On the surface it seems students from Smith’s Hill High School were among the Illawarra’s best performers at this year’s HSC.
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But a parent from the school has hit out saying the Illawarra’s only selective high school should and could have done much better.
And Kate Kocatekin believes the early entry program offered by the University of Wollongong has a lot to answer for with regards to ‘’Smith’s Hill’s HSC failure’’.
‘’When my son Henry started at Smith’s Hill High School they were ranked near the top 30 and now they are 80th. That has to elicit some sort of concern,’’ Ms Kocatekin said.
‘’The decline in standards and HSC results is unacceptable.
‘’I’ve listed all my concerns to the principal, especially the negative effect the UOW’s early entry program has had on the school’s academic performance.’’
Smith’s Hill High School duo Serena Gao and Tianyue Zheng did finish first in one of their respective HSC courses in 2017.
But Ms Kocatekin was particularly disappointed that the school received no Band 6s in chemistry.
‘’The bottom line of that is that’s disgraceful at a selective high school to have no Band 6s in chemistry,’’ she said.
Ms Kocatekin was also dismayed that Smith’s Hill only had three HSC All-Rounders compared to Merewether High School in Newcastle, which had 25.
‘’I chose Merewether to illustrate my point because it’s another selective high school outside of the Sydney metropolitan region.
‘’Surely we need to be aiming for similar numbers and maybe see what the University of Newcastle is doing and perhaps implement it here.’’
Ms Kocatekin said the UOW’s early entry coupled with the additional scholarships, lures young people in prior to them completing their exams.
‘’This has resulted in a decline in the school’s performance over the years,’’ she said.
‘’The program of UOW is not conditional on ATAR results; students receive verification of their success prior to the HSC commencing, resulting in many ‘dropping the ball’, not performing in the exams and subsequently, due to moderation and scaling, negatively affecting their cohort, especially in smaller classes.’’
The UOW did not respond to Mercury questions before deadline.
