By LOTTE REITER

A group of high-ranking numbers and the need to establish a ‘name’ for the school were low on Horsham Holy Trinity Lutheran College’s wish list when its first year-12 cohort received its ATAR scores.

The group was among Wimmera students who opened their tertiary admissions ranking from 7am on Thursday, with college captain Josiah Mock emerging as school dux with a score of 85.65.

And while many in the college and wider community would have likely been eager to see how the year 12s would fare within the region and state, the school’s leading secondary teachers are confident their students have succeeded in what matters most.

“At the end of the day, it’s about their futures,” college English and psychology Victorian Certificate of Education teacher Elsbeth Schneider said.

“It’s not so much about ‘our students got this score’ or ‘we have x number of students above 40’, it’s not about that, it’s about the students, what their passions are, and guiding and being with them on that journey.

“We wanted to make sure we gave them every single opportunity to go and pursue what they wanted to do, and the fact that all of them have done that is just absolutely incredible, I think, for a first cohort.

“There’s not one student who has not got a pathway for next year or can’t pursue a pathway. 

“Every single one of them has doors that have opened up for them, and that’s probably more than what we could have hoped would happen.”

The group, consisting of about 16 students, was able to access 23 face-to-face subjects in their final year of secondary education, with many students also using distance education.

College accounting teacher Wayne Bandel said this was also the school’s first year offering the Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning, VCAL, which had two graduating students. He said full-time work and apprenticeships were the college’s goals for its year-12 cohort.

“It’s those types of pathways that we’re trying to provide,” he said.

“We can’t make a call now, but it would be great to see where this year-12 group are in 12 months’ time, and five years’ time. I think that sometimes is the real measure of how well we’ve done our job. Have we got them to that next step?”

Head of senior school Sally Kuchel said the college would continue to focus on growing the college, including subjects offered and aggregate numbers, which would start to build next year when the first double-stream group of students went into secondary school. 

“We’re looking forward to continue growing and improving the programs that we’re already offering,” she said.

“It’s about giving students an experience that they’re going to take with them for the rest of their lives, and to create that feeling of wanting to be a life-long learner. If we achieve that, I think we’ve done pretty well.”

The entire December 18, 2019 edition of The Weekly Advertiser is available online. READ IT HERE!