HSC success for Wee Waa High students

During the last two years, it’s fair to say Wee Waa High School students have had everything but the kitchen sink thrown at them when it comes to disruptions to learning; however, the Year 12 class of 2021 has “come out on top”, blitzing the Higher School Certificate with two band 6 results and one student finishing fifth in the state in the subject of Primary Industries.

WWHS students and staff have had to overcome the challenges of COVID-19 restrictions and remote learning, relocating to Wee Waa Public School due to mould concerns and floods at the end of last year.

“I couldn’t be prouder of every one of our Year 12 students and the results they have achieved in this year’s HSC,” said WWHS principal Annabel Doust.

“I am also exceptionally proud of our teachers for their outstanding leadership and the way they have nurtured and developed their student’s knowledge and preparedness for the HSC.

“During Year 11 and Year 12, these students had two phases of learning from home due to COVID and several stints due to the mould issue we had at the old high school.

“I look at our Year 12s’ results and I see resilience, determination, and perseverance.

“It makes you wonder what they could have achieved without these challenges.

“These students and our staff really do embody our motto of ‘Striving for Excellence’.

“I couldn’t be happier, and I wish every one of our 17 graduates every happiness and success.

“To our staff, I say an enormous thank you.”

The Courier interviewed three of WWHS’ top-performing HSC students: Alisha Conomos, Bryony Allen and Amelia Kiem, who were all thrilled with their results and delighted for their classmates overall.

“I think we all did exceptionally well considering what we went through,” said Alisha.

“The last two years were so hard, and even though we worked extremely hard, you just didn’t know whether it was going to pay off.

“And something I really want to say is that we got these results, and we came from Wee Waa High School.

“I feel like some people sort of look down on Wee Waa High, so I want us to show people that you can do well no matter what school you’re at.

“I sometimes feel like people who go to bigger schools look down on us because we are such a small school and especially with everything we’ve been through, but then we came out on top, and I really what to emphasise that – Wee Waa came out on top.

“We have 100 times fewer resources than people in the city, we don’t have as much opportunity, and we still got the marks we did because it’s about the motivation, the perseverance, and we pushed through – we all worked together.”

Alisha Conomos, daughter of Cathy and Andrew, scored a band 6 in Personal Development, Health and Physical Education.

A band 6 result is a mark of 90 per cent or greater.

Alisha also achieved three band 5s, a band 4 and an Australian Tertiary Admission Rank of 86.8.

Bryony Allen, daughter of Robyn and Graham, scored a band 6 in Primary Industries and also came fifth in the state in that subject, and was awarded a Distinguised Achiever Award.

Bryony also scored two band 5s, two band 4s and an ATAR of 82.95.

Amelia Kiem, daughter of Tracy and Phil, scored three band 5s, two band 4s and an ATAR 74.7.

“I’m so glad we finally made it to the end,” said Bryony.

“We can collectively say as a group that we actually made it.

“It’s taken so long, and I’m sure there’s a couple of people who thought they wouldn’t actually get there – but we got there eventually.”

Bryony said she was “pleasantly surprised” with her excellent results.

“I think I was at the point where I’d convinced myself that I was going to get an average mark because after the last two years, honestly, you just didn’t know what to expect because it was so up and down.

“I was very pleasantly surprised.”

Bryony is extremely enthusiastic about agriculture and primary industries; she cares for cattle at Coonamble and will pursue her passion further at Charles Stuart University in Wagga Wagga in 2023, after taking a gap year.

“I work five days a week right now, and I’ll do (cattle) shows and whatever else I can get to on the weekend, pending COVID.”

“Then next year, I’ll be in Wagga Wagga doing a Bachelor of Animal Science.

“I’m excited to get away for a bit, I’ve been confined to the levee bank for 18 years, so I feel like it’s probably time.”

Amelia said she was “blown away” by her HSC results.

“When I got my results in the text message, it started with the lowest mark and finished with the highest mark, so when it first popped up I was like ‘Oh, 77 in English – this isn’t going real well’, and then I read down the list and thought , ‘Oh no, this is good now’,” explained Amelia.

“I can’t stress enough just how hard the last two years have been, and I’m just so happy it’s over and done with.”
Amelia’s stand-out subject was hospitality, and she credits working at the Marinda Nursery Café for giving her hands-on experience.

“I got 88 in hospitality, so it was my highest mark, but I was very, very happy with my maths mark too, which was 80.”

In a couple of weeks, Amelia will head off to university in Newcastle to study a Bachelor of Primary Education.

“I’m excited, but I’m also very nervous,” said Amelia.

“I’m a bit worried about levee bank syndrome, but I think it will be a good change because ultimately, I think I want to come back here to teach.”

Amelia was inspired to study teaching after completing work experience at St Joseph’s Primary School in Year 10, and also after witnessing the amazing efforts of her high school teachers in recent years.

“I was so impressed with our teachers and with how they handled online learning – they were learning as we were learning,” said Amelia.

Alisha said it was a “massive relief” to finally receive her HSC results and ATAR of 86.8, and along with Bryony and Amelia, she expressed a huge amount of gratitude to WWHS’ teachers and humbly said: “We couldn’t have done it without them”.

“We all felt extremely relieved because of the tough year we had, and we all worked extremely hard,” said Alisha.

“Sometimes we stayed at school with our teachers until 6pm, we went in and worked during holidays, we worked over the weekend.

“When COVID happened, and we couldn’t go to school, we were on our laptops the entire day doing work.

“We all worked together, and we studied together.

“Our maths teacher, Andrew Kiely, he was one who really helped.

“Sometimes he was meant to go away, but he stayed in Wee Waa to study with us,” said Alisha.

“But he wasn’t just helpful with maths; he was so helpful with balancing your study and even just generally having a chat,” added Amelia.

“I want to add in a ‘thank you’ to the ag. teacher Olivia Bray,” added Bryony.

“She was straight out of university and came to our school, and she took it all in her stride.

“All the teachers were great; if you needed resources – they would find them,” said Bryony.

“The same with Sally Cain, she was a big help for all of us – even when she wasn’t our teacher, she helped,” added Alisha.

“She stayed at school with me some afternoons and helped with essays.

“She’s been with us since Year 7, and she’s looked out for all of us the whole time.”

Alisha, who received a Band 6 result in PDHPE, said she was “extremely surprised” with her mark of 89 in the subject of Business, and she would also be taking a gap year while she decides what to study in 2023.

“This year I’m working as a vet nurse at Western Namoi Veterinary Clinic in Narrabri and then next year I got accepted into PE teaching at Newcastle but I’ve also been accepted into the University of Sydney for a Bachelor of Science and Advanced Studies majoring in animal/vet studies, so I’m taking the year to decide which course and if I change my mind and I want to do a different course then I can apply for it.”

The three graduates said taking care of their mental health was a key part of their success, and one day a month, the students would stop studying and meet up to try and switch off and
relax; for example, they went to the Moree pools on once occassion.

“I want to thank the girls and all our friends because there was literally that one day of the month where we’d take time out for ourselves and just hang out with each other, and we would be recharged ‘just like that’,” said Bryony.

“I think the main thing is knowing when to take a break, and sometimes I wouldn’t know when to take a break, but these two would say – we need to take a break, let’s go watch a movie.”

“It’s important to focus on your mental health outside of school because it plays such a big part, your study reflects on your mental health, and your mental health reflects how you study,” said Amelia.

“And if you don’t take care of yourself, how can you expect your brain and your body to cope with the amount of work that you’ve got to do,” added Alisha.

“I think it’s extremely important for the years upcoming to remember to take care of yourself because we took the time out to do it, and we still achieved what we did, so there’s always time to have a break – just have a KitKat,” Alisha added.

The graduates said it was fantastic to celebrate with their family and friends at the Year 12 formal last year, especially because they weren’t able to have a proper graduation ceremony.

They also enjoyed a small dinner celebration when they received their results.

“The people we do really want to thank are our families.

“Without our families and parents’ support, we definitely wouldn’t have made it. They were pushing us the whole way through, and they were there for us, and when we got our results – they were stoked,” said Alisha.