bruh you didnt tag me properly so i didn't see this. fair enough, you got me, penrith did increase in ranks and beat girra this year and i actually think it might even maintain this momentum for next year (i can't be very sure ngl, both schools are quite bad)
but i refuse to accept the L and im gonna double down on my point. penrith is not a better school compared to girraween despite what the ranks say and on average girra is a more successful school and has been over the years.
here is why:
- girra did not "get beat", they just maintained their already high rank. for reference in 2023 penrith was 35th and girra was 32nd, in 2022 penrith was 40th and girra was 29th.
- if penrith was a better school, their year 12 cohorts would not set a goal of solely "beating girra" in the hsc over the past few years (can some year 12 penrith kids confirm my point). girra is just more nonchalant and sets their own standard (still not a good school but better)
- there are often slightly more students in penrith than girra for some reason, contributes to a higher band 6 number
i've saved my strongest point for last. if anyone is bothered click the links below for the penrith and girra pages in the hsc ninja honour roll.
penrith:
Penrith High School HSC Honour Roll
girra:
Girraween High School HSC Honour Roll
this lists out individual students and the subjects in which they got band 6s for. so you'll notice penrith has like 40 more b6/e4s than girra does this year and that's why their ranking is higher. however...
if you scroll on the penrith page and count the people that only got one band 6 in penrith (specifically only in maths advanced, ancient history and business, the only accelerated subjects penrith offers), you'll notice that adds to about 50.
almost ALL of them are accelerated students. and out of the 2 state ranks they achieved only 1 of them came from their actual class of 2024 cohort, the other was from their accelerated 2u maths class.
if you count the number of students that get only 1 band 6 in girraween it adds to
less than 50 and most of them are NOT accelerated students. this is because girra has 1 less accelerated class than penrith and 1 less subject that they accelerate in. girra also only accelerates in bio and chem which that are arguably harder to band 6 than maths advanced, ancient and business. so they get wayy less band 6s from their accelerated cohort.
from what i can tell i would attribute penrith's relatively high ranking to the accelerated students in their class of 2024 cohort and not necessarily because they are smarter than girra. the only reason girra's accelerated students don't get them more band 6s is only because girra doesn't accelerate in subjects that are arguably easier to band 6.
penrith specifically picked those 3 subjects to offer accelerated classes bc they have a history of state ranks in those specific subject areas and knows their students will band 6 them. in fact their entire accelerated 2u maths class ends up doing 4u maths and a bunch of their ancient kids end up doing extension history. if girra played to their strengths and tried something similar i would say girra would rank much better than penrith.
i personally am inclined to think that if the rankings were to be determined by average ATAR, penrith would be ranked
lower than girraween because then the accelerated students in penrith would be excluded and there would be a more accurate estimate of average performance for the class of 2024.
overall penrith is not a better school than girra and the average atar is probably still higher at girra than at penrith. the band 6 numbers are distorted because penrith has a stronger cohort of accelerated students that may or may not perform better in the hsc in their own hsc year.
