Catholic schools in the Sydney Archdiocese are celebrating a successful 2007 HSC with students scoring above the State average in 60 per cent of all courses.

Of the 887 courses sat across the state, 529 recorded results above the state average in Sydney's 29 Catholic systemic secondary colleges.

The top performing schools in this category, showing the percentage of courses above state average were: St Patrick's College, Sutherland (94); Freeman Catholic College, Bonnyrigg (88), St John Bosco College, Engadine (86); Brigidine College, Randwick (86), Trinity Catholic College, Auburn (83) and St Mary's Cathedral College, Sydney (82).

All archdiocesan schools recorded courses above state average.

Tim McMullen, Head of secondary Curriculum at the Catholic Education Office, Sydney says the best indication of how schools performed is to look at how each school's students' results ranked against the state average.

The top two performing schools - St Patrick's College, Sutherland - have produced leading results over the last two years, and - Freeman Catholic College, Bonnyrigg - have had the number of courses above state average increase consecutively in five years - up from 56 per cent in 2003 to 88 per cent in 2007.

Principal Michael Addicoat says talent, combined with a great deal of hard work, has achieved these phenomenal results.

"We made the top 100 schools list in the state with the 2007 HSC class excelling across the board. Seven students were identified as all-rounders and 25 per cent of students scored a UAI mark of 90 and above," he added.

Across the Catholic school system, 26 students made the state's prestigious NSW top all-rounders' list (students who scored 90 or above in 10 or more units in the HSC), and two students topped the state in a HSC course - Nicole Mooney from St Patrick's College, Sutherland (Retail Operations), and Christine Shiner from Brigidine College, Randwick, (Studies of Religion 1).

The top performing course subjects across the archdiocese for 2007 were (in order): English (standard), Legal Studies, Ancient History, Modern History and Drama.

Mr McMullen says that Catholic students with results in these subjects in the top three bands were significantly higher than the state average - at least 8 percentage points for each course.

"The result for Catholic pupils for Studies of Religion 1 also outperformed the state average this year with the first time marking of the examination since the new syllabus was introduced," he said.

"82 per cent of students in Sydney's Catholic systemic schools achieved results in the top three bands compared to 77 per cent of students in the state."

The best performing school in Mathematics was Marcellin College, Randwick and the best in English was Brigidine College, Randwick.

Br Kelvin Canavan, Executive Director of Schools for the Archdiocese of Sydney, said applause is warranted for the students and teachers in Catholic schools, who have shown that excellence in school education and learning is not concentrated in high-profile selective high schools.

 "With many achieving outstanding HSC results again this year, Catholic senior school students, parents and teachers are to be congratulated for their hard work and dedication," he said.

Overall, all Sydney Archdiocesan Catholic schools appeared on the 2007 HSC Honour Roll and 12 schools were listed in the Daily Telegraph's top 200 schools in NSW.

Two schools recorded students in 1st place in individual HSC courses:

St Patrick's College, Sutherland: Nicole Barbara Mooney, (Retail Operations examination).
Brigidine College, Randwick: Christine Shiner, (Studies of Religion 1).

Catholic all-rounder students in HSC 2007

All rounder students in Catholic systemic schools in the Archdiocese of Sydney who scored 90 marks or above in 10 or more units in the HSC.

Freeman Catholic College, Bonnyrigg Heights: Karli-Jane Bergamin, Anita Blazevic, Gary Bosnjak, Mario Bosnjak, Ailan Duong, Kassandra Hernandez, Luke Latham.
De La Salle College, Cronulla: Tara Anne Johnstone, Ashleigh Lauren Mills.
St John Bosco College, Engadine: Stephanie-Kate Bratton.
Patrician College, Fairfield: Gabriel Ha Nguyen, Roger Orlando Sejas, Jason Jun Man Wong.
Domremy College, Five Dock: Shannon Andreucci.
Marist College, Kogarah: Leon Gajzler.
Marist College North Shore: Goran Bogdan.
Brigidine College, Randwick: Sandra Fabiano, Christine Shiner, Minkyung Son.
Marcellin College, Randwick: Akito Hirata, Mina Sarofim, Peter Zarzour.
St Patrick's College, Sutherland: Anne Elizabeth Elliott, Nicole Barbara Mooney.
St Mary's Cathedral College, Sydney: David Satti.
Marist Sisters' College, Woolwich: Tereza Seric.

For Further Information:

Bernadette Zebec, CEO Sydney Communications Co-ordinator on (02) 9568 8223.