Ballerina’s pointed pathway led to San Francisco

Training for a professional life on stage has been Amelia Soh’s full-time focus since she was 13 – and attending high school online has been part of her day-to-day world since Year 9.

As a student at the San Francisco Ballet School, Soh has never seen her classmates and works to a schedule tailored to her training. She is completing her HSC over two years through the Pathways program at Sydney Distance Education High School.

Soh finished three courses last year – Maths, English and Community and Family Studies (CAFS) – and will this year finish her HSC when she completes Business Studies and PDHPE.

As a student at the San Francisco Ballet School, Amelia Soh is completing her HSC through the Pathways program.

“Having only two or three HSC subjects each year meant I could complete them to the best of my abilities rather than struggling with all five in one go – I received a band 6 in both Maths and CAFS,” said Soh, who is 18.

A typical day sees her dancing from 8.30am until 4.30pm, then commencing schoolwork – often with teachers in Sydney via Zoom meetings.

“I’ve been working with the company a lot throughout their season in multiple ballets, which means long days of rehearsals and eventually weeks of performances into the night,” said Soh, who will commence a trainee contract with the company in 2025.

Soh’s final two exams will be completed in October and November, with a supervisor in San Francisco.

Soh’s dream is to be selected by the San Francisco Ballet or the Australian Ballet Company.

“I’m very committed to ballet, but it cannot last forever. Ballet is a physically short career and could even be ended prematurely by injury … So having a proper education and the ability to start university easily at any time is a top priority for me,” Soh said.

“Next year, I’ll be auditioning for many ballet companies … My dream companies are the San Francisco Ballet or back home with the Australian Ballet Company.”

Find out more about Pathways on NESA’s website.

Soh’s tips for HSC by distance education

Time blocking: “I allocated specific blocks of time for studying that worked around my schedule. Making sure I knew exactly when, where, and for how long I could study made a big difference in fully focusing on my schoolwork for that certain period of time each day.”

Using my resources: “Doing my schoolwork online sometimes leaves me feeling isolated so it’s very important to make the most of available resources like study groups, online educational platforms or help from teachers and tutors. People are there to help you and you are not alone!”

Breaking down tasks: “Large assignments or big projects can be daunting. I found that breaking down larger tasks into smaller more manageable tasks helped create achievable goals that I felt I could tackle in between dance. This helped a lot in maintaining a sense of staying on top of it all.”

VET course a healthy HSC option for Sienna

Marian College student Sienna Andreazza achieved two qualifications at the end of Year 12 – an HSC and a Certificate III in Health Services Assistance.

The 2023 HSC graduate aced a vocational education and training (VET) course through TAFE NSW and has high praise for the VET studies that also contribute to the ATAR.

Sienna Andrezza says “you can visualise your practical training experiences to help answer the questions.”

She took the VET course via Griffith TAFE – and was qualified for jobs in the sector as soon as she left school.

“Because I’ve got my Certificate III qualification … I can work as a nursing assistant at our local hospital while I’m at uni,” said Andreazza, who is now studying a Bachelor of Occupational Therapy at the University of Canberra.

Andreazza said the hands-on delivery of VET courses was an advantage for learning and exposed her to a range of occupations in health that she hadn’t known existed.

“We did work placements on both the medical and the surgical wards at Griffith Base Hospital and doing this also helped me to answer the exam questions more practically,” she said.

“You can visualise your practical training experiences to help answer the questions.”

Andreazza said her teachers were “supportive and helpful” with the combined high school/TAFE pathway the key to her success in the course.

After completing her degree, she plans to return to her hometown and work as an occupational therapist.

Andreazza’s tips for HSC examinable VET courses

Ensure you understand the examinable content: “that is, the questions that may be asked from the common mandatory focus areas and your stream focus area.”

Use past exam papers: “Work through them so that you are confident with the layout and the order of questions and how much time to allocate for each.”

Use labels, diagrams and flash cards to remember key information: “Don’t just rely on highlighting text from your notes.”

More good news for future students in VET

From next year, more than one of the 12 VET Framework courses can contribute to your ATAR – bringing more opportunities to study what you are passionate about.

This will mean any course offered by your school with an HSC exam can count towards your ATAR. Ahead of this change, just one of these VET courses, or English Studies or Mathematics Standard 1, can be counted in the ATAR.

Find out more on VET courses at this link.

Read our other HSC Study Guide 2024 stories

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