Teachers go the extra mile, and it shows in ATAR average
Students have thanked teachers who went ‘above and beyond’ by helping them on weekends and watching their wellbeing during exams as they celebrate their ATAR results. One school lifted its results by almost 25 per cent in just three years.
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Teachers who tutored struggling students at weekends have helped one school lift its VCE results by almost 25 per cent in just three years.
More than 47,000 Victorian students received their Australian Tertiary Admission Rank on Friday and at Sunshine College, students celebrated a rise of 12 points since 2015.
The school in Melbourne’s northwest lifted its ATAR average of 51.46 in 2015 to 63.7.
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“You don’t get that just by just focusing on the academics,” senior campus principal Mona Raghdo said.
“We’re really proud of all our kids.”
Student Sophia Collantes wasn’t expecting her rank of 88.2
“I actually cried — I recorded my reaction on my laptop, I’ve watched it five times,” the 18-year-old said.
“There were definitely some teachers who went above and beyond doing what they needed to do.
“I had one teacher who would know when I was upset or needed to take a break … for me that was beyond his job.
“I don’t think I could have got what I did without that help.”
Reyjay Liong thanked his teacher who helped him with his arts folio on weekends.
“I thought they just do it because it’s their job, but they really went out of their way to help me,” said the 18-year-old, who achieved an ATAR of 82.7.
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Sunshine College wasn’t the only school that lifted its results remarkably.
Swinburne Senior Secondary, an alternative government campus for Year 11 and 12 students, bolstered its average ATAR by two points in a year, from 27 to 29.
“We’ve got guys who were even at risk of completing VCE, then they’ve got their scores up into the 90s,” principal Michael O’Brien said.
The high scores were one thing — the number of students with a study score over 40 went from six last year to 30, while other subjects recorded their best result in 10 years.
Then there were the students who pushed through and finished VCE, despite serious challenges.
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“A lot of the guys who come here haven’t had a great experience with schooling, maybe they’re experiencing physical or mental health issues,” Mr O’Brien said.
“Because of their previous experience, they need to fall in love with learning again and I think we do that here.”
With students travelling from 136 postcodes to attend daily — one from Warragul, 100km away — it certainly seemed that way.
Victorian students earned an average ATAR of 65.22 — 66.29 for females and 63.96 for males.
And of the 36 that achieved a perfect score of 99.95, 24 were male and 12 female.
Private school students secured the most top scores, with boys’ school Scotch College leading the state with six perfect results.
Melbourne Grammar wasn’t far behind, with five top ATARs, followed by Haileybury with three.
STUDENT CREATES SCHOOL HISTORY
A public school in Melbourne’s northeast went “berserk” on Friday as it claimed its first ever perfect ATAR in its history.
“All day we’ve been on adrenaline rushes in this place,” Viewbank College principal Judith Craze said.
“We’ve never had a 99.95 before and when she’s only one of 12 girls in the state — that’s incredible.”
Student Tianle Wang yesterday became the first Viewbank student to ever achieve a 99.95 ATAR at the school, which opened in 1994.
But she wasn’t even around to celebrate it.
The 18-year-old is currently in China with her family, who were “just beside themselves”.
Mrs Craze said while it was a history-making day for Viewbank College, the school was just as proud of its 2018 cohort, with 87 per cent achieving an ATAR of 50 and above.
“There’s schools that will do better than us, but we are just so pleased,” she said.
“And they’re truly a lovely bunch of human beings — that’s the best thing.
“They were a group that were so supporting of each other.”
The results were the “icing on the cake” for Mrs Craze, who will leave “Team Viewbank” when she retires at the end of 2018 after 37 years in education — 19 of those as an assistant principal and principal.
“The closer it’s getting to leaving, the harder it’s getting to leave,” she said.
WHO GOT 99.95?
Scotch College — 6
Christopher Chamberlain, Jason Hu, Nicholas Marks, Christopher Sparks, Ziang (Tommy) Wei and Joshua Yong
Melbourne Grammar School — 5
Enoch Fan, Austin Haynes, Lachlan King, Andrew Shen and Thomas Sutherland
Haileybury — 3
Emily Cao, Naman Chaudhry and Michael Malek
Melbourne Girls Grammar — 3
Sarah Gigante, Isobel Nicholls and Alexandria Un
Camberwell Grammar — 2
Jake Brown and Sepehr Tahmasebi
Caulfield Grammar — 2
Jerry Mao and Emmy Sawires
Mac.Robertson Girls’ — 2
Melbourne High — 2
Balwyn High — 1
Glen Waverley SC — 1
Yifan Guo
Penleigh and Essendon Grammar School — 1
Isabella Nolan
Princes Hill SC — 1
St Bede’s — 1
Adam Dingli
St Kevin’s — 1
Luis Fennessy
Xavier College — 1
Harry Amad
Viewbank College — 1
Tianle (Jessica) Wang
*Further schools are yet to release their results
HERALD SUN NEXT TUESDAY. SEARCH 2018 VCE TOP SCORERS PLUS 32-PAGE SOUVENIR LIFTOUT IN THE PAPER WITH 20,000+ NAMES
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