A day after receiving their HSC exam results, thousands of NSW students awoke this morning, December 15, to discover their ATAR scores.

The seven Highlands high schools – Bowral High School, Moss Vale High School, Southern Highlands Christian School, Frensham, Oxley College, Chevalier College and St Paul’s International School – achieved a mix of top ATARs, top 10 in subjects and an impressive number gained Bands 5 and 6.

Moss Vale High and Frensham were the only Highlands high schools to improve on their NSW rankings from last year, with Moss Vale jumping from 383 to 287 and Frensham moving up from 50 to 48. 

Four Frensham students gained places on the NSW Premier’s All Rounder list for achieving a result in the highest band possible (Band 6 or E4 for extension subjects) across at least 10 units, and two achieved both one of the highest places in a HSC course or VET exam and a result in Band 6. 

One of these students was Skyla Harris of Bowral, who placed eighth in NSW in modern history.

She hopes to go on to study a Bachelor of Design at Melbourne University, majoring in digital technologies.

“I’m really pleased with my result – it was a nice surprise. I worked really hard and I don’t think I could have done much more,” Skyla said. 

Frensham’s Liana Berzins, who is based in Burradoo, achieved the top ATAR in the school with a score of 99.45. 

Moss Vale High Student Kristie Moore achieved Band 5s for all her courses bar one Band 6 result, and an ATAR score of 89.15.

She will go on to study at the Australian National University (ANU), and is hoping to get into law at some point in the future. 

“It was a lot of stress and hard work, but it was rewarding in a sense,” Kristie said. 

“I learnt a lot – not just the content but how to study and about other people and the world.”

Moss Vale’s Year 12 coordinator, Luke Vandenbergh, said the school was really pleased with how the students performed.

“They worked really, really hard. For them to achieve this among other adversities they face is so impressive. The school managed to jump about a hundred places, which is just great,” he said. 

Oxley College dropped from 63^rd place to 82^nd this year, but had 30 per cent of students with ATAR scores above 90 and 14 per cent of students scoring over 95. 

Eliza Drysdale and Ella Moran from Oxley said they were awake from 6am this morning texting each other in anticipation of their scores. 

Both students achieved ATARs in the 90s and have both already been accepted into Sydney University’s women’s college. 

“It was stressful, but I chose to do subjects I enjoyed, like music and drama, and I’m very happy [with the result],” Eliza said. 

Although Chevalier College moved down from their spot at 237 to 328 this year, their top achieving student, Nicholas Birmingham, achieved an ATAR of 98.65.

He plans to go on to study a double degree in mathematical science and medical science at the Australian National University (ANU) next year. 

“I feel great. A lot of hard work has paid off. Extension 2 mathematics was my favourite subject this year – I just love mathematics, it’s fantastic,” he said. 

Chevalier’s Declan O’Byne-Inglis achieved an ATAR of 96.65 and will make the move to Sydney in 2018 to study a Bachelor of Screen Production at the Australian Film and Television School (AFTRS). 

The school also had several students selected for early entry into university – including Victoria Weber, who will be studying a Bachelor of Law and Journalism at the University of Wollongong in 2018, and Jacky Kennedy who will study a Bachelor of Design and Technology at the University of Western Sydney. 

Bowral High School ranked 564^th in the state this year, down from 398^th place last year.

The school had two students listed on the NSW Distinguished Achievers list for gaining a result in Band 6 for at least one course  – Jordanna Chapman in visual arts and Benjamin Seiboth in mathematics general 2. 

Three students from the school were also selected to have their visual arts major works exhibited in galleries around NSW.

The artwork of Emma Else, Ben Silver and Brittney Woodgate will appear alongside another 170 bodies of work from exemplary NSW high school students in 10 exhibitions across the state. 

The Southern Highlands Christian School had 20 students participate in the HSC this year, achieving 31 Band 5 or 6 grades. 

Students from St Paul’s International College participated in either the HSC or the University Foundation year courses. 

Two Highlands students at the college were the first to complete the HSC Chinese continuers course.

Alexandra Maurice was awarded a Band 6 for Chinese Continuers and Monique Marquis received a Band 5.

This year the College ran the UNSW Foundation program in Commerce, Science and Design, where students are awarded a Grade Point Average (GPA) out of 10, which is comparable to the ATAR of 100.

Hannah Tran topped the science stream with a GPA of 9.4 while Patrina Chan was the highest achiever in the commerce stream with 8.8.

Students at Wollondilly Anglican College again secured the school’s place in the top 150 in NSW.

Although not officially a part of the Southern Highlands, the college, which came in at 145, attracts scores of students from the Highlands. 

At the time of reporting, the school noted six ATAR scores above 90.

Two of these students – Jamieson Bell and Murray Jobbins – gained places on the NSW Premier’s All Rounder list.

One student, Caitlin Konzen, ranked fourth in the state for general mathematics.

She also achieved an ATAR of 95.95 – the only girl out of six students to rank above 90. 

Caitlin plans to go on to study a Bachelor of Social Sciences and Law at the University of Western Sydney. 

See how your school ranked in this year’s HSC test.