South West schools among the strongest performers in WA in various ATAR subjects

The South West has come out as one of the highest performing regions in WA education for 2022, with several of the region’s schools topping a number of ATAR courses.

Bunbury Catholic College, Australind Senior High School, Bunbury Cathedral Grammar School, Cape Naturaliste College, Manea Senior College and Margaret River Senior High School were listed among the top-performing schools in various subjects following last year’s ATAR exams.

Australind Senior High School was among the top of the class in chemistry out of 180 schools across the State that offered the subject as an ATAR course.

Principal Domenic Camera said many of the school’s ATAR chemistry students were part of the school’s mathematics and philosophy specialist program from years seven to 10, with a focus on bringing out the best in academics.

“Here at Australind Senior High School we are committed to ensuring our students are focused on being the best they can be,” he said.

“A top chemistry performance demonstrates the success that students can have in a regional setting when the conditions and expectations for success are in place. We want to see students live in their local communities and access a quality education in their local public school, as ours have been able to in Australind.”

As well as the mathematics and philosophy specialist program, Mr Camera credited the result to chemistry teacher Ben Quenby and supportive school staff and families.

“Our chemistry teacher Ben Quenby is an outstanding teacher and mentor to all our ATAR students,” he said.

“He provides students with a structured teaching and learning program, incorporating study skills and revision activities throughout the year, and sets a high benchmark for students to aspire to.”

Cape Naturaliste College was among the top-performing schools in the subject of geography, with principal Mark Gillett praising the hard work of the school’s latest cohort of graduates and the school’s staff.

“As a regional school, it is nice to demonstrate to our community that students can achieve excellent results while choosing to live in the area,” he said.

“This outstanding result is also a credit to the geography teacher, who knows the course extremely well and can get the best out of every student through strong relationships and trust.”

Grace Christian School was recently revealed by The West Australian as one of the State’s top-performing schools in English.

Principal Hugo de Ridder said their teacher and head of English Debbie Stone and her entire department had done an “exceptional” job of building up students’ English skills.

“There’s been a real focus on literacy in the school, “ he said. “That’s been going on for a number of years — this is just the culmination of all of that.”

Manea Senior College was among the top of the class in literature, Bunbury Catholic College received top marks in biology and English, Bunbury Cathedral Grammar School was among the top performers for accounting and finance, and Margaret River Senior High School topped the class in mathematics applications.