2016 academic highlights - meriden: an anglican school …€¦ · they are simone chan, vrinda...

HSC Highlights for Meriden Students

– 60% of students received an ATAR of 90 or more

– 14% of students received All-Round Achiever Awards

– Eight students were classified as Top Achievers in twelve subjects, including a First in Course

– 230 Distinguished Achievements (Band 6 results)

– ARTEXPRESS, ENCORE and OnSTAGE nominations and selection

– Three students awarded scholarships to top USA universities

– Meriden ranked 22nd overall, and the top independent girls’ school in the Inner West, in the 2016 HSC Schools Ranking (Sydney Morning Herald 16.12.2016)

All-Round AchieversThe inclusion of fifteen students on the HSC All-Round Achievers List acknowledges the outstanding achievements of these girls. Only students who achieve 90 or above in 10 or more units of HSC study qualify for inclusion on this list. They are Simone Chan, Vrinda Gupta, Emily Halloran, Genevieve Hopkins, Elaine Huynh, Paige Katay, Madeline Lam, Gabriela Mircevski, Naomie Nguyen, Amy Notarangelo, Kellie Shen, Carolina Strati, Rachel Taggart, Nina Wang and Zoe Whelan-Young.

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2016 Academic Highlights

1 Naomie Nguyen, who topped the state in Spanish Beginners, is congratulated by Mr Adrian Piccoli, Minister for Education 2 Six of the fifteen Meriden students who appear on the All-Round Achievers List: (L–R) Paige Katay, Naomie Nguyen, Zoe Whelan-Young, Rachel Taggart, Carolina Strati and Madeline Lam 3 Some students from the class of 2016 with Dr Julie Greenhalgh, senior staff and teachers following the release of the HSC results

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NAME COURSEPOSITION IN THE STATE

Naomie Nguyen Spanish Beginners 1

Emily Halloran History Extension 3

Emily Halloran Ancient History 6

Georgia Pasialis Drama 7

Vrinda Gupta History Extension 7

Zoe Whelan-Young History Extension 8

Zoe Whelan-Young PDHPE 8

Elaine Huynh Geography 10

Simone Chan Chemistry 12

Vrinda Gupta Ancient History 12

Nina Wang Ancient History 18

Elaine Huynh Business Studies 18

2016Australian Tertiary Admissions Rank

ATAR% OF MERIDEN STUDENTS

95+ 30%90+ 60%85+ 77%Median ATAR – 92.00

Top Achievers in a subject

Some of Meriden’s high flyers…Simone Chan

ATAR 99.80

HSC All-Round Achiever

At Meriden since Year 10

SUBJECTS STUDIED

BiologyChemistryEnglish as a Second LanguageMathematics Extension 1Mathematics Extension 2

Elaine Huynh

ATAR 99.75



Prefect 2016

SUBJECTS STUDIED

Business StudiesEconomicsEnglish AdvancedGeographyMathematicsMathematics Extension 1Modern History

Vrinda Gupta

ATAR 99.65



SUBJECTS STUDIED

Ancient HistoryBiologyChemistryEnglish AdvancedHistory ExtensionMathematicsMathematics Extension 1

Kellie Shen

ATAR 99.55


ARTEXPRESS Nomination


SUBJECTS STUDIED

English AdvancedHeritage Chinese (Mandarin)Intensive Studio PracticeMathematics Extension 1Mathematics Extension 2PhysicsVisual Arts

Nina Wang

ATAR 99.45



SUBJECTS STUDIED

Ancient HistoryBiologyEnglish AdvancedEnglish Extension 1GeographyMathematicsMathematics Extension 1

Madeline Lam

ATAR 99.20



SUBJECTS STUDIED

BiologyChemistryEnglish AdvancedMathematics Extension 1Mathematics Extension 2Physics

Zoe Whelan-Young

ATAR 99.50



Prefect 2016

SUBJECTS STUDIED

Community and Family StudiesEconomicsEnglish AdvancedEnglish Extension 1Modern HistoryHistory ExtensionPersonal Development, Health and Physical Education

Genevieve Hopkins

ATAR 99.40



SUBJECTS STUDIED

Ancient HistoryBiologyChemistryEnglish AdvancedEnglish Extension 1MathematicsMathematics Extension 1

Naomie Nguyen

ATAR 99.80


ENCORE Nomination

At Meriden since Kindergarten

Prefect 2016

SUBJECTS STUDIED

English AdvancedEnglish Extension 1English Extension 2French ContinuersFrench ExtensionMusic 2 Music Extension Spanish Beginners

Paige Katay

ATAR 99.75


At Meriden since Prep School

Prefect 2016

SUBJECTS STUDIED

ChemistryEnglish AdvancedEnglish Extension 1Mathematics Extension 1Mathematics Extension 2Modern History

Emily Halloran

ATAR 99.60



Head Prefect 2016

SUBJECTS STUDIED

Ancient HistoryEnglish AdvancedEnglish Extension 1English Extension 2MathematicsModern HistoryHistory Extension

Excellence in MusicWei Wei Wang received a nomination for ENCORE, a concert which showcases exemplary performances and compositions by HSC Music students. An accomplished pianist, Wei Wei completed her Piano AMEB Grade 8 exam while at Meriden.

Naomie Nguyen's compositions for Music 2 were nominated for ENCORE. Her core composition is a SATB choral work set to lyrics written by herself. It is titled Morning Star. Her elective composition for the topic 1900–1945 is written for cor anglais and piano and is titled Sonate pour Cor Anglais et Piano.

Excellence in DramaGeorgia Pasialis’ outstanding HSC Drama performance won her selection for OnSTAGE, which features the most exemplary HSC Drama performances from across New South Wales. Georgia placed seventh in the state in HSC Drama.

Excellence in Visual ArtsThe Major Works of three Visual Arts students, Kellie Shen, Rebekah Chew and Amber Yoo, were nominated for inclusion in ARTEXPRESS, an exhibition that showcases exceptional Major Works completed by Year 12 students across New South Wales.

Excellence in academic and sporting performanceTwo of Meriden’s Olympus program athletes, Michaela Haet and Mollie Williams, have been awarded full scholarships to study and pursue their sports at top universities in the USA. Michaela and Mollie will represent their universities in the NCAA competition.

Mollie will undertake a Bachelor of Nutrition and Dietetics at Indiana University, Bloomington and will play water polo for the renowned ‘Hoosiers’. Michaela will study Business Economics at Rice University in Houston, Texas and will play tennis for the Rice ‘Owls’. Michaela is the first Meriden student to attain a WTA ranking and has soared to an ITF World Ranking of 68. She achieved an ATAR of 91.2 and Mollie achieved an ATAR of 91.

Excellence abounds...

1 Georgia Pasialis in her HSC Drama performance 2 Wei Wei Wang in performance at the HSC Recital 3 Amber Yoo at work on Peter and Dianne 4 Kellie Shen at work on Necropolis 5 Rebekah Chew at work on The Death of Pledge: Boundless Plains to Share 6 Michaela Haet 7 Mollie Williams

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95+ 40%90+ 57%



95+ 29%90+ 49%



95+ 23%90+ 48%



95+ 30%90+ 47%

Over the past decade, Meriden students have received top placings in the state in the following subjects:

– First in Spanish Beginners

– First in History Extension

– First in Community and Family Studies

– First in Heritage Chinese (Mandarin)

– Second in Latin Continuers

– Second in Community and Family Studies

– Second in Music Extension

– Third in History Extension

– Third in Mathematics

– Third in Modern History

– Third in Japanese Beginners

– Fourth in Chinese Continuers

– Fourth in History Extension

– Fourth in Latin Extension

– Fourth in Mathematics Extension 2 and the top female student in this subject

– Fourth in Modern History

– Fourth in Music Extension

– Fifth in Community and Family Studies

– Fifth in Music 2

– Fifth in Japanese Beginners

– Sixth in Ancient History

– Sixth in Community and Family Studies

– Seventh in Drama

– Seventh in History Extension

– Seventh in Design and Technology

– Seventh in Geography

– Seventh in Visual Arts

– Eighth in PDHPE

– Eighth in Legal Studies

– Eighth in History Extension

– Ninth in Biology

– Ninth in 2 Unit Mathematics

– Tenth in Geography

– Tenth in Modern History

– Twelfth in Chemistry

– Twelfth in Ancient History

HSC highlights from previous years

Tertiary studyTertiary CoursesThe most popular tertiary courses chosen by Meriden students over recent years

University OffersPreferred university destinations for Meriden’s HSC students over recent years

– Arts, Communications, Marketing

– Commerce, Business, Finance

– Design, Architecture

– Economics, Accounting

– Education, Social Work

– Engineering, Biomedical Design

– Human Movement, Exercise Science

– Information Technology, Website Design

– Law, International Studies

– Liberal Studies, Political Science

– Medicine

– Music, Performing Arts

– Science, Psychology

– Visual Arts

UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY

UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

SYDNEY

UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN

SYDNEY

UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH

WALES

MACQUARIEUNIVERSITY

OTHERUNIVERSITIES*

*Includes interstate and international universities

The performance of each girl in each of her HSC subjects is indicated in levels, called Bands, from 1 to 6. Bands 5 and 6 are the highest levels. The table below shows the HSC subjects studied at Meriden in 2016.

Performance in HSC subjects

2016 NAPLAN results

Meriden’s results in the 2016 Federal Government’s National Assessment Program were, once again, exceptional.

Conducted by the Ministerial Council for Education, Early Childhood, Training and Youth Affairs, NAPLAN provides a measure of how Australian students are performing in numeracy, reading, writing, spelling and grammar.

All students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 in schools across Australia undertake the same tests on the same days. Following is a snapshot of Meriden’s results in comparison to the state-wide results.

% OF MERIDEN STUDENTS PLACED IN THE TOP BAND (The figure in brackets is the % of students placed in the top band state-wide)

YEAR 3

YEAR 5

YEAR 7

YEAR 9

READING 72 (28) 41 (12) 40 (15) 27 (8)

WRITING 51 (17) 26 (5) 25 (5) 14 (4)

SPELLING 80 (27) 58 (12) 56 (16) 29 (8)

GRAMMAR AND PUNCTUATION 77 (35) 53 (15) 64 (21) 32 (9)

NUMERACY 51 (20) 55 (14) 42 (16) 40 (13)

COURSE % IN BANDS 5 & 6 AT MERIDEN

% IN BANDS 5 & 6 IN STATE

MERIDEN’S TOP MARKS IN EACH

COURSE

HOSPITALITY 28.57 29.81 89

JAPANESE BEGINNERS 50.00 43.25 99

LATIN CONTINUERS 100 80.48 80

LEGAL STUDIES 88.23 42.02 96

MATHEMATICS 91.48 52.51 99

MATHEMATICS EXTENSION 1 92.30 79.37 49*

MATHEMATICS EXTENSION 2 100 85.34 94

MATHEMATICS GENERAL 2 89.57 25.63 97

MODERN HISTORY 84.00 40.84 95

MUSIC 1 100 62.74 96

MUSIC 2 100 89.53 96

MUSIC EXTENSION 100 93.59 49*

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT, HEALTH AND PHYSICAL EDUCATION

80.95 34.41 98

PHYSICS 47.61 TBA 91

SENIOR SCIENCE 68.75 28.58 94

SPANISH BEGINNERS 50.00 43.23 98

STUDIES OF RELIGION 83.33 49.92 46*

VISUAL ARTS 74.99 54.38 96

COURSE % IN BANDS 5 & 6 AT MERIDEN

% IN BANDS 5 & 6 IN STATE

MERIDEN’S TOP MARKS IN EACH

COURSE

ANCIENT HISTORY 87.50 30.68 99

BIOLOGY 84.20 35.11 95

BUSINESS STUDIES 85.70 34.33 96

CHEMISTRY 79.99 40.94 97

CHINESE BACKGROUND SPEAKERS 100 65.72 90

COMMUNITY AND FAMILY STUDIES 85.71 30.53 96

DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY 85.71 40.80 93

DRAMA 100 42.60 97

ECONOMICS 75.00 45.20 94

ENGLISH ADVANCED 91.66 61.92 96

ENGLISH STANDARD 50.00 13.39 90

ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE 55.55 27.03 90

ENGLISH EXTENSION 1 100 94.67 47*

ENGLISH EXTENSION 2 100 79.35 48*

FOOD TECHNOLOGY 66.66 29.38 95

FRENCH CONTINUERS 80.00 65.33 97

FRENCH EXTENSION 100 88.76 47*

GEOGRAPHY 100 40.93 96

HISTORY EXTENSION 1 100 80.59 50*

* MARK OUT OF 50

DebatingIn the Les Gordon History Debating Competition, the Year 10 team of Margot McKeown, Daisy Hannaford, Jessica Wei and Kathrin Germanos pushed their debating skills to their limits and progressed through to the grand final, missing out on the winning title by the narrowest of margins. This competition brings together teams from sixteen independent and selective schools from across NSW to debate contentious historical issues.

Four of Meriden’s seven Debating teams progressed to the final rounds of the Archdale Debating competition. This competition is one of the most prestigious for school students, with the standard of topics, adjudicators and opposition extremely high. Meriden’s debaters proved themselves to be skilled and informed throughout debates covering a wide range of topic areas.

HistoryA compelling submission by Vidya Kathir (Year 11) earned her selection to the 2016 NSW Schools Constitutional Convention held at Parliament House, Sydney. Delegates to this annual Convention consider and discuss issues relating to the Australian Constitution. The topic for the 2016 Convention was Referendums and Plebiscites.

LanguagesEach year Language students take part in the ACER Assessment of Language Competence test which draws on students’ sociocultural knowledge, cognitive skills and their knowledge of the structure and purpose of language. To achieve a High Distinction in both the reading and listening sections of the test is the hallmark of an outstanding student. The following students achieved this honour in 2016: Chelsea Jin, Jacaranda Zhu, Lilian Chen, Metilda You (Year 7) and Diana Shen (Year 8) for Chinese Certificate 1; Michelle Oh

and Natalie Hui (Year 7) for French Certificate 1; Helena Yan, Jessica Layton (Year 8), Aileen Wang and Jessica Qiao (Year 9) for French Certificate 2. Esther Wong and Priscilla Li (Year 10) for Chinese Certificate 2; Anna Jin (Year 8), Annie Dong and Katherine Li (Year 10) for Chinese Background Certificate 2.

Parnassus AwardsStudents who complete an original and evaluative research-based composition of creative work in any discipline are eligible for a Parnassus Award. A Gold Parnassus Award is granted when the work demonstrates outstanding rigour and merit.

The 2016 Gold Parnassus Medallions were awarded to Margot McKeown for Science, Lily Yang for Science, and Alice Flanagan for History.

Public SpeakingThe Youth Forum is an annual event which enables motivated and talented students to identify, research and present an issue of importance to today’s youth. The winners of the 2016 Youth Forum were Margot McKeown, Kathrin Germanos, Tiana Lieng and Jessica Wang.

The Festival of Speech saw the Meriden team participate in the categories of Drama, Public Speaking, Debating, Poetry, Prose Readings, Current Affairs and Religious and Ethical Questions. The Meriden team placed tenth overall, third in Junior Poetry, fifth in Senior Poetry and fifth in Drama. Superb performances earned Freja Newman (Year 8) fifth place in Junior Poetry and Jenny Pang (Year 11) third place in Senior Poetry.

2016 Academic Highlights

1 Year 10 History Debating team: Kathrin Germanos, Daisy Hannaford, Margot McKeown and Jessica Wei 2 NSW Schools Constitutional Convention delegate, Vidya Kathir 3 Parnassus Gold Medallion recipients: Alice Flanagan, Lily Yang and Margot McKeown 4 2016 Youth Forum winners: Margot McKeown, Jessica Wang, Tiana Lieng and Kathrin Germanos 5 Festival of Speech Award recipient, Freja Newman, with Dr Phoebe Poon and Ms Annemaree McLeod

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1 Geography Teachers’ Association Award recipients: Anne Yang, Rebecca Huynh, Marissa Petrakis and Daisy Hannaford 2 2016 YMCA Junior Parliament participants: Alana Zhang, Emily Liao, Michelle Miao and Michelle Jiang with Ms Jodi McKay, Member for Strathfield 3 Science Olympiads high achievers: Louisa Wang, Claire Zhao and Kendelle Bakunowicz 4 Da Vinci Decathlon team: Jessica Wei, Esther Wong, Helen Zhang, Alicia Lieng, Georgina Vimalaratnam, Daphne Zhuang, Margot McKeown and Rebecca Huynh (not pictured) 5 UNSW Economics and Business Studies High Distinction recipient, Grace Watson-Carr

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Social ScienceThe NSW Geography Teachers’ Association awards prizes to students who have completed outstanding research and fieldwork during the year. In the category of Fieldwork and Visual Presentation, Meriden students took out the top three prizes. Marissa Petrakis was awarded first prize, Daisy Hannaford won second prize and Rebecca Huynh won third prize. In the Brock Rowe Senior Geography Project Fieldwork category, Anne Yang (Year 12) achieved Equal Highly Commended.

Economics student Grace Watson-Carr (Year 11) was awarded a High Distinction and a cash prize for her outstanding achievement in the Economics and Business Studies Competition organised by University of New South Wales Business School.

Year 9 Commerce students Emily Liao, Michelle Jiang, Michelle Miao and Alana Zhang attended a week-long camp to learn about the inner workings of State Parliament after winning selection to the 2016 YMCA Junior Parliament Program. This is an apolitical program that introduces students to the legal and parliamentary process of NSW and empowers them to be advocates for their community.

STEMIn the Science Olympiads Claire Zhao (Year 11) achieved High Distinctions in Physics and Chemistry placing her in the top ten percent of students. She has been invited to participate in the Australian Physics Olympiad Summer School in January 2017 which covers the equivalent of first year university studies in Physics. Kendelle Bakunowicz and Louisa Wang (Year 11) achieved Distinctions in Biology and Chemistry respectively in the Science Olympiads.

Lily Yang (Year 9), Margot McKeown (Year 10), Georgia Batson (Year 9), Kate Carey (Year 10) and Maddison King (Year 12) were the recipients of the NSW Science Teachers’ Association Young Scientists Awards for their scientific investigations and innovations. Maddison King also won selection to represent Australia at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) in May 2017 in Los Angeles, USA.

In the Rio Tinto Big Science Competition, twenty-one Years 7–10 students achieved High Distinctions. This competition tests critical thinking and problem solving skills.

Emily Liao, Clare Chen, Aileen Wang and Ananya Deshpande (Year 9) qualified and took part in the University of Sydney Gifted and Talented Science Discovery Program.

In the Da Vinci Decathlon, Meriden’s Year 10 team achieved first place in the Engineering section of the challenge. Team members were Jessica Wei, Esther Wong, Helen Zhang, Alicia Lieng, Georgina Vimalaratnam, Daphne Zhuang, Margot McKeown and Rebecca Huynh.

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1 National Youth Science forum delegates, Jannessa Yao and Claire Zhao 2 UNSW Bragg Science Writing Competition winner, Marissa Petrakis 3 University of Wollongong Engineering Studies Competition major prize recipients, Kristi Plavsic and Kate Wu 4 Bond University Research Week Challenge team: Lucy Devine, Kathrin Germanos, Sabrina Nicholas and Kate Carey 5 ASTA Education Perfect STEM Challenge winner, Rena Tang

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10-12 Redmyre Road, Strathfield NSW 2135CRICOS No. 02318F

www.meriden.nsw.edu.au

Telephone 61 2 9752 9444Email [email protected]

Jannessa Yao and Claire Zhao (Year 11) were two of only 150 students Australia-wide to win selection to attend the prestigious National Youth Science Forum in Canberra in 2017.

Marissa Petrakis (Year 10) was the winner of the UNSW Bragg Science Writing Competition which invited students to write an 800-word essay on an Australian invention or discovery.

In the ICAS Science Competition, High Distinctions were achieved by Michelle Oh, Liyang Yu and Anna Zhou (Year 7); Helena Yan (Year 8); Ananya Deshpande (Year 9); Georgina Vimalaratnam, Jessica Wei and Betty Zheng (Year 10).

In the University of Wollongong Engineering Studies Competition, Kate Wu and Kristi Plavsic (Year 11) were the recipients of major prizes for their Engineering Reports. The assessment criteria included accuracy of information relevant to the topic, structure, discussion of results, innovation, and quality of the presentation.

In the University of Sydney National Computer Science School’s Coding Challenge Lily Yang attained equal first place in Australia in the Intermediate section and was one of the top two Year 9 girls in the competition. She received a Perfect Score in the Intermediate section and a Credit in the Advanced section. High Distinctions were awarded to Ursula Hogan and Aileen Wang in the Intermediate section. In the Beginners section, Georgia Batson achieved a Distinction, Grace Blomfield achieved a High Distinction and Annalise Tran and Joanna Kontogiorgis received Perfect Scores.

Rena Tang (Year 7) was awarded first place in the ASTA Education Perfect STEM Challenge for her design of a drone inspired by the hoverfly, Eristalis tenax. Her achievement earned her an invitation to participate in the Women in Science STEMM Symposium in Melbourne.

Madeline Lam (Year 12) gained selection to attend the Da Vinci Engineering Enrichment Program at the University of Toronto to complete the Foundations of Quantum Mechanics course and Robotics: Autonomous Maze Challenge.

Student ResearchThree Year 10 research teams placed in the top five teams nationally in the Bond University Research Week Challenge. Meriden received special mention from the university for being the only school to have all its teams make the top five places in the competition. The twelve researchers who represented Meriden were Kate Carey, Lucy Devine, Kathrin Germanos, Rebecca Huynh, Tammy Koo, Alicia Lieng, Margot McKeown, Sabrina Nicholas, Georgina Vimalaratnam, Jessica Wei, Esther Wong and Helen Zhang.

2016 academic highlights - meriden: an anglican school …€¦ · they are simone chan, vrinda...

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