Amongst the thousands of VCE candidates and the many schools in Victoria that have reasons to celebrate this week the release of the official VCE results, are more than 100 Greek Australian students as well as the many of our community schools. First among them is Alphington Grammar which has achieved an impressive position in the top 50 schools in Victoria. With a new VCE School Ranking of 43, they have been named one of the most improved Victorian schools of the past ten years. 19.2 percent of their students achieved a final score over 40, and their median VCE score is now 33 – an impressive improvement from last year’s 31.
Principal Dr Vivianne Nikou has praised the students, saying: “The class of 2013 have broken the record set by the class of 2012 and reset the benchmark of performance for future generations of Alphington Grammar students.” Speaking to Neos Kosmos Dr Nikou described the school as being a reflection of the wider Australian community since 40 per cent of its students are of non Greek background.
President of the Greek Community Bill Papastergiadis has commended the school: “A spectacular achievement for the Greek Community of Melbourne and for its flagship school, Alphington Grammar.” He also highlighted the Greek Community’s goal to “turn this school into one of the academic elites of Victoria.”
The highest student result at the school was by Shoumyaa Thanaskanda, who received an ATAR score of 99.5 per cent, and was one of four students who received the highest score of 50 for a subject. In addition, 19 per cent of students are placed in the top 5 per cent in Victoria, and 54 per cent in the top 20 per cent.
St. John’s College also reported impressive results, with Octavian Catrinei achieving the highest mark with an ATAR score of 99.55, which included a 50 in English (EAL) and a 45 in Legal Studies. This is the highest result by a St. John’s College student in their history, and is all the more significant given the fact that Romanian-born Octavian only came to Australia 2 years ago after being raised in Greece.
Octavian was also the recipient of numerous prizes, including the St. John’s College Orthodoxy Award (for those with the highest mark in the study of Orthodoxy), the Caltex Award (for those with the best academic results, leadership skills and excellent behaviour) and the Australian Defence Force Award ‘Long Tan’ (for leadership skills and teamwork).
Octavian is not the only student to achieve high marks in individual VCE subjects. Gregory Koutsantonis received a 40 in Maths Methods and 40 for Chemistry, Athanasia Kavaleris received a 45, and Joan Catrinei a 42, in Greek, Angela Athanasiou achieved 39 in Health and Human Development and Rinjila Pradhan a 39 for Studio Arts.
A statement by St. John’s College says: “St John’s College congratulates its Year 12 students for their excellent performance in the 2013 VCE Examinations, with most of them
already well-positioned to secure a tertiary offer for their degree of first choice.”
Oakleigh Grammar has also produced high ranking results, with Vasilis Dimitriou aspiring for acceptance into a degree in Radiology at Monash University after receiving an
ATAR score of 95%.
A statement from Oakleigh Grammar School commends Vasili on his learning achievement and the loyalty to studies that he exhibited this year, securing him a mark that will hopefully allow him to reach his goal of studying Radiology.
Similarly high results can be seen throughout Victoria by students studying the Greek language as a part of their VCE. According to the VCAA, 274 students studied Greek in 2013, which is 18 more than 2012. In addition, 23 students received a score of 40 or over in the subject.
Among the students, the highest marks were by Katerini Pandelithou, of Northcote High School, who received the top mark of 50 in her examinations, followed by Theodora Siganou of Alphington Grammar with a 47.
President of the Australian Federation of Ethnic Schools Associations, Tasos Douvartzidis, expressed his satisfaction at the year’s results. He says, “The performance of our youth is absolutely encouraging and attest to the good work of all those involved in the study of Greek.”
Overall, more than 100 Greek Australian students achieved excellence in various subjects in their VCE examinations.
