Avalon’s Barrenjoey High has stepped into the spotlight in recent years, soaring up the HSC rankings and doubling its number of top band results. What is this non-selective school – and its new principal – getting so right?
By Catherine Lewis
When Brett Blaker took the helm as principal at Barrenjoey High School in July 2024, the school was struggling with a skeleton staff, ravaged by a country-wide teacher shortage that was hindering those on the HSC path. Fast-forward a mere year and the school has rocketed up the Sydney Morning Herald HSC rankings by 223 spots, doubling the number of top band results achieved the year prior and plugging most staffing gaps. So how has this non-selective comprehensive school defied the odds to rocket into academic overdrive – and is it something it can continue to emulate?
‘Yes,’ says former NSW Cup rugby league player and past deputy principal at Pittwater High School, Brett Blaker. He tells PL that a ‘deliberate, research-informed approach to quality teaching and learning,’ has been the key to Barrenjoey’s remarkable success. “We have embedded explicit teaching – step-by-step teacher-led instruction – across the school, moving from modelled, to guided, to independent practice,” Mr Blaker says.
“Our staff have worked collaboratively to enhance the quality of assessment, with particular emphasis on understanding HSC verbs, refining writing techniques, and providing authentic experiences through a range of mock examinations. The explicit focus on HSC preparation and honing exam technique has been integral in ensuring our students have not only reached, but exceeded, their potential.”
And exceed it they have. More than 240 Band 5 results, double the number achieved in 2023, saw the school lay claim to a higher success rate (top band results) than 47 other schools with students from similar or more advantaged backgrounds. “Barrenjoey High School achieved not only its second highest ranking result in two decades, but also its highest number of Band 6 results (90% or above) on record,” confirms Mr Blaker.
Buoyed by the stellar results of schools such as Barrenjoey, explicit teaching is now being encouraged across all NSW public schools by NSW Department of Education Secretary, Murat Dizdar. And a group of education experts – the Effective and Systematic Teaching Network (EAST) is also working to share best practice amongst schools. “What we know through the cognitive science that supports explicit teaching and how students learn best, is that it is consistent no matter the context, no matter your level of teaching experience, and no matter what type of school or student you’re supporting,” says Damien Feneley, principal in residence with the Collaborative Support Unique Settings team and supporter of EAST. “We’re now applying our understanding of human cognitive science to how we teach, and it’s like in elite sport – we’re going to see the same developments,” he adds.
An area in desperate need of development, says the Australian Education Resource Organisation (AERO), is trainee teacher education, which is failing teachers, especially across the literacy domain. Both primary and secondary teachers report ‘inadequate pre-service preparation.’ This failing is trickling down to students, agrees recent NAPLAN data, with 30% of Year 7 students and 40% of Year 9 students scoring at or below the national minimum benchmark in NAPLAN literacy and numeracy. Boys are twice as likely to be at the bottom in literacy, and even more likely to fall behind once they hit high school.
Enter an expert panel, led by Mark Scott, a professor, vice chancellor of the University of Sydney and former secretary of the NSW Education Department. The panel has been working to boost initial teacher education (ITE) for more than two years, as part of the Fedearl Government’s $4.6 million Strong Beginnings Fund. The panel has been supporting higher education providers to embed mandatory core content across ITE classes by the end of this year, focusing heavily on practical teaching experience and enhancing postgraduate teacher education for mid-career entrants.
“Teachers have the biggest impact on student learning in the classroom, but work in a challenging environment,” says Mr Scott. “Preparing beginning teachers to confidently and successfully step into the classroom relies on quality ITE and we want to make sure that all beginning teachers learn and can apply the teaching practices which work best.”
Putting theory into practice is Barrenjoey’s Blaker, telling PL: “This year, several staff have participated in Quality Teaching Rounds as part of the Strengthening Teacher Induction project, guided by Newcastle University, which focuses on deepening intellectual quality, fostering a supportive learning environment, and ensuring learning is meaningful and significant. To build on this, we’ve also adopted a term-by-term teaching sprint model, where staff engage in targeted professional learning with a focus on explicit teaching. These sprints are designed to embed gradual, sustainable improvements in practice that ensure learners are consistently challenged, enriched and extended,” he adds.
The school is focused on wellbeing alongside academia, to ensure students are set for future success
A recruitment drive focusing on targeted graduate programs, transfers and staff promotions, has also allowed Barrenjoey, a geographically isolated school campus, to fill as many as 14 staffing gaps, attracting teachers from across Sydney, and gaining much-needed stability – and sustainability – for its students. It’s this intentional and aspirational vision for a bright future, that Mr Blaker says the school has ‘invested in heavily.’ “Our HSC Improvement Teams in both HSIE and mathematics are working with local schools to drive subject-specific initiatives that build exam readiness and increase student performance,” he says. “The senior study program also remains a key supportive strategy, offering a collaborative space for focused revision and enrichment, helping students take ownership of their learning and strive for excellence.”
The high school’s unique Band Up Society, an optional exam- prep club that runs outside of the regular timetable and in the school holidays, is ‘reinforcing high expectations’ in maths and offers ‘targeted support,’ particularly around ‘lifting students into the top two academic bands.’ Aside from academia, an ‘unwavering commitment to student wellbeing’ has seen an 11% rise in the school’s Tell Them from Me data on the Sense of Belonging theme. “In essence, this success stems from aligning high-impact teaching strategies with a strong culture of care and aspiration and all students now feel known, valued and cared for,” says Mr Blaker.
Students benefit from the positive learning culture
Principal Blaker is committed to ensuring Barrenjoey High becomes the school of choice locally
There will be no trading on past successes at this Avalon institution. Instead, the principal and his ‘dedicated’ team are ‘firmly focused on continuous improvement,’ with literacy, numeracy, student engagement, wellbeing, student pathways and HSC achievement topping the list. “We will also continue to build on the capacity of our teachers and leaders through professional learning that is strategic, targeted and evidence- based to provide a positive learning culture,” says the principal.
Barrenjoey High looks set to continue to reach for the stars – but then that’s nothing for the beachside school that once broke a world record by stretching out 880 surfboards end-on- end, putting the school’s motto, ‘Respect, Effort, Challenge’ into action. As for Brett Blaker’s personal aspirations for the school that has earned recognition far beyond the Beaches, they remain close to home. “I am committed to ensuring Barrenjoey becomes the school of choice locally, where strong academic outcomes, a diverse curriculum and a positive perception are at the forefront. Above all, we are a proud community.”
HSC RANKINGS BARRENJOEY HIGH
Sydney Morning Herald’s ranking charts
2024
Rank: 144
Success rate (high scores expressed as a % of entries): 13.51% Median success rate for NSW schools: 5.47%
2023
Rank: 367
Success rate: 3.6%