Parkes Christian School is celebrating another year of very pleasing HSC results, with their Compressed Curriculum structure being of huge benefit to their students, resulting in the best overall results for the school in its history.
Compressed Curriculum sees students sit three HSC subjects when they are in Year 11, followed by another three in Year 12.
This structure allows students to focus on fewer subjects at a time, with double the amount of class time provided for each subject. This intensive pattern of study means that students have far better recall of course content during their exams.
In just their ninth year of delivering the HSC, the school is very proud of the results achieved by their 2023 cohort.
All students who applied for Early Entry schemes were successful in securing positions, while other students have already moved into employment or traineeships.
Students achieved the highest percentage of Band 5 and 6 results in a single year for the school, coming in Mathematics Advanced, Mathematics Standard, Business Studies, Multimedia, Music and Sports, Lifestyle and Recreation.
Among the Year 12 students who completed their studies this year, Luke Hall-Matthews had an outstanding finish to his HSC with Band 6 results in both subjects – Mathematics Advanced and Multimedia to go with a Certificate III in Theology and Ministry. This adds to strong results last year in Design and Technology (Band 6), English Advanced and Software Design and Development.
Luke has secured a number of offers to study Engineering next year.
Ashlee Ross also performed very well this year and achieved a Band 5 in Music. She also has a number of offers in the area of Law and Criminology.
Mackenna McGuire has a future in the Sports Industry ahead of her, and was able to achieve a Band 6 in Sports, Lifestyle and Recreation.
Among the Year 11 students, there were outstanding results for a number of students who performed well above average.
Matilda Wilson and Xavier McDonald both achieved Band 5s in Business Studies, while Thomas Fredericks received a Band 5 in Mathematics Advanced, along with Lily McCormick in Mathematics Standard.
Abigail Heard also achieved a Band 5 in Music, demonstrating her creative talents, while Year 10 student Joshua King was accelerated into HSC Multimedia and did an outstanding job to achieve a Band 5, and narrowly missed out on a Band 6.
These students will complete the second half of their HSC in 2024.
Stage 6 Coordinator Greg Ballantyne is thrilled with the results.
“As a school we are really pleased for our HSC students. Their results are the product of many hours of hard work and dedication,” he said.
“Our entire cohort has done extremely well and managed the challenges of the HSC so well. But more importantly they have all developed strong character and been able to achieve their goals.
“Every student who applied for early entry to university received an offer, maintaining our 100 per cent record over the past eight years.
“We work hard as a staff to give our students the best possible opportunities to succeed, so it is nice to see them taking those opportunities.
“But at the end of the day, it is the students who have done the hard work and need to take all the credit for their achievements. We’re just there to help them along the way.
“The thing I’m most pleased with is that every student seemed to be very happy throughout their HSC, enjoyed being at school, had time to pursue other interests and hobbies, and learned a lot about being people of good character and integrity. These are the things that will stay with them throughout their lives.”
