Students at the Collie Senior High School were back for their first day of the 2018 school year on Wednesday, January 31.
Collie Senior High School principal Dale Miller said there was a sense of pride and excitement in the air as students came back to school.
She also said that the high school announced its new school captains for the year with Courtney Crowe and Emersen Dewar taking over from last year’s captains Connor Watts and Chloe Garner. Matthew Henderson was selected as vice-captain.
All three students said they were proud to be selected as the leaders of their peers and they were looking forward to working with and being role models for the students through out the year.
Ms Miller said that she expects it would be a good year for the students at Collie Senior High School, following on from the great results that last year’s graduating class received.
She said that last year’s group of year 12 students had done exceptionally well in the end of year exams, with the students receiving an average ATAR of 74.98.
Ms Miller said the result was an improvement on previous years, with the average ATAR raising by more than five points.
She said that the results meant that there were a lot of former Collie Senior High School students making it into university courses for 2018.
“We have students that are now studying law, physiotherapy, teaching and even urban planning,” she said.
Both former school captains, Connor Watts and Chloe Garner, were able to get into teaching courses at Edith Cowan University and both said they plan to come back to Collie to complete the practical elements of their courses.
“The school has given so much to me, so I want to come back and pay that back,” Mr Watts said.
Ms Miller said last year’s results showed that anything was possible for students at the school, whether they were studying for their ATAR or their Vocational Education and Training.
“I just want people to know that if you want to become a doctor, you can study at Collie Senior High School,” she said.
“And with the new facilities, it can only get better.”
Ms Miller said the school had received the plans for its new classrooms, which were announced as part of a $7.5 million upgrade in November last year.
The funding will allow for the construction of eight new classrooms at the school along with upgrading a range of other classrooms, including food and art studios.
The construction of the new classrooms is expected to begin soon.
