2015 VCE Results – A time to celebrate

December 16, 2015

The month of December is a significant one for all Year 12 students across the state. Not only does it mark the official end of secondary school for these students, it is also the time when they receive details of their academic performance in the Victorian Certificate of Education. All members of the St Patrick’s community share an interest in the academic performance of the Year 12 class. It is a time to celebrate the academic excellence and endeavour of individual students and of the year level as a whole. Following is a summary of the academic achievements of the Year 12 class of 2015.

General information:

  1. 188 boys completed Year 12 studies at St Patrick’s College in 2015. 99% percent of these students attained their VCE.

  2. Students participated in 55 different VCE Unit 3/4 studies in 2015.

  3. There were 54 study scores of 40 or above before scaling, or 6.0% of study scores, and an additional 14 study scores of 40 or above after scaling. These scores were attained in 21 different VCE and VET studies.

  4. 10 students attained an ATAR (Australian Tertiary Admission Rank) of 90 and above. A further 26 students attained an ATAR of 80 and above. This equates to 23% of the Year 12 students eligible for an ATAR attaining an ATAR 80 and above.

  5. The 2015 College Dux, with an ATAR of 99.90, is Patrick Collier. This outstanding result places Patrick in the top one percent of all Victorian students and was the best ATAR for any boy in Ballarat.- William Briggs had the next highest ATAR with a 99.3.

  6. The median study score for all VCE and VET studies was 30

  7. 123 Year 12 students applied for a tertiary place (67% of all Year 12 boys)

  8. 324 students were enrolled in at least one of the 28 VCE VET certificates studied in 2015, attaining 97% unit competency completion.

Traditionally, an ATAR of 90 or above has been used as a measure of academic excellence. In 2015, ten students attained this outstanding result:

William Briggs

Mitchell Canny

Patrick Collier (pictured above)

Tom Evans

Kelsey Gannon

Callum Holland

Christopher Kan

Jarrod Kemp

Lachlan McIntyre

Zac Ticehurst

When the academic performance of the 26 boys who attained an ATAR score of 80 and above is combined with these boys, then it becomes clear that many students in the Year 12 class of 2015 have attained a very high level of academic excellence.

A study score of 50 represents the highest mark achievable within the VCE for any particular subject. This outstanding result was achieved by Patrick Collier in Mathematical Methods (CAS). This individual result becomes even more exceptional knowing that just 39 Mathematical Methods students achieved this same study score. Congratulations, Patrick!

One of the measures commonly reported on to assess academic success in VCE studies is the number of study scores of 40 and above. Following is a list of all the subjects at St Patrick’s College where boys attained this result both before scaling:

Study Name

Study scores of 40 and above

Accounting

2

Biology

3

Business Management

1

Engineering Studies (VET)

1

English

10

English Language

3

History: Australian

1

History: Revolutions

1

Industry and Enterprise

1

Literature

3

Further Mathematics

13

Mathematical Methods (CAS)

2

Specialist Mathematics

2

Physical Education

2

Physics

2

Sport and Recreation (VCE VET)

5

Systems Engineering

1

Visual Communication Design

1

–

The VCE (Baccalaureate) was introduced in 2014 to support the State Government’s objectives to encourage more students to include languages and higher level mathematics in their senior secondary program of study. In 2015, the Victorian Certificate of Education (Baccalaureate) was awarded to Lachlan Fuller and Christopher Kan. Congratulations to both boys.

I would like to conclude by acknowledging the fine work of all St Patrick’s College teachers. The College’s level of academic success in 2015 did not happen by chance. It reflects a commitment to establishing a teaching and learning culture that values and supports academic excellence and endeavour. This has happened because St Patrick’s College teachers remain committed to continually reviewing and developing classroom programmes that provide every opportunity for our boys to experience academic success.

We wish you all a very merry Christmas and a wonderful new year.

–

Mr Stephen Hill

Deputy Headmaster – Curriculum