But he was glad he took the call and subsequent letter from the NSW Department of Education’s school operations and performance deputy secretary, Murat Dizdar.

Mr Dizdar personally called to congratulate Mr King on the Corrimal school’s “outstanding” performance in the 2017 Higher School Certificate.

But Mr Dizdar also called to highlight that there had been a substantial increase in the proportion of Corrimal students with two or more results in the HSC top bands from 2013 to 2017.

He wrote “Corrimal High School has a demonstrated level of excellence belonging to only a handful of schools across NSW for HSC 2017…..I commend you for the resolute determination and enthusiasm for student betterment which is igniting student self-belief and shared high expectations schoolwide.”

Mr King, who plans on retiring at year’s end, welcomed the “high praise”.

“We are very proud of this achievement,” he said.

“We pride ourselves on continual clever teaching which meets the changing needs of our students.”

Read more: HSC D-Day arrives for Illawarra students

Read more: Thousands of Illawarra students to sit for NAPLAN tests on May 15

The principal added a lot of the school’s success was down to the “intelligent use” of Gonski money and also the professional development of its staff.

“It is also to do with the ongoing plotting of students’ abilities over the literacy and numeracy continuum and instilling high expectations in students and teachers alike,” he said.

“At the end of the day it is about making sure our students continue to grow and improve from year 7 to year 12.”