From the Principal
Yesterday we held the 2024 Celebration of Academic Achievement and Growth where we invited recent graduates back to campus who excelled in their HSC or IB studies last year. It is always one of my favourite assemblies of the year as our current Year 11 and 12 cohorts join staff and parents sharing and celebrating in the individual academic achievements and growth of the previous year’s graduates.
I know our current students sitting in Redlands Hall take great inspiration from both seeing how their peers and friends have excelled across their final years of schooling but also hearing of the challenges they faced and overcame. Sophia Rolon from the Class of 2024 gave an honest reflection of the importance of prioritisation and keeping a balance in the last two years of school while studying the IB, and fellow Redlander, Jacob Pamenter spoke of facing the hard truths in a conversation with Ms Van de Peer in Year 10 which gave him the motivation to diligently work to achieve his personal best in his HSC.
While we sent an overview of the HSC and IB Academic Results from the Class of 2024 to the wider community at the end of last year, since then we have had an opportunity to more deeply analyse these results. This analysis has only further illustrated both their outstanding achievements and growth last year. With communication as a real focus of ours this year, I thought I would further share some of the insights we have gained from this analysis.
Unfortunately, I am aware that narratives or truths about the academic “success” (a loaded term in itself) of a year group are derived from flawed and limited sources of information such as the HSC School Ranking in the media. Not only is this ranking of schools flawed, because it only takes into consideration students sitting the HSC and not the students sitting the IB (55% of the Redlands cohort from the Class of 2024 completed the IB Diploma), but it also bases this ranking merely on the percentage of Band 6s (the top band) scored and not the actual achievement or growth of the students.
Still, even if we used this flawed measure to assess the academic results of the Class of 2024 by converting IB grades into HSC bands (an inexact science), we would once again roughly be placed in the top 40 of this schools ranking.
Another incorrect narrative derived from these rankings was that our HSC results dipped from 2023 to 2024 because we dropped in this ranking. Again, this is not true as in fact our ATAR (a more holistic measure of achievement) for students sitting the HSC actually rose from 2023 to 2024 and was our highest HSC ATAR in the past 10 years.
How is this the case? Well at Redlands, we always put the student first and therefore we encourage our HSC students to choose more challenging subjects that will stretch them and earn them higher converted marks. So, while they might earn a Band 5 instead of a Band 6 in some these subjects, these marks get converted into higher ATAR scores for the students, thus opening up more tertiary options for them post school.
As for our IB students, even though the conversion of IB scores into the ATAR was lowered, our median IB ATAR increased from 2023 to 2024.
Overall, the combined median ATAR for all of our HSC and IB students from the Class of 2024 was just below 90 – an outstanding achievement for a non-selective academic school.
However, in our analysis of the academic results from the Class of 2024, what we are most proud of is their tremendous academic growth over their final two years of schooling. Last year’s graduating class greatly outperformed what their predicted Year 12 results were based on their academic performance from Year 10, which exemplifies how we “value add” for our students in their final years at Redlands.
This growth can be attributable to a number of different influences.
Firstly, we should laud the students from the Class of 2024 and their collective engagement, diligence and positive support for each other which we saw displayed throughout their final years at school.
In addition, credit needs to be given to the teachers. I have often said that we are blessed to have such high calibre, deeply caring and personally committed teachers and the Class of 2024 gave this same feedback to me in my individual meetings with them in Term 3 last year.
We are also using our leading, bespoke iGrow Data Analytics Platform to both individually track students but also collectively analyse a whole cohort, which allows us to tailor programs and interventions for both individual students and the wider Year Group.
And finally, because we have roughly half of our Year 11 and 12 students in the HSC pathway and half in the IB pathway, we are able to have smaller class sizes in the final two years of schooling (with an average class size of approximately 11 students), which allows for greater personalisation and individual support for students in Stage 6.
I hope this additional analysis provides parents and carers with further insights surrounding last year’s HSC and IB results. However, please be assured that the HSC, IB and ATAR scores are only a small part of the more substantive education Redlands students receive.
Most importantly, despite all of these stats and measurements of achievement and growth, our graduating students are far more than a number. They walk out the gates of Redlands as well-rounded, confident and compassionate young adults who are truly life ready to let their light shine and make a positive impact in the world.
Mr Sean Corcoran
Photo Caption: We celebrated the achievements of the Class of 2024 at our annual Celebration of Academic Achievement and Academic Growth Assembly yesterday.