CONGRATS ST. JOSEPH'S COLLEGE
SJC WINS SCHOOLS THAT EXCEL 2022 AWARD
Last month, St Joseph’s College was announced as the winner of The Age's 2022 Schools that Excel category for non-government schools in rural and regional Victoria.
The annual awards recognise schools that have shown sustained improvement and the most impressive gains in VCE results over the past 10 years. It means the College has recorded the best improvement in VCE results in the past decade of any non-government school in regional Victoria. Schools’ raw results are ranked in order to show improvement over a long period of time, using a variety of data including median study scores, the percentage of students obtaining a study score of more than 40, student pathways and VCE completion rates. The awards recognise the 10 highest-gain schools that The Age has judged as having shown the best improvement in their results.
St Joseph’s College Principal Anne Marie Cairns said the news was a giant accolade for the school and had been received with great excitement and pride. She said the award spoke volumes about the excellent quality of teaching and leadership at St Joseph’s, as well as the high level of support for students in their personal development and growth.
“To be judged as having the most outstanding growth and improvement in VCE results over the past 10 years of any other non-government school in rural and regional Victoria is an enormous thrill for our school, and the wider Echuca Moama community. It is an achievement that we can all be very proud of and is testament to the hard-working teachers, leadership team, students and families involved with St Joseph’s over many years.”
St Joseph’s College Leader - Staff & Governance, Rachel McAsey said the improvement in results at the College had been largely driven by a culture of high expectations and a school-wide improvement agenda. Ms McAsey said there was also a strong focus on the professional learning of all teachers, and close monitoring to ensure the learning needs of every student were addressed.
“We have deliberately employed quality teachers who are passionate about their work, and we have enabled them with targeted, quality improvement strategies, alongside expert, external coaching and pedagogy coaching. In 2018 we committed to a school improvement project led by Melbourne University and that led to us introducing a range of school improvement measures.”
Ms McAsey said those measures included targeting reading growth through a Year 7 to 9 Reading Room program and supporting Year 12 teachers to undertake VCE assessor training and exam marking to inform and enhance their teaching and learning practice.
St Joseph’s College Leader - Teaching & Learning, Lisa Saillard said the University of Melbourne also provided regular analysis of their VCE data which had been instrumental in driving growth. Ms Saillard said student pathways were also taken into consideration by the Schools That Excel awards, not just academic results.
Well done to all involved at St. Joseph's College, we are very proud of you!