Eight of town's brightest in Top 20

Alice Springs is well represented in the Top 20 (actually 21)  results for the Northern Territory Certificate of Education and Training (NTCET). The students received their results yesterday.
 
Six students from St Philip’s College and two from Our Lady of the Sacred Heart College were among the top scorers, with Nina Miers from St Philip’s in second place. She achieved an Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) of 99.8, just behind top scorer Asim Razi from Darwin High School, who obtained ATAR of 99.95.
 
Cameron Brown from OLSH was ranked fourth with 99.4 and Alaina Standish from St Philip’s was at sixth place with 99.2. They were joined in the Top 21 by Aishwariya Seshakumaran from St Philip’s with 98.7; Himanshu Soni from OLSH with 98.45; and Anika Patel, Naomi Ingamells and Samuel Nippress, all from St Philip’s and all with ATARs of 97.9.
 
Government schools in Darwin are well represented in the Top 21, with nine placings and six of those in the Top Ten including the top scorer, but Centralian Senior College this year did not have a student in the Top 21.
 
Across the NT this year 1255 students completed the NTCET, an increase of 46 on last year. They included 174 Indigenous students, an increase of 30% on 2012. However, this amounts to only a seventh of the total and is thus still disproportionately low.
 
Ashleigh Ascoli from O’Loughlin College (a Catholic college in Karama, Darwin) was the top placed Indigenous student.
 
“These results are more than a mark on a page, they represent an investment made by many people,” acknowledged Minister for Education Peter Chandler.
 
They demonstrate “a rewarding partnership between teachers and students within challenging learning environments,” he said.