VCE results show a public-private divide
Analysis of Thursday’s results shows private school students retain their edge among top performers at VCE this year.
Despite the strong performance of the government and Catholic sectors, 45 per cent of students with education scores above 40 this year were from independent schools, where only 23 per cent of the class will be educated in 2025.
More than 65,000 young people across the state received their VCE results. Nearly 49,000 of these received ATAR, with the average university entry score this year being 69.
About 37 percent of the top-performing students came from public schools (with an education score of 40 or higher), accounting for about 55 percent of 12th-grade enrollment.
Catholic schools, which accounted for about 22 percent of this year’s senior enrollment, accounted for 18 percent of students scoring 40 or above.
At Haileybury, one of the prominent private schools, five students achieved a perfect ATAR score of 99.95 and half of the school’s Year 12 students achieved scores of 90 or above.
It was stated that 12 percent of students graduating from Haileybury received a score of 99 percent or above, and 258 of the approximately 500 grade 12 students had an ATAR score of 90 or above.
The average ATAR score at Melbourne Grammar was 92. At Scotch College, 36 students scored 99 or higher, with nine of them scoring 99.9 or higher.
Traditional Kenyan celebrations were held at the home of Heathdale Christian College student Sarah Irungu in Werribee after her results came in.
The Irungu family had a prize pool for the member who guessed closest to Sarah’s final score. Her aunt Jess Mwenda won the pool with a prediction of 96.5.
“I was the most pessimistic,” Sarah said. “I was thinking 93, but my brother was the confident one and said 99.”
In the end, the impressive ATAR score of 96.6 sparked applause, dancing and loud renditions of traditional Kenyan celebration songs in the living room.
Sarah’s grandmother, Mary Irungu, traveled from Scotland with her husband for the occasion and took a pot lid and spoon to provide percussion music while dancing.
“It was pretty crazy,” he said.
His stunning result means he can get into the University of Melbourne to study science, which requires a 74+ degree.
There were at least four sets of twins at Kew High who received their VCE results, including school dux Toby Jenkin, who woke up with an ATAR of 99.9.
That’s more than enough to get him into his target course, a bachelor’s degree in science and a master’s degree in computing at the University of Melbourne.
As success gradually emerged, Jenkins said, “I thought I was going to do something good.” “But as good as this is, it’s not really what I was expecting.”
The school leaver said the key to his success was a consistent approach to his studies.
“I just tried to be consistent, [do] do practice exams and make sure it doesn’t happen the night before,” Jenkins said.
Principal Andrew Moffat paid tribute to this year’s unusually large group of twins at Kew.
“They have all supported each other this year through some real challenges and we are really proud of them,” Moffat said.
The first round of university offers will be announced on December 23.
Read more VCE coverage
Bridie Smith is an education reporter for The Age. A former desk editor, he also reported on science and consumer affairs.Connect with: excitement, Facebook or email.
