By Lucy Carroll
When the new principal at Barrenjoey High School was appointed to his role in early April, the school was struggling with an urgent need to fill more than a dozen vacant teaching positions.
Fast-forward eight months and the public comprehensive school has managed to plug most staff shortages while achieving a remarkable rise in HSC results, skyrocketing up the league tables by more than 220 places.
Barrenjoey High achieved double the number of top band results this year compared with 2023.Credit: Janie Barrett
The northern beaches school doubled the number of students who scored in the top two bands compared with last year, returning a higher success rate than 47 other schools with students from the same or more advantaged backgrounds.
Principal Brett Blaker said in the tense lead-up to winter trial exams, teachers would oversee regular study sessions in the library before and after school and during the holiday breaks.
“Looking at data, we realised there were kids who were missing out on top-band results, so we focused our attention on that. We had maths teachers working with head staff at the nearby public high schools on building explicit teaching practices,” Blaker said.
The school ramped up the number of practice tests and assessments, and also ran weekend mock HSC exams for year 12 students. “Exposing students to test conditions is important for prep, and we had teachers who gave up their time before and after school overseeing library study sessions,” he said.
Barrenjoey High also ran an initiative designed to increase top-band results in mathematics called the “Band Up Society”, an opt-in program focused on exam techniques that ran outside the regular timetable and in school holidays.
The Herald’s rankings are based on schools that have at least 150 entries in HSC courses, and are based on their success rate of getting band 6s. The NSW government only releases information on that top band.
Blaker said Barrenjoey students this year recorded 240 band 5 results, almost double last year’s results. The school finished 144th on the rankings, its second-highest result in two decades.
“When I was appointed earlier this year we were having challenges filling vacancies. We are geographically isolated, and staff travel from all over Sydney up to 90 minutes a day,” he said.
The school filled roles through targeted graduate programs, transfers and staff promotions. “We are starting to get stability back and have filled 14 vacancies,” said Blaker, who started at Barrenjoey after four years as head at Canobolas Rural Technology High in Orange.
Summer Campbell was one of 18 students at the school who on Wednesday received an ATAR over 90. “Our teachers really supported us. It felt like they were there to help us with questions 24/7,” she said.
Blaker said his aim at the school is to continue to “drive high expectations and promote academic rigour”, while also setting clear rules around behaviour management.
“There is a lot of choice for education outside these school gates, so we need to control what we can inside and maximise student outcomes and build teacher capacity.”
Other schools that climbed up the rankings included Randwick Boys High, which next year will merge with Randwick Girls, and South Sydney High, which jumped more than 100 places.
The Ponds High, the largest public high school in Sydney, leapt more than 100 places and returned its best result on record. It outperformed 17 schools with students of the same or more advantaged backgrounds.
Newtown High School of the Performing Arts was the second-ranked comprehensive public school, recording its best result on record. The school, which runs dozens of extracurricular activities in dance, drama and music, has doubled its success rate in advanced maths since 2022.
Principal Susan Green said the school’s maths faculty has dedicated a significant amount of time to analysing student data to target areas for improvement.
“The school doesn’t have that really competitive sense among the students; it’s more supportive, and there is an energy among the cohort,” said Green. “Our students put so much effort into practicing, whether it’s dance, music or drama, and that can aid in other subjects as they must manage their time so carefully.”
Students at Newtown High School of the Performing Arts on Wednesday after receiving their ATARs.Credit: Steven Siewert
Newtown student Alex Wienholt credits maths teacher Vicki Stewart for his results in maths extension 2.
“I kind of lost interest a bit in years 8 and 9, but towards the end of year 10 I started to re-engage more,” he said. “My HSC teacher created these workbooks for every single maths topic. They went really in depth, and they were so helpful to cover all parts of the syllabus.”
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