NT's top Aboriginal Year 12 student from OLSH in Alice

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24110 St Philip’s students OK

St Philip’s College students Kai Simpson, Aaron Baseley, Jacob Moore and William Radovic shine in the NTCET.

 
By ERWIN CHLANDA
 
The top Aboriginal student for 2017 in the NT is Johvan Miles from Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Catholic College in Alice Springs, Minister for Education Eva Lawler announced.
 
Commenting on the Year 12 results she said the top NT student for 2017 is Nisangi Wijesinghe from Darwin High School with an ATAR of 99.80 and university aggregate of 88.30.
 
Ms Lawler says this year the highest number of students in its history, 1430, received the Northern Territory Certificate of Education and Training (NTCET).
 
Eight students in the NT achieved an ATAR placing them in the top 1% in Australia.
 
Ms Lawler says the number of Aboriginal Year 12 students to complete the NTCET has increased this year from 222 in 2016 to 226.
 
For the first time in a decade, Maningrida School had seven students completing their NTCET in 2017, compared to three in 2016.
 
NT students from seven schools received a total of 54 A+ Merit awards for performance in individual subjects.
 
Darwin High School students received more than 51% of the A+ Merit awards with a total of 28 out of 54.
 
In 2017, 47 students scored university aggregates in the 90th percentile, compared to 41 in 2016, says Ms Lawler.
 
Meanwhile St Philip’s College student Kai Simpson received an ATAR of 99 which placed him in the Top 10 students in the NT.
 
Aaron Baseley, Jacob Moore and William Radovic have all placed in the Top 20 in the NT. 31 students St Philip’s students received an ATAR of 80+.
 
Simpson received an A+ Merit for Biology, Baseley and Radovic each received an A+ Merit for English Literary Studies, and Moore an A+ Merit for Business and Enterprise.
 
Melissa Reeve and Jessica Tieck each received an A+ Merit for General Mathematics. 17 St Philip’s students received an ATAR of 90+ and 14 students an ATAR of 80+.
 
Northern Territory health services “will benefit greatly” with 25 new doctors graduating from the Flinders Northern Territory Medical Program, a joint initiative of Flinders University, Charles Darwin University, and the Northern Territory and Australian Governments, according to Chancellor Stephen Gerlach.
 
He says the 2017 graduates form the largest class of doctors to graduate since the program began in 2011.
 
They are Brendan Phelan, Adam Whitehead, Sanjay Joseph, Brandon Mu, Khadijah Nadeem, Cristina Galvan Dickson, Jarrad Dickson, Pawan Koirala, Josie Wright, Lauren Thomas, Kimberley Flavell, Monica Mu, Paul Lee, David Huynh, Debbie-Ann Gillon, Annette Baker, Natasha Bertschi, Belinda Washington, Lisa Murphy, Nancy Saunders-Clay, Jessica Turner, Andrew Wren, Thomas Kaye, Geordie Morgan and Teresa Sutherland.
 
The NT Medical Program has now graduated 74 doctors, including eight Australian Indigenous doctors (with one graduating in 2017).
 
Chancellor Gerlach says the graduates will spend the next four years developing their skills by undertaking internships at either Royal Darwin Hospital or Alice Springs Hospital.
 
He says the students “are graduating from the only institution in Australia to offer qualifications in remote health, a crucial area in health provision in a land as sparsely populated as ours and one that faces such unique social, climatic and geographic challenges.”
 
According to find-a-tradie website ServiceSeeking.com.au going to university may not be the wisest choice for all graduates.
 
“Unlike university graduates, who finish their courses with five-figure debts, 78% of trade and service providers from our website report to have zero training or educational debts to their name,” says CEO Jeremy Levitt.
 
“That means the majority of their earnings – on average $61.90 per hour – goes straight into their pockets rather than back to the government.
 
“It’s a stark contrast to the 1.2 million Australians currently enrolled in the university system, who are set to face higher fees than ever next year thanks to the Federal Government’s overhaul of the higher education sector.
 
“The goverment plan to decrease the HELP repayment income threshold from $55,000 to $45,000. So, not only will university students be paying more, but they will be forced to repay their government loan earlier in their career,” says Mr Levitt.
 
“The belief is that university degrees give you more, and better employment opportunities, but the truth is that around one third of graduates finish with no immediate job prospects.
 
“On the other hand, there’s a huge demand for trade skills across the country. In our top ten under-supplied job categories alone there was an estimated 7729 jobs requests that remained unfilled last financial year due to lack of qualified trades available to complete them – worth an estimated $4.9 million.”
 
“While attitudes and stigma surrounding TAFE has changed in recent times, the demand for trades certainly hasn’t and there’s a definite shortage of skills out there.”
 
FOOTNOTE at 11:40am: The Centralian College was not available to provide comment and information this morning.
 

3 COMMENTS

  1. Well done but the figures are misleading as they are skewed by the rapid growth of students claiming to be Aboriginal.
    It would be interesting to hear how schools that have English as a Second Language Aboriginal students from remote communities have fared this year.
    There is Yirara College here in Alice Springs and Nyantjantjarra College based at Ayers Rock.
    We shouldn’t expect high numbers of graduates but these two schools provide a measure of how education is progressing for Aboriginal students who have not been raised in mainstream environments.

  2. Congratulations to my son Johvan Miles for being awarded such distinct recognition!
    Even though you were raised in town, you have overcome many obstacles that many would not even be able to comprehend.
    Your hard work and determination to succeed has made you hungry and I have all the faith in the world in you, that you will go far in your life!
    Mum loves you veryuch and am very proud of you. Congratulations to all 226 Indigenous students who completed year 12 this year and all award recipients.

  3. Congratulations to all as to be a teen and a student in this down age is not by no means easy. Parents and society have huge expectations for you, but at the end of the day, it isn’t really the end of the world if you don’t get the results you wanted.
    Most important is to keep in mind that: “The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential … these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence.” Confucius.

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