From the Principal

Flooding in the Central West

The past few weeks have brought considerable damage and devastation to many areas within the Central West of NSW with extensive flooding. We have a number of families who are facing serious challenges at present.

It is always greatly encouraging to see how such adversity brings communities together as they join forces to support those in need. I lived through two floods of the Namoi River in the 1970’s that brought massive quantities of mud and debris through our house and experienced the huge task of cleaning it all up afterwards. The help and generosity of others in the community was greatly appreciated.

Many of our staff have shown considerable initiative in finding ways for us as a school community to provide support to those in our community. Last Sunday a bus load of our Boarding students went to Molong to give support and contribute to the clean up. 38 boys from Weymouth and Wolaroi Houses, with a number of staff, rolled up their sleeves and were of great assistance. This morning I received a wonderful email of appreciation expressing gratitude to the School for their help with the town clean up. A number of our boys also assisted in cleaning people's houses and according to one family, ‘achieved in a few hours what would have taken them weeks to do’. They were thrilled to see the crew of Kinross Wolaroi boys cleaning up the house. 

During this week some of our Year 10 students, fresh from completing their end of year exams, will also journey out to Molong to lend a hand.

Year 12 Early Entry to University success

I have been delighted to see the outstanding success achieved by so many of our current Year 12 students (Class of 2022) in achieving Early Entry offers to university.

Increasingly, students across Australia are not relying only on their ATAR for University entrance. In fact, over the past few years 70% of learners across the nation did not rely on their ATAR for university entrance: a percentage that until this year was in line with our students at Kinross Wolaroi. 

In 2022 over 90% of our 2022 HSC cohort have received at least one early offer to university, many receiving several. To summarise what we know to date:

• A total of 219 offers were made to 384 courses (many students received multiple offers)
• 90% of our eligible students received at least one early offer
• We had a record of 82 School Recommendations through UAC. This is a great credit to the hard work and support of our staff, particularly Mr Bruce Paine (Careers Advisor), Mrs Lucy Collett (Director of Studies) and Mrs Claudia McCalman (Senior Years Coordinator).

Some of the outstanding results include offers to: 

• Sydney University (E12). 26 students were successful making us one of the most successful schools in NSW. An E12 is an Early Conditional Offer that attracts considerable financial and access benefits and it is highly likely that all our students will achieve the academic results to secure this offer.
• ANU – 9 students in a very competitive environment
• UTS – 31 students – also highly competitive 
• CSU – 26 students
• University of New England – 34 students (31 received two course offers and 20 received three)
• Newcastle – 27 students
• Wollongong – 47 students (89 course offers were made)

The opportunity to secure quality early entry to university illustrates the importance of having strong Year 11 and 12 academic results and of being a contributor to the broader life of the School and our community. Universities and businesses are increasingly bypassing ATAR scores as they are looking for young people who possess a broader range of skills that are not reflected through a single ATAR score. 

In many respects, the ATAR is a limited tool that tests a student’s capacity to do well under exam conditions; it does not evaluate their full range of achievements, capacities or the skills they acquire over thirteen years of education.

Interestingly, the HSC curriculum that culminates in the ATAR is drawing considerable criticism from many leading educators, industry leaders and policy makers. Professor Shergold in his 2020 ‘Future Report of the Review of Senior Secondary Pathways to Work, Further Education and Training', stated: “Academic achievement is important but not the sole reason for schooling. We need to focus more on preparing the whole person, no matter what career path they choose.”

To assist our students in presenting the valuable ‘21st Century Skills’ required by universities and workplaces, we are developing a ‘Skills Portfolio’ that displays evidence of our students’ leadership experience, community service work, co-curricular achievement, courses or work experience done outside the school in the community, commitments to Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme and Round Square. These experiences provide opportunity to develop teamwork, critical thinking, problem solving, communication and entrepreneurial skills – all qualities advocated for by curriculum experts and sought by recruiters desiring a more nuanced way to match candidates to opportunities in their organisations or universities. 

At Kinross Wolaroi School we believe in developing the whole person and enabling our students to be the very best they can be, fully equipped with the skills and attributes they require to lead a fulfilling and rewarding life.