Strong results for North East students after two years under pandemic pressure

Students were alerted of their ATAR rankings on Thursday morning after the best part of two years in a remote learning setting.

Catholic College Wodonga doubled its number of students with an ATAR of more than 90 from two years ago, with eight per cent of its class of 2021 achieving that feat.

Four students recorded a score above 97.

"It's almost doubled in the last two years which is interesting given the circumstances. It was absolutely amazing," deputy principal Andrew Gibson said.

"It's been a tough year in and out of lockdown but they've done a wonderful job and we're super proud of the results.

"We also have 75 per cent of students who have applied for university already receive an offer and we're expecting those numbers to increase."

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Wodonga Senior Secondary College principal Vern Hilditch said that students' demonstrated ability to persevere would set them up for a strong future.

"We had a very tough time because during the two weeks of exam period it was probably the peak time of infection in Albury-Wodonga," he said.

"In a normal year, we would about five students who needed a derived score because they were sick or couldn't do the exams, but this year it was 65 students.

"The scores students have got are quite reflective of how we thought they were going.

"We think they've been able to achieve a great deal

"The scores students have got are quite reflective of how we thought they were going."

Mr Hilditch revealed one student in particular sat the English exam before contracting COVID and being forced to sit out the remainder of his assessments.

"The importance of year 11 is becoming greater as the students are now getting selected based on their year 11 results and their commitment to the community much more so than their ATAR score," he said.

"The support aspect has been really quite strong and we've noticed it more than ever the involvement of parents. It's been a great team effort."

Michael Grohmann was dux of Wodonga Senior Secondary College with a score higher than 90 and specialist maths his top subject.

"I didn't really enjoy online learning at all, I felt like I did my best when at school," he said.

"It was good to have bits and pieces on campus and with the amazing teachers here, they all did an amazing job online and offline.

"Because we were locked down right before exams, that was definitely the toughest part and I felt I dropped off.

"I was probably doing two to three hours of study because there was no classes and I wasn't motivated to do it."

Mr Grohmann revealed he wanted to commence a Bachelor of Science with a physics major at Canberra's Australian National University next year.

Tallangatta Secondary College captain Harry Moxey earned top honours for his school.

"He's a lovely young man who has worked hard and is hoping to study engineering or science," principal Richelle Moyle said.

"We had a presentation at the last minute after the results were released and we were able to recognise our students and recognise Harry.

"We're very proud of all of the students' resilience over the two years of their VCE studies."

NSW students will not receive their HSC results until January 24 next year after exams were delayed by a month due to COVID.

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