music and even joining the Australian Army Cadets, of which Ruse has a 180-student unit.

She has appointed a deputy principal whose specific responsibility is the growth of co-curricular involvement, after staff identified the co-curricular curriculum as a “challenge” on Ms Powell’s first day at the school in 2019.

English teacher Ally Korch said that among her Year 12 pupils, the highest performers are those who build their “cultural capital” through extra-curricular pursuits.

“The students that do the most, do the best,” she said.

12-year-old robotics enthusiasts Grace Lin, Jocelyn Feng, Ezzah Ali, Jiayu Hu and Annika Jacobson have built and programmed this contraption for an international competition. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

“They’re less burned out, because the things that they are doing give them personal satisfaction.”

Science extension teacher Carina Dennis agreed, adding students “distributed” their stress better when they broadened their horizons beyond the HSC.

“They just had very high level organisational skills that made sure the work got done,” she said.

Austin Goserie, 15, Cathy Zhang, 16, and Angela Fu, 14, are members of the school’s art club. The group have been produced rock art for a community garden. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

During The Daily Telegraph’s visit, students were often shy to brag about their academic achievements but gushed openly about their passion projects – whether those were science Olympiads or sporting pursuits.

An articulate and bright member of the student representative council, 14-year-old Zain Abdu, proudly listed off his peers’ involvement in all manner of engineering challenges and community social projects, before attributing the level of discipline needed to take on all those opportunities as the reason for Ruse’s academic success.

“School is … like a wall where the academics are the bricks, but all those opportunities … like cadets and playing basketball … is the glue that you put between those bricks that makes that wall stronger,” he said.

“It makes you stronger as a person.”