2019 Student Success

It is with great pride that I share with you exciting news of our SACE Class of 2019 who received their results this morning.

Every student received her SACE qualification and can feel justifiably proud of the personal excellence she has achieved.

On behalf of the Walford community, I extend special congratulations to Tess Rutherford who achieved an ATAR of above 99 and merits in English Literary Studies and General Mathematics. She is joined by Talisa Soong, Matilda Padbury, Bridget Moore, Victoria Markos, Olivia Walker and Martina Theodorakakos who also received merits, some multiple, across eight subject areas.

We also congratulate Mackenzie Francis-Brown who has been awarded a Governor of South Australia Commendation for academic excellence and making a difference to the community. She is one of only 28 students in the State to receive this prestigious accolade.

Of the 28 subjects studied in Year 12, 55 percent of all grades were in the A band. This compares with a state average of 27 percent. An early analysis of learning areas highlights that Walford students performed exceptionally well across all learning areas when compared with State benchmarks.

A comprehensive analysis will be shared with our community after our IB Class and students undertaking an IB/SACE hybrid course receive their results in the new year. However, at this early stage, I can confirm that 18% of our SACE graduates have attained an ATAR placing them in the top 5% and 39% in the top 10% of the nation’s highest achievers.

Whilst these excellent results reflect the commitment of our students to strive for their best, these results alone do not define the success of a Walford graduate, nor are they the sum of the total schooling experience. All of the girls have taken the opportunity to be part of the rich culture at Walford, immersing themselves completely in the life of the school, by participating in a vast range of co-curricular activities, undertaking leadership roles and organising social service initiatives.

Our dedicated staff, teachers and the leadership team have worked in partnership with families to provide guidance and support to enable each student to feel encouraged at every stage of her learning. Many teachers were at Walford today to celebrate the efforts and achievements of the graduating class.

We extend our sincere appreciation to parents, caregivers and families whose invaluable support provides a pivotal foundation and contributes to the inspiring culture of learning and aspiration we have at Walford.

We wish all of our year 12 graduates the very best for their next endeavours and we look forward to personally congratulating them at the celebration assembly early next year.

Rebecca Clarke
Walford Principal