Beaconhills College

Beaconhills College VCE students have produced some spectacular 2020 VCE results, including a perfect 99.95 ATAR (Australian Tertiary Admission Rank) for College Dux Sam Sail.

Sam, a Pakenham Campus student, recorded perfect scores of 50 in French and Mathematical Methods, 47 for English and 44 for Specialist Mathematics, along with his 2019 score of 50 in Physics.

Berwick Campus Dux was Jaime Watts with 98.25. Jaime scored 39 for French, 38 for Literature, 40 for Media and 42 in Theatre Studies and Psychology to add to her 48 for Extended Investigation in 2019. Year 11 Berwick student Sharni Seamons also scored 50 this year in her Extended Investigation subject.

The College is celebrating strong results across a wide range of subjects, with 12 students achieving ATARs of 95 or more and 27 students with 90 and above.

Headmaster Tony Sheumack said students from both campuses achieved 40s in all learning domains. These included English, Mathematics, Visual and Performing Arts, Technologies, VCE Vet Programs, Humanities, Science, Digital Technologies, Health and Physical Education, Business and Economics, Languages and Extended Investigation.

“These results really reinforce the benefits of our open-entry, diverse College, where students can follow their passions and succeed,” Mr Sheumack said.

He said despite the challenges of COVID-19, the exceptional work of teachers in supporting students through months of remote learning – along with the resilience shown by students themselves – had paid dividends.

“I am extremely proud of how our students have risen above the difficulties of 2020 and shown the tenacity and resilience to achieve these results,” Mr Sheumack said.

College Dux, Sam Sail said that finding a genuine interest in the subjects he studied helped keep him engaged throughout Year 12. This year Sam also studied Physics as part of the University of Melbourne’s Extension Program and hopes to do a Bachelor of Science at the university in 2021.

And while remote learning had its challenges, Sam said there were also some COVID positives.

“For studying maths subjects, I think it (remote learning) was actually an advantage. COVID affected us all in slightly different ways, but it brought us all together.”

Round 1 offers from Victorian tertiary institutions are released on 14 January 2021.

More information on our 2020 results is here on our VCE flyer.

In 2020, the College was proud to support the Monash Health Foundation with a donation of more than 340 items for families seeking medical care through Monash Health.

Representative from the Foundation, Melissa Moyle, visited our Pakenham Campus to collect the baby beanies, booties, toys, aprons, cardigans and scarves, and to thank Year 9 student Ruby Van Beveren for her personal donation of a large toy box containing essentials and a letter to a new mother in need. Ruby, one of the 2020 Berwick Year 9 captains, compiled the donation as part of her Common Good project.

Thank you to all among our College community who had a hand in making and donating these much-needed items, they will be delivered to the families who need them most this Christmas as a gift from Santa.

This initiative was just one of the incredibly successful programs run by the Beacon of Hope this year.

Representative from the Monash Health Foundation, Melissa Moyle, accepts a donation from Year 9 captain, Ruby Van Beveren.

This amazing collection of Aboriginal artefacts including spears and baskets have been kindly donated to Beaconhills by Bill Rue and family, long-time members of the College community.

The Rue family lived in the Aboriginal community of Maningrida, Northern Territory. These artefacts have been in their family for many years and were traditionally used by the family and community members.

Beaconhills’ Head of Indigenous Initiatives, Lynette George, said some artefacts were very old and the College was lucky to have them entrusted to our care.

Pictured is our Reconciliation Captain Isabella Cameron-Dukes accepting the artefacts onto Country from Bill Rue.

Beaconhills families have opened up their hearts and their wallets to support the College’s Hope for Christmas appeal.

Donated gifts have rapidly piled up the Christmas trees at each campus, including some spectacular hampers prepared for distribution to local charity groups.

Beaconhills College Board member Nigel Boltwin and his wife Lisa have assembled 30 beautiful hampers to donate, with help from suppliers to their Pakenham restaurant along with College families.

The Boltwins are keen to involve even more families in the appeal next year and aim to bump the number of hampers up to 100.

The Berwick Campus community has also pitched in with a number of hampers created and donated by a group of mums.