26 Sep 2023
Fairvale High principal Kathleen Seto says myriad factors have contributed to her students’ success in HSC mathematics during her 16 years at the south-western Sydney school.
“One thing our teachers always do, though, is forensically look at data and results after assessment tasks. We pick up the gaps and if students haven’t got a concept we remedy that by explicitly teaching it, and develop worksheets to help them grasp it,” Seto says.
From 2020 to 2022, the school has achieved an average HSC score of 81 or above in advanced maths and maths extension 1. The 1400-pupil school in Fairfield West was announced as one of the public system’s first ambassador schools in 2021 and has scored above average in multiple subjects.
More than 90 per cent of students come from a language background other than English, she says, and 10 per cent are refugees. “Our school’s breakfast club feeds more than 100 students every day,” Seto says.
“It’s never one thing that leads to good results. In maths, the kids are really engaged in the subject, and we have a big emphasis on numeracy. But we aren’t doing anything magical.”
The school’s head maths teacher, Steve Barbuto – who has taught the subject for 40 years - works with learning support staff to “make sure the kids are in the right maths course, and they have counselling and mentoring in the years leading up to the HSC. We also have predictable routines, and put focus on classroom management,” she says.
The school also ranked among the top 20 comprehensive schools for visual arts in 2022 with an average score of 84. “We are always encouraging the students to enter art competitions,” she says.
Fairvale High is one of many NSW public high schools achieving strong average scores across a range of subjects, according to a new Herald analysis that examines scores over the past three years.
The analysis, from data published in most public schools’ annual reports, shows some schools are achieving consistently strong results across their whole student cohort, rather than just the top band 6 achievers. Most non-government schools do not report averages and are not included in this analysis.