Senior high school students around the country have embarked on their HSC studies this term.
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But this year is a little extra special for St Joseph’s College Lochinvar.
It’s the first year the school will take part in the HSC since 1991.
While most students don’t change year groups until January, Year 11 students embark on their HSC studies in term four each year to give them a full year’s preparation for the exams in October.
The Lochinvar school expanded to include senior students at the start of the year, meaning the 2018 class of Year 11 will be the school’s first to tackle the HSC since the switch from an all girls years 7-12 college to a co-education 7-10 in 1992.
“There’s a lot of excitement among the students, they’re forging a new identity for the college,” principal Patricia Hales said.
“But there’s also a little bit of trepidation being the first group.
“They haven’t had the role models in the school to give them the insights.”
However Ms Hales said the fact that students didn’t have previous groups to be compared to was also an advantage.
“They don’t have to think ‘oh someone got 96 last year’,” she said.
Students Noah Hurn, Isabella Crebert, Mary Wright and Abbey Matt all agreed that they felt privileged to be part of the school’s first year group to complete the HSC in almost 30 years.
“I’m a little bit nervous, but excited to see where it goes,” Mary said.
Coincidentally, the HSC syllabus has been overhauled this year with new subjects added which Isabella said timed in well with the changes at the school.
The students said they had definitely noticed a difference in the workload from Year 11 to Year 12, but not as much as from Year 10 to 11.
They also felt their teachers were preparing them well ahead of next year’s exams.
“We’ve had a lot of talks in class about how to approach the whole year,” Abbey said.
“Year 11 was definitely a good preparation,” Noah added.
Ms Hales said the start of the HSC has been a long time coming for the teachers, who have been building up to it for the past few years.
“There’s a lot of excitement and a sense of relief that it’s here now,” she said.
“Their hard work is coming to fruition.”
And while it’s been a build up, Ms Hales said the school’s approach has been to encourage and support the students without putting too much pressure on.
“There’s so many pathways now, the ATAR is not the be all and end all.”
Roughly 68 St Joseph’s students will take part in the HSC exams next year, while about 100 Year 11 students have enrolled in the school for 2019.
