MEREWETHER High is celebrating 10 of its students achieving Australian Tertiary Admission Ranks over 99, which their principal has attributed to the cohort's collegiate approach to the Higher School Certificate.
The Newcastle Herald understands at least 16 students across the region achieved ATARs over 99, including 10 at Merewether High.
Newcastle Grammar School's Lily Webster achieved what is believed to be the Hunter's highest ATAR, 99.9. "That's exciting - and really cool," Lily, 18, said of the honour.
Merewether High's Jodi Manning, 18, said she was "excited" to receive an ATAR of 99.75, after aiming for 99.
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"It's good," she said.
"It was a lot [of work], I want to do an arts degree so I was just trying my hardest for the sake of it, I didn't have to put in that much work for what I want to do.
"I put a lot of pressure on myself so I kind of just fed into that a bit."
She needs 88 for a spot at the University of Melbourne, where she plans to do a major in economics, a minor in criminology and study for a postgraduate degree in law.
"Doing Legal Studies [in an accelerated program] last year I did very well in that and was very happy with that, so that made me realise how much I could do," she said.
"My teachers were incredible this year and so good in pushing me, so that helped, I wanted to do my best for them too."
Jodi saw her subject results when they were leaked over the weekend and said it gave her a "clearer estimate" and she was "not too stressed after that".
Merewether High's Isaiah Fernando, 18, said he was "pretty overwhelmed" to receive his ATAR of 99.75.
"It was a bit of a surprise, I did not expect to get that high so I'm still kind of shocked over it and processing, but very happy overall."
He set a goal at the start of the year of 99 and is hoping to receive an offer to study medicine in Queensland.
He said he liked learning about science, the human body and how to prevent disease.
"It was quite a lot of effort [to get this ATAR] but it was more about consistent effort, so doing little bits each day and never leaving work to the last minute so making sure there's no stress towards the exams. It was a marathon, not a sprint."
Isaiah said he didn't see his results over the weekend.
"I went to bed at 11pm [on Wednesday] and woke up at 4.30am and couldn't get to sleep after that... during the three hours I was using as many ATAR calculators as I could.
"The UAC calculator predicted for me 99.7 so it was a bit of a nice bonus to get that extra 0.05."
Merewether's Ryan Woolnough achieved 99.7, St Mary's Catholic College Gateshead's Cian O'Hagan got 99.65 and Merewether's Lukas Gremm received 99.65.
Merewether's William Bryant achieved 99.6, Josh Grant and Ruth Chen 99.55 and Charles Walker 99.5.
Lambton High's James Harrison also scored 99.5.
All Saints' College St Mary's Campus' Clare Moroney, Newcastle Grammar's Benjamin Dennis and Merewether's Robbie Flick got 99.25.
Merewether's Eva Nynan achieved 99.15 and Lambton's Sophie Tickle and One School Global Maitland's Orlando Kennard both got 99.1.
Merewether principal Rochelle Dooley said the school was "so proud" of the entire cohort.
"As a school we have a mantra, the better we all do the better we all do," she said.
"This year group is a testament to that. Not only do they excel academically, they also collected $119,407.21 for the World's Greatest Shave.
"They had a collegiate approach as a year group.
"They supported each other with their studies, tutored each other, worked together to make sure they all achieved in the group and that led to their individual brilliance and success."
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