Brilliant academic celebrations, more than 3,000 students participating in the sport program and a wonderful boost for Haileybury arts have all been a part of a very enjoyable first two weeks of school for 2025.
Haileybury graduates last year achieved an outstanding set of Australian Tertiary Admissions Ranking results with 52% of the 500 graduates in the top 10% in Australia and 97% in the top 40% of the country. This has opened up outstanding pathways for future study and work with around 70% of Haileybury students heading to universities ranked in the top 100 in the world. The academic excellence of the 2024 cohort was celebrated at two honours assemblies in Aikman Hall for the Years 10 and 11 students last week which both acknowledged the wonderful achievement of Haileybury students but also served as an outstanding example of what hard work and collaboration with great teachers can achieve.
Further evidence of Haileybury’s focused, evidence-based teaching leading to academic success came with the Murdoch press doing an analysis of NAPLAN mathematics results in Years 5 and 9 across Australia. There are just under 10,000 schools in Australia and in Year 5 mathematics Haileybury students were 11th in the country. In Year 9 Haileybury students were eighth of all open entry schools. These are exceptional results and the reflection of a very strong, focused primary school and middle school mathematics program.
It has been wonderful to watch the first two weekends of the full sport program with more than 3,000 students representing Haileybury in APS (boys) and APS/AGSV (girls) competitions as well as seeing participation in the many sports and activities offered alongside the APS/AGSV. Haileybury sports staff, teaching staff and the specialist coaches do an excellent job in supporting students at whatever level they are participating. We monitor very closely the experience of teams each weekend to see where additional support might be required. I thank the whole community for their engagement and support for Haileybury sport.
Haileybury is 134 years old, and our Founders Day events are a celebration of an institution which is proud of its history, but which continues to evolve to prepare the graduates of the future for life after school. At the Senior School Founders Day Assemblies Adam Elliot was awarded the Old Haileyburians Medal and spoke to all the Senior School students. Adam is an extraordinary storyteller, claymation film artist, director and producer. His short film Harvie Krumpet won him the Oscar in 2004 and his latest feature film Memoir of a Snail has received a 2025 Oscar nomination. Adam spoke of the importance of art and asked students to think of a world which did not have creativity, art, design, film and music in it. He encouraged students to follow their passions — even when these can be difficult and need great persistence. Memoir of a Snail was eight years in the making — evidence of Adam’s remarkable persistence.
As Adam has said in interviews, “I’m telling stories about perceived imperfections and the flaws we all think we have and how many of us try to fix our flaws. But really what we should be doing is embracing them and also other people. Empathy is a key ingredient with my characters.”
In the credits of the film there is a line which says, “Made by Humans.” It is a wonderful reminder of the extraordinary power of people collaborating with people, doing creative, tactile activities together and enriching lives along the way.
Derek Scott
CEO | Principal
