Bonnyrigg High accolades for hard-working HSC students who score high with top ATAR results

BONNYRIGG High School’s Year 12 HSC students are jumping for joy after wowing teachers with their top ATAR scores.

BONNYRIGG High School’s Year 12 HSC students are jumping for joy after wowing teachers with their top ATAR scores.

Eleven pupils scored over 90 and dux Lindy Nguyen, 17 topped the form with an ­impressive 99.50.

Principal Michael Bryce welcomed his student’s good results, saying they came from “a focus on the ­fundamentals”­.

“It comes down to a lot of hard work, revision and practice. There’s no substitute for hard work.”

He said the results were particularly impressive in light of the fact that the school had a large population of non-English background students, who had to work on their English skills.

The school has been recognised by the NSW Department of Education for its “value-added” results, where NAPLAN tests measure the improvements to students over the period of their time at school.

Lindy Nguyen was delighted with her results, enabling her to get into the sought-after double degree of Advanced and Chemical Engineering at the University of NSW.

The keen student, who loves reading Charles Dickens and classical scholars, is fascinated by chemistry and science and hopes to perhaps work as an engineer or with raw materials in the pharmaceutical or processing industry.

“Some people are surprised as science and engineering can be male-dominated, but they don’t have to be,” she said.

She used to study every day from 4.30pm until 9.30pm, but her advice for next year’s crop of HSC students is to make sure to have some rest time, and don’t “over-think” everything.

“Practice makes perfect, but at the end of the day it’s just a number,” she said.