When Fazeel Arain and his wife Rahat founded Al Siraat College in Epping in 2009, the paddocks around the school were populated by cows and kangaroos.

These days, the farms and paddocks have given way to housing developments in surrounding suburbs, which are home to many of the independent Islamic school’s 1420 students and 180 staff.

But the campus, built on a former farm 18 kilometres north of Melbourne, has maintained its connection to the area’s rural past. On one side of the school’s staff car park is a shaded area with enclosures housing guinea pigs, goats, chickens and geese. A fenced paddock a bit further on has horses grazing.

It’s where primary students come for incursions and where year 8 and 9 students undertake a farmhands program.

But, according to Rahat, the small area on the fringe of the six-hectare campus comes into its own as a space for student support department staff to meet and talk to students. “It’s much easier to talk to someone about any troubles or difficulties here, where the animals are,” she says. “It’s quiet and calm.”

Fazeel stresses that the school does not focus on academic performance, nor does it advertise its VCE results. This, the couple believes, has been fundamental to the school’s academic success, which has seen Al Siraat College awarded The Age’s 2024 Schools that Excel winner for independent schools in Melbourne’s north.

The annual series celebrates schools that achieve outstanding advancement in their VCE results.

You can explore a decade of VCE results data for your high school and view the full list of winning schools using this year’s Schools that Excel dashboard:

In 2023, the school achieved a median VCE study score of 32 for the second consecutive year, two points higher than the statewide average. By comparison, in 2018, Al Siraat had a similar number of students undertaking year 12 subjects but the median VCE study score was 28.

The data shows that the school achieved median study scores above 30 in 2014 and 2015 as well; however, this was not long after the school opened and fewer than 10 students undertook VCE subjects that year, making these figures unrepresentative of the school at its current size.

“We achieved these results without a competitive VCE environment,” Fazeel says.

“It’s not about tutors, we have seen so often that the students come in, and they start their own study groups and work together.”

The standout government school and 2024 Schools That Excel winner in Melbourne’s north is Macleod College.

It achieved a median VCE study score of 28 in 2023, and its median study score has improved over the past three consecutive years.

Principal Mario Panaccio says the small school, which has just 630 students in prep to year 12, enabled him to foster a community and lift the school’s performance.

“Twelve to 18 years ago we were in a really bad spot, we really were,” he says.

But now, the school has turned things around on every measure, from students’ engagement and attendance to VCE results.

One of the secrets to the school’s success was introducing a weekly homework club and a maths homework club three times a week.

“This enabled us to provide timely feedback. Parents get a report every eight weeks, and we then have time to make changes as needed,” Panaccio says.

And while not on the payroll, the assistant principal’s dog, Peggy, is Macleod College’s unofficial wellbeing dog.

Peggy is in high demand when she comes to campus three days a week. She calms students before exams and welcomes anyone who drops in at the wellbeing room, where students go for time out, to study, or to warm up with toasties in the kitchenette.

“Everyone loves her,” says year 11 student Jacky Reid.

With Craig Butt

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