HSC school rankings 2020: Best performing NSW high schools revealed
Some schools have ratcheted up the HSC league tables this year while others have suffered dramatic drops. Search how your school ranked in our interactive.
NSW
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A year of COVID-19 school closures and bomb threats has taken the shine off the state’s top performing HSC students, with the horrible year seeing some of the most academically respected schools drop in the league tables.
While the academic performance lifted overall, a total of 275 schools recorded less students scoring over 90 per cent in a subject, 280 recorded more while 38 remained the same, according to a Daily Telegraph analysis of the results.
Even academic powerhouses like James Ruse were not immune to disruption. The state’s number one school managed to hold onto its top position but the percentage of students achieving in the top band dropped by four percentage points.
The big success stories were in Sydney’s Hills area at schools like Baulkham Hills High after the selective school managed to take the position of the second best school in the state.
It was followed by North Sydney Boys and North Sydney Girls respectively.
The most improved school was Tangara School for Girls which jumped from a rank of 103 last year to 25 this year. The miraculous feat was despite the school being forced to close after recording at least 19 cases of COVID-19 at the school.
Other schools like Hunter Valley Grammar jumped from a rank of 118 to 99 to make it into the top band.
The biggest disappointment to public education is the prestigious Conservatorium High School which staggered home into the top 10 but suffering a whopping drop of 17 percentage points when it came to students in the top band.
Schools which were the subject of bomb threats like Castle Hill High School, Crestwood High School and Thomas Reddall High School in Ambarvale all had a decline in the number of high achievers as a proportion of the student body.
Some schools proved more resilient, with Willoughby Girls, Picnic Point High in Sydney’s west and Jamison High School in South Penrith all moving up the league table.
Schools charging $30,000 a year or more including Ascham in Edgecliff, SCEGGS in Darlinghurst and Wenona in North Sydney have proved themselves worth the big bucks after they recorded big gains on the previous year and each secured a spot in the top 15.
Oxley College in Bowral dropped from a rank of 51 last year to 151 this year, Queenwood in Mosman went from 65 to 31 and Frensham in Mittagong came in at 67 after placing 46 last year.
Tangara School for Girls in Cherrybrook has had a sensational year after it jumped from a rank of 103 last year to 25th this year.
Principal Rita Sakr said it had been a tough year after students were sent into self isolation after a COVID outbreak at the school two weeks just before their trial exams in August.
“I have taught at other schools where the students really compete against one another but here at Tangara the girls work collectively to help each other,” she said.
“I just think the amazing sense of unity among the students.”
Amy Weber said they survived their two weeks of self isolation in their bedrooms by connecting with teachers and each other.
“The teachers were checking in and giving us extra work and extra papers,” she said.
“Our cohort stayed in contact, we were Zoom calling each other all the time, we had lots of 18th Birthdays.”
Students at the centre of the scavenger hunt scandal at SHORE — which told students to spit on a homeless person — dropped from 37th place last year to 40th.
Al Faisal College in Auburn — which gives students a $500 cheque for getting over 90 per cent in a subject — dropped from a rank of 23 to 54 this year.
In a sign that the four months of school closures had the worst effect on the most disadvantaged schools, of the 100 at the bottom of the league table, only 21 improved their results marginally, 15 remained the same, while the remaining 63 went backwards compared to last year.
Originally published as HSC school rankings 2020: Best performing NSW high schools revealed
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