The Time Is Now

“If ever there were a time to create systems that prioritise learners’ humanity, joy, academic and human development and ability to determine their own paths, that time is now. ... If ever there were a time for young people, education leaders, teachers and community members to realise their power and spheres of influence and work together to realise bold visions of learning, that time is now. 

 

Creating change in this era of immense uncertainty requires courage. It also invites leadership. Equipped with a sense of what the future might hold and a commitment to creating education systems that truly meet the needs of learners, society and the planet, people can identify and traverse paths towards it, together. - Knowledge Works (2025), Charting a New Course for Education

This is a compelling vision and a bold call to action. Knowledge Works undertakes future forecasting research in the field of education with the aim of starting the conversation. As we consider the future for our children – a future that is volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) – we need to consider the learning journey that will best prepare them for this future. Often in education we are stuck in the present, what is urgent right now for students and parents. In 2026 our goal at HVGS is to carve out time, amidst the urgency of “now”, to look to the future and build the scaffolding that ensures our learning programmes prepare our students for their adulthood, not a replication of our own. 

The quotation I began with generates a wonderful sense of urgency and agency. A sense that “everyone can influence the future, even though no one can control it.” While it is easy to be intimidated by the scale of a call to action to transform education, it is also energising and liberating, provided we see the challenge as the opportunity and create time to look beyond one set of metrics. 

This is the time of year when schools in NSW are knee deep in HSC result data: analysing it by student and faculty to determine areas of strength and growth, and where we might be disappointed or surprised. 

It is also the time of year when parents and the broader community are cheering for, or chastising, schools based on the SMH rankings (I wrote about the limitations and volatility of that metric in a blogpost in February 2025). Apart from the fact that the SMH rankings process is a blunt and flawed measurement tool, it is also a distraction at a time when we need to be focused on what really matters in education for our young people: ensuring learning is simultaneously present and future focused. When we only focus on SMH rankings, we lose sight of the individual stories that matter and the opportunities on the horizon. 

Firstly, though, let me focus on the present and share stories from our 2025 graduates and their HSC results. Stories that reflect the power of a HVGS education, where we work with students to design the learning pathway that is right for them. We advise and guide our Year 10 students to identify the right pathway and the right suite of courses in Years 11 and 12 that will open doors to multiple futures. The goal is to cultivate a sense of agency and efficacy so that students believe they can influence their future, while not being able to control it. 

I will begin with a comment from one of our recent graduates: 

“With the help of the HVGS community, I have managed to achieve the largest of my academic goals, whilst also retaining what is important in life and remembering to try and experience all that I can.”

Our teachers receive many comments such as these from graduates. One former parent I spoke to recently said her child “misses HVGS every day. I was deeply touched by this as he misses the community, the learning, the support, the teachers and the connections even though he is thriving in his world beyond HVGS. 

One of my highlights from the 2025 HSC results were the unexpected successes – students who stayed engaged and focused through to the end and “nailed it”, so to speak, exceeding their own and our expectations. 

In terms of quantitative data from our 2025 HSC cohort, it is worth noting that: 

• Nearly 90% of all our HSC results were in Bands 4, 5 or 6, the second highest percentage since 2018.
• More than 40% of our graduates made the NESA Distinguished Achievers’ List.
• There were 12 nominations for HSC Major Works across Drama, Visual Arts, Design and Technology, and Music.
• Our practical courses such as Drama, Music and Agriculture continued to achieve very high results, with 75% of our Music 1 students achieving a Band 6 (compared to 20% of the state), and two thirds of our drama students also achieving a Band 6.
• The number of Band 6s in our Legal Studies cohort was more than double that of the state.
• We had students achieve 94/100 in subjects such as Maths Advanced, Maths Standard, Agriculture, Drama, Music 1 and Legal Studies.
• Approximately 75% of the cohort submitted SRS (Schools Recommendation Scheme) applications for early university entry and received early offers via UAC (University Admissions Centre) or through university early direct entry. 

This last data point is crucial for schools moving forward as it is changing the landscape of university entrance. Universities want our students! And many are receiving early entry offers that are unconditional, or have basic conditions attached to them such as completing the HSC. Students with a solid ATAR (not in the 90s) received up to 11 early entry offers for a range of courses such as: Bachelor of Music, Bachelor of Law, Bachelor of Communications, Bachelor of Architecture, Bachelor of Engineering, and Bachelor of Aviation. The universities making these offers include University of Sydney, University of NSW, University of Newcastle, University of Technology Sydney, Western Sydney University, Bond University and Griffith University. This marks a significant shift and takes the pressure off students going into final exams. However, it also raises valid questions about the impact on student motivation and drive in the lead up to those exams.

There is so much more to share about the HSC successes of our students; it is an important metric, and I am proud of our students who have now moved into the next stage of their lives whether that is the world of work, university or a GAP Year. However, the number of early entry university offers received by our students creates the need and opportunity to also focus on the “why” of learning. We need to keep student passions ignited and foster a love of learning that includes and surpasses the transactional need for a HSC result and ATAR. 

Our goal as a school is about more than preparing students to perform well in HSC exams. We do this, it is a given, but ultimately, we want them to be active and engaged lifelong learners. We want them to have the thinking skills to analyse wicked problems and the human competencies to work collaboratively to find solutions to problems that, let’s face it, are our legacy to the next generation. We also need young people to have a good work ethic, be resilient, and sustain their engagement and application even when the going gets hard. We need our young people to be able to work with people different to themselves and embrace different perspectives as part of their learning. 

These qualities are not easy to measure but the “time is now” to get the balance right: to demonstrate to our young people that learning is not transactional, it is central part of being human. It is complex, messy and full of failure, and essential in a GenAI world.

As we look ahead to 2026, the challenge to be a future focused learning organisation is an opportunity. It begins with us as adults being curious about what learning will set our students up for success in a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous future. It begins with us being open to the dialogue about “learning for life” rather than learning for a number. It involves adults being courageous in our curiosity and commitment to ensuring our young people are ready for a future that is different to what we might be imagining (or wishing) for them. 

In 2026 I am looking forward to creating the space to have this dialogue while simultaneously ensuring our students are ready for the final years of schooling and their HSC and IB Diploma examinations. We can simultaneously focus on the urgency of the present while keeping an eye on the education horizon and the possibilities it holds.