New VCE database helps parents choose high school
Crystal Wong attended three of Melbourne’s most prestigious girls’ schools because her parents wanted to give her the best education. However, even though she had information about many schools, choosing a future high school for her daughter was very challenging.
“There are endless things I think I need to know to make a decision,” Wong says.
The first-year high school student visited 30 schools to search for Arya.
Wong was unable to find information on how schools performed at VCE in specific subjects such as science; The data revealed by this imprint Victoria Schools Guide.
Age It examines VCE performance across the state as part of the launch of the guide, a new interactive dashboard that will allow parents and students to examine the performance of state government, Catholic and independent schools.
The dashboard will be updated regularly and will include new sections to help guide students and their families in their school choices in the future.
When choosing the right high school for Arya, Wong did things differently than her parents. She didn’t want to move from her home in the eastern suburbs, couldn’t afford the most expensive options, and wanted her daughter to attend a co-ed school.
The results played no small role. Arya enjoys science and has early ambitions of becoming a veterinarian.
“It’s really hard to get into this,” Wong says. “I want to know if the school I’m sending him to has a track record of past students being able to get into that course.”
Wong studied at Presbyterian Ladies’ College and St Catherine’s. He completed his final years at Lauriston, one of the only schools at the time to offer Chinese and International Baccalaureate.
Wong was so intrigued by the schools he researched that he eventually visited nearly 30 schools and blogged about his experiences on a website comparing the Melbourne schools he now runs. “It turned into a bit of a hobby,” he says.
In the end, Wong’s choice came down to two independent schools. He settled further away, but with a working farm. “There aren’t many schools that can say they have that,” he says.
But it will take years to know whether he made the right choice. “You don’t know until you get there,” he says.
The hardest thing for parents is to “separate the marketing talk from the facts,” says educational consultant Paul O’Shannassy.
If results are their main motivation, he encourages parents to look mostly at VCE results rather than just NAPLAN, and to consider whether scholarships, entrance exams and some students doing VCE without scores are contributing to higher scores. “Or do they get good results because they do good things?” he says.
Lisa Grant, a mother of three, toured six schools looking for the best fit for her children.
“My biggest job is to choose the right school for each child,” he says. “The school that is suitable for one child may not be suitable for another.”
Her eldest son, a good swimmer, was attending a public secondary school and she thought he was not reaching his full potential. He moved it to Mentone Grammar with his younger son, who was more academic. He describes the coeducational school as a school for all-rounders.
Her youngest child, her daughter, said she did not want to go to school with boys and now attends Mentone Girls Grammar, where Grant believes she has the confidence to excel. She and her husband did not expect to send their three children to private schools.
“It definitely hit us hard financially,” he says. “But I don’t regret a penny. My eldest son graduated with an ATAR of 96.25 and was awarded a full academic scholarship to university, which covered his entire HECS.”
While the results paid off, Grant’s school choice was based on a broader range of qualifications.
“What was important to me was demographic fit and making sure that fit fit their interests, their needs, their talents and their ability to stand out and fit into things.”
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Jackson Graham is an education correspondent for The Age. He was previously an explanatory reporter.Connect via email.
