Dubbo College Senior campus HSC students achieve best results in the schools' history

The 2022 cohort from Dubbo College need not have stressed as they achieved the school's best overall HSC results in recent years.

Dux student Lauren Priddis was "stoked" to wake up to a 97.85 ATAR result.

"My sister was with me and we were celebrating, jumping up and down. I had put in hard work and I was really hoping for it but I didn't really know what to expect," she told the Daily Liberal.

Lauren studied, Mathematic Advanced, English Advanced, Chemistry, Visual Arts, Biology, Animal Studies TAFE and achieved four Band 6 results in her HSC.

Lauren will have a gap year in 2023, working with Taronga Western Plains Zoo, Dubbo where she will complete an Exhibited Animals and Wildlife Care Certificate III to "stay in study mode" before making the move to Queensland to study Veterinary Science at James Cook University.

"I've always loved animals and knew I wanted to work with them. I had to find a career that was challenging and enjoyable," she said.

Lauren has made the most from her time at Dubbo College Senior Campus.

"I've liked this school, it's a really safe and supportive environment with plenty of tutoring and great people. It was a stressful year, it was the HSC, but overall it was good," she said.

"I would like to thank all my teachers for all the help they gave me, I really appreciate it, all the recesses, lunch, extra time they took to answer my questions, and my friends for always being there for me."

Senior Campus principal Marisha Blanco said the school's leadership team was thrilled with the results, with an increase of Band 6 results from last year. Students attained 35 Band 6 results across 17 courses and 149 Band 5 results across 30 courses.

In a tremendous effort, Dubbo College has raised its Band 6 results by 40 per cent in 2022, from 25 to 35, and its Band 5 results by 20 per cent from 124 to 149.

"These results are reflective of the power of public education; we have such diversity in terms of not only the number of students who have received outstanding results but the diversity of courses those results are represented in," Miss Blanco said.

Hamish Wood who will be heading to Sydney next year to study chemical engineering at the University of New South Wales was extremely happy with his ATAR results.

"I went very well, got what I needed with a bit of room, so that's always good. I over achieved the expectation," he said.

"I hedged myself in my mind to avoid disappointment, but saw the marks this morning and thought it was a good indication and then the ATAR even more so."

While Hamish's family was proud, not everyone was.

"I beat my brother so he was a bit disappointed but that was the first thing I said when I got the result, 'I beat my brother'. Anything else was just a bonus," he said jokingly.

Hamish's engineering teacher, an ex chemical engineer himself, opened Hamish's eyes to the job.

"I looked into it more and everything I heard about it kept exciting me, so I thought I would give it a crack," he said.

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When asked what advice Hamish had for future Year 12 students he said finding your goal was important.

"Find your goal and aim for that, it makes it a lot easier to do the work when you're aiming for something," he said.

Not only have Dubbo College students performed at the highest level, but the cohort has also delivered an improvement in their results across the board.

"We've seen this in the number of our students that haven't received the results in the low band, Dubbo College has achieved a significant reduction in both Bands 1 and 2 in 2022," Miss Blanco said.

Dubbo College has again boasted above state average results in a diverse range of subjects demonstrating a broad strength across multiple curriculum areas.

"This year we boast above state average results across 14 courses," Miss Blanco said.

"Not only do our students have these results, but the life skills to take on their futures. It takes a village, and our community will reap the rewards."

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