by Carla Okai

BALANCING study with sport and college captain responsibilities has paid off for Trinity College dux Daniel O’Shea.

Daniel topped his class with an Australian Tertiary Admission Rank of 98.4.

He said playing senior football for Alvie had helped reduce his stress levels during his final year of high school.

“You definitely need to have some balance, obviously you have to work hard but it’s also good to have sport to escape to sometimes,” he said.

“And being college captain was good too, we had a really good group of Year 12s so everyone worked together well.”

Daniel said he planned to study a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Melbourne.

“I’m not exactly sure what I’ll do, but possibly later I’ll do teaching,” he said.

Daniel’s classmate Eve Ellemor had the second highest ATAR at the school with 97.8.

She said her Trinity College teachers had inspired her to follow a career in teaching.

“For a while I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, it actually only hit me a few months ago that I really wanted to do secondary teaching,” Eve said.

“The teachers at Trinity have been fantastic and I’ve seen how they’ve helped us through this year, which has been a pretty hard year, and it made me think that I’d like to help kids like that as well,” she said.

Eve, who achieved a perfect score of 50 in physical education, advised future Year 12 students to plan ahead.

“Cramming doesn’t really work, so I’d just tell them to do the work before-hand and spread it out across the entire year and not just before the exams,” she said.

Trinity College principal Tim O’Farrell said his students’ results were above the Victorian average, with 13 per cent of the school’s students receiving an ATAR over 90, compared with a state average of 10 per cent.

“There were also 50 per cent of our students who received an ATAR in excess of 70, compared with a statewide average of 30 per cent,” he said.

“We also have a host of students who did VCAL who’ve done very well throughout the year.”

Top student ‘shocked’ with VCE success

by Alex White

COLAC Secondary College’s dux says he never expected to top his school.

Colac’s Luke Crawford woke up to a text message saying he had achieved an Australian Tertiary Admission Rank of 85.9 for his Victorian Certificate of Education studies this year.

Luke, 18, said he was “shocked” when he read the message at 7am Friday.

He said he wouldn’t have believed anyone at the start of the year if they told him he would be dux of his school.

“There were a few people that thought it might happen but I wasn’t really supportive of the idea – I didn’t think I was actually going to get it,” Luke said.

“My exams didn’t really go as well as I’d hoped so really I was happy with it,” he said.

Luke studied English, maths methods, further maths, physics and information technology applications in Year 12, while he also did business management and IT software development in Year 11.

His best subject scores were 42 out of 50 for business management and 40 for further maths.

Luke, who wants to study IT at Deakin University’s Waurn Ponds campus next year, said maintaining a study-life balance was a key to a successful Year 12.

“It’s easy to get distracted – you have to keep your head straight and go for it because you really only get one chance,” Luke said.

“You’ve got to study reasonably though – do your home work, do what’s necessary but also you’ve got to have your time with friends,” he said.

Luke, a promising swimmer and Colac Swimming Club member, said he trained less during Year 12 to concentrate on studying.

He praised Colac Secondary College and his fellow Year 12 students for creating a positive studying environment.

“It’s fantastic, I loved it – I’d definitely recommend it, it’s a good school,” Luke said.

“All my teachers and classmates were fantastic – It was just like a big family,” he said.

Colac Secondary College acting principal Simon Dewar said he was pleased with Year 12s’ efforts.

“Our students received a range of scores with some students performing exceptionally well,” Mr Dewar said.

“A large number of students worked hard throughout the year and their ATAR scores reflect that effort,” he said.

“The important thing for us now is to offer support to all students with course selection, change of preference and employment.”

Camperdown students perform impressively

by Kate Wilson

CAMPERDOWN students have impressed their teachers with their VCE results.

Lily Currell is the dux of Camperdown College.

She received an Australian Tertiary Admission Rank of 88.55.

“I think I’m still in shock really, it doesn’t seem real,” Lily said.

“I definitely wasn’t expecting it.

“I was aiming for about 70, and just really thought there’s only so much I can do; I just wanted to give it a go.”

Principal Jane Boyle said she was “very thrilled” with all the results of the College’s 16 Year 12 students.

“Half of our students had ATAR scores of 80 and above,” she said.

“Most of the students are guaranteed of getting an offer of their first choice.”

Lily is studying a certificate three in business with Imperial Living at Camperdown, and is researching visual arts courses.

Mercy Regional College’s Jac Domney topped his class with an ATAR score of 97.35.

The Camperdown student said he was “a bit awestruck” about his results.

“It was always a pipeline dream I guess, I didn’t think I’d be able to reach that 90s score,” he said.

“My dream score was 92 that I needed to get into Monash.

“I’ve got a scholarship to University of New South Wales at the Australian Defence Force Academy, doing electrical engineering there.”

Mercy principal Darren Egberts he was “delighted with the results overall” of his 69 Year 12 students.

“In addition to Jac we had two students with scores over 90,” he said.

“As a school we want to congratulate our staff for all the effort they put in throughout the year,” Dr Egberts said.

Lorne students benefit from small class

by Alex White

LORNE’S top Year 12 student says she benefitted from a small school and one-on-one teacher interaction.

Deans Marsh’s Amara Coleman said she found it “pretty hard to believe” when she checked her Australian Tertiary Admission Rank score of 98.2, the second highest of Colac district students.

“I really had no idea – it’s so hard to predict and there’s so many things to take into account,” Amara said

“So I really didn’t know what to expect,” she said.

Fellow Lorne P-12 College student Jordan Carroll was also among the highest Colac district grades, scoring an ATAR of 95.2.

Amara, 18, said she enjoyed studying at Lorne P-12 College, which had 13 Year 12 students, seven of which completed their Victorian Certificate of Education.

Four of the school’s seven VCE students had scores higher than 79.

“I had great teachers and really good friends,” Amara said.

“I like the small school and appreciated all the teachers’ support – that was the key, having such good one-on-one interaction with the teachers,” she said.

Amara, who has been a student at Lorne since Year Seven and was a school captain this year, studied English, literature, geography and Indonesian this year, as well as Year 12 maths methods and history last year.

She said she hoped to study arts-law at Melbourne’s Monash University next year, with a goal of a career in international law.

Lorne assistant principal Geoff Couper said the school was “absolutely delighted” with its Year 12 results.

“It’s absolutely fabulous – these results reflect a tremendous partnership between teachers, students and parents in a small community,” Mr Couper said.

“The school is really proud of the consistent efforts of our students,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Colac Herald was unable to contact Apollo Bay’s highest-scoring student but principal John McConchie said his students had “done exceptionally well”.

“We had a 100-per-cent pass rate and every student has received a score that will see them get a university placement,” Mr McConchie said.

“Some of them have got outstanding results and the most important thing is their results deliver the pathway they need into further education,” he said.

Timboon dux merged studies with business

by Kate Wilson

TIMBOON P-12 College’s dux also managed to find time to open a fish and chip shop this year.

Samuel Younis finished Year 12 with an Australian Tertiary Admission Rank of 87.20.

“I hoped to do well, the best that I could do; I tried hard to get a good score,” he said.

Sam and a fellow Year 12 student bought a fish and chip shop at Port Campbell.

“We took over at Easter, and we just worked weekends by ourselves and school holidays and Dad did weekdays,” Sam said.

“Most of our friends couldn’t believe that we bought it.”

Sam said he was happy with his results, and hoped to get into Melbourne University to study science.

Assistant principal Sean Fitzpatrick said the school was “really pleased with their efforts”.

Mr Fitzpatrick said finishing Year 12 wasn’t just about students’ ATAR scores.

“We like to measure them as young people and how they have developed overall, and they’ve come a long way,” he said.

Meanwhile, Cobden Technical College’s dux Brent Errey had an ATAR of 81.25.

VCE co-ordinator Denise Butler said Brent hoped to study electronics engineering at RMIT or Swinburne University.

Brent said he had “hoped to get a good-ish score” when he started Year 12.

Ms Butler said 36 of the school’s 37 Year 12 students completed their VCE, and she was “very happy” with their results.

“Most of them will have choices of which university course or TAFE option they want,” she said.

“It’s a long, hard year for parents, students and teachers.”

“As always those who have worked hard have been rewarded.”

Students on expedition when VCE results arrive

by Carla Okai

LAVERS Hill P-12 College students were on an expedition through Glenelg National Park when their Year 12 results came through.

College principal Patricia Nunan said the students were completing their Duke of Edinburgh’s Award; a leadership program which focuses on community service, physical education and social development.

“We’re yet to get in contact with the Year 12 group because they’re doing their Duke of Edinburgh expedition, its part of a program which helps develop their skills as well as provides an extra supplement for their university applications,” Ms Nunan said.

She said Year 12 student Jesse Ivelja topped his class.

The school had four students studying their Victorian Certificate of Education and six students completing their Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning.

“We’ve been very pleased with how the students have gone, we’ve already had some secure full-time employment, both in the district and outside, and we’ve also had three students receive prior offers for further study,” Ms Nunan said.