The low-fee private schools outperforming their expensive rivals in the HSC

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At least twice a week at all-girls school Cerdon College, students spend a silent 20 minutes, sometimes more, immersed in writing short stories and one-page essays.

“In the past three years we are doing more timed writing tasks for years 7 to 10 in English lessons. And it’s all handwritten, under the watchful eye of their teacher,” explains Gai Mellier, Cerdon’s English co-ordinator. “The HSC exams are timed, so it’s good to get used to that.”

The Merrylands school – which leapt more than 100 places in this year’s HSC rankings – has introduced fortnightly reading lessons for students in the library, while also boosting activities outside the classroom such as book and history clubs, poetry competitions and debating.

Cerdon, a Catholic systemic college, is also one of multiple lower-fee schools in Sydney that recorded similar or higher HSC success rates than schools where fees are above $20,000, a Herald analysis has found.

More than a dozen schools with fees of $10,000 or less have recorded above-average HSC results compared to the top-ranked private schools over the past four years.

Schools that charge fees of $6000 or less — including Parramatta Marist High, Brigidine in Randwick, Al Faisal College in Auburn and St Ursula’s in Kingsgrove — had a similar or greater proportion of students achieving top band 6 results than schools with fees of nearly $40,000.

Al Noori Muslim School in Greenacre and Al Faisal College — both which charge parents less than $4000 a year — finished in the top 20 ranked private schools in NSW, their best result in six years.

Brigidine Girls College HSC students with principal Sharyn Quirk. Credit: Edwina Pickles

Brigidine in Randwick, where fees are about $5500 for year 12, was the highest-ranked systemic Catholic school this year, cracking into the top 50 and recording a 58 per cent success rate in advanced English. The school’s overall success rate – the ratio of high scores to total HSC exams sat – was similar to Frensham and The Scots College where fees are above $39,000, and Loreto Normanhurst with fees of about $32,000.

The principal at Brigdine, Sharyn Quirk, credits the rise in HSC advanced English results to the school’s “incredibly dedicated teaching staff” and an intensified focus on literacy from year 7.

The school is also running lunchtime tutoring sessions in maths and English where senior students work with year 7 and 8 pupils. “That’s boosted the confidence and knowledge of the older students when they have to explain and go through fundamental concepts to the younger girls,” she said.

Cerdon’s principal Lisa-Maree Browning said more students at her school are being encouraged into advanced HSC English, with about 50 per cent of students enrolled in the subject. “We definitely set the bar high, and the girls and their teachers work incredibly hard”.

Ensuring students have grasped the fundamentals of how to construct a sentence and detailed paragraphs from year 7 gives them the scaffolding to write successful long-form essays, she explains.

“More than 70 per cent of our girls come from non-English-speaking backgrounds,” Browning said. “Teachers have also started offering lunchtime and after school sessions … many of our girls will not have the opportunities to access additional tutoring outside of school”.

Al-Faisal College principal Safia Khan Hassanein said the school has achieved steady growth in results due to a culture of high expectations and using data from student assessments to target areas for improvement.

“Feedback our students receive from staff is a key for them to work towards self-improvement and meeting their goals. This approach is the cornerstone of our student’s success in mathematics,” Hassanein said.

Students at Al-Faisal College in Auburn with principal Safia Khan Hassanein. The school is ranked 15th on the Herald’s rankings this year.Credit: Kate Geraghty

Teachers use evidence-based practices to help “monitor, analyse and track” students understanding of concepts, he added.

At Marist College Kogarah, which also jumped 100 places in this year’s Herald HSC league table, principal Simon Ghantous said the school was accessible for many parents who live in the local area, with fees of about $5300 for year 12.

“We recorded an average ATAR of about 82, and had a jump in band six results. We have definitely been building a culture of success, but nothing comes easy,” he said.

“The school has also started an after school hours tutoring program from 3 to 5pm for all students. We bring back high performing ex-students who tutor the kids in multiple subjects.”

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