Blakehurst High: Student Performance Soars

0:00In Sydney, it's March 15th. Here's what is happening. Blakehurst High School in New South Wales has seen a big jump in student performance with almost 70% of its students hitting band 4. 5 or 6 in last year's higher school certificate exams, that's up 6 percentage points since 2019. The school is one of 45 public high schools, highlighted in the State Education Department review for the strongest gains over 6 years. The department looked at results from 2019 through 2025, focusing on the share of students reaching those top 3 bands. This differs from typical league tables that only count band 6 scores above 90%. Principal Kylie Rymeister, who started last year, credits steady tweaks like uniform classroom habits and smarter use of data. She stresses building real connections so kids enjoy school and bond with teachers and peers. Teachers now dive deep into past results, treating low bands as seriously as the highs and collaborate on real changes. New routines include quick starter tasks for active recall and high standard writing lessons from year 7.

1:05Other schools like Maitland High and Glenwood High are seeing similar wins through personalized plans, mentor support, strong literacy foundations, and adapting to each group's needs. These efforts show culture shifts take time but pay off across full student cycles. A message from our sponsor supports today's story. It looks like a pillow, it sounds like headphones, bill for comfort and sound, S-O-L-I, solely pillow.com.