The wait is over for 77,000 HSC students across NSW who are set to find out their results.
On Wednesday, 120 of the state’s top-performing students were congratulated by the NSW Premier for coming first out of 114 HSC courses.
Among them was Year 11 Accelerant student John Bivell from Fort Street High in Sydney’s inner-west, and Serena Gao from Smith’s High School in Wollongong.
‘I’m really happy to be able to inspire other girls to pursue the course and show that yes girls can do computers and be good at it,’ Serena told AAP on Wednesday.
HSC results will be released from 6am on Thursday by SMS, email or online.
As thousands of NSW Year 12 students wake to their HSC results, the state’s peak business organisation is calling for an urgent overhaul of the system to better prepare students for adult life.
On Thursday, NSW Business Chamber Chief Executive Stephen Cartwright says business needs transferable enterprise skills, rather than ‘subject matter expertise borne of rote learning’.
‘This year marks the fiftieth year of the HSC and since its introduction in 1967 much has changed.
‘The world has shifted from an industrial to the digital age, and business is calling for transferable ‘enterprise’ skills rather than the subject matter expertise borne of rote learning,’ Mr Cartwright said in a statement.
As almost 80,000 NSW high school graduates eagerly await their HSC results some of the state’s top 120 students have already set their sights on changing the future.
Among them is Year 11 ‘accelerant’ student John Bivell from Fort Street High who made waves by beating his Year 12 colleagues in Earth and Environmental Science.
‘I think it’s ridiculous we really haven’t been doing enough to tackle climate change,’ John told AAP on Wednesday.
‘I’d really like to look after environmental policy, I think that’s one of the most effective ways you can initiate actual change in the world.’
During a ceremony in Sydney on Wednesday, the bright sparks who topped 114 HSC courses were personally congratulated by NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian.
‘The HSC is challenging for every student, so to come first in a course is an outstanding achievement,’ Ms Berejiklian said.
Fort Street High School in Sydney’s inner-west dominated the awards with six first-in-course certificates.
The top-scoring students came from 85 schools across the state comprising 45 government and 40 non-government schools.
Eight students topped more than one course, including one girl who topped three languages.
Serena Gao from Smith’s High School in Wollongong is out to prove girls can hold their own in the male-dominated world of computer coding after she topped Software Design and Development.
‘Girls bring a unique perspective to the kind of software community,’ Serena told AAP.
‘We see problems differently so we can see solutions in different ways.’
Females made up nine per cent of the software design course for 2017.
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