By ERWIN CHLANDA
St Philip’s College Captain of Boys’ Boarding, College Vice Captain and College Dux, Dean Sullivan (at left), has placed 3rd and prefect, River Pachulicz (at right), has placed in the top 20 completing the Northern Territory Certificate of Education and Training (NTCET).
They are the only two Alice Springs students who made into the top 20 of the record 1399 students.
Education Minister Eva Lawler says one of the “truly encouraging signs” was the number of Indigenous students – 221, up 34 – who completed their NTCET, “particularly those from remote communities”.
A total of 111 students achieved an Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) of 90 or more, placing them in the top 10% of students across Australia.
The other top 20 students were eight from Darwin High School, five from The Essington School Darwin, two from Marrara Christian College, two from Casuarina Senior College and one from Katherine High School.
The top student for 2016 is Aaron Berthon of Darwin High. Marcus Valastro, the top Indigenous student, is also from Darwin High.
St Philip’s marketing manager, Jill Jansons, says: “Dean also received an A+ Merit for Mathematical Studies and congratulations to Gabrielle Borchers who received an A+ Merit for Mathematical Applications.”
She says 17 St Philip’s students received an ATAR of 90+ and 13 students received an ATAR of 80+.
“Special congratulations also to those students who completed pathway subjects. The college is developing the pathways program and believes strongly in the opportunity to provide a broad based education crossing all areas.”
Says Ms Lawler: “The great news is 37 of the Indigenous Year 12 students completed their studies in remote communities.
“The Northern Territory School of Distance Education played a big role with this group helping to increase the number of Indigenous NTCET recipients in remote community schools from 10 in 2015 to 22 in 2016.”