Robin Chand
Welcome to our great school.
When you enrol at Killara High School, you join a dedicated team of learners and teachers on an empowering and transformative educational journey of growth through Years 7-12.
Excellent teachers make a difference through explicit teaching
At Killara High School we use effective explicit teaching practices in all key learning areas. Our school importantly recognises that teachers have the greatest impact on student outcomes, and more notably, we believe that the better the teacher teaches, the better the students learn. Killara High School has amazing teachers who effectively utilise explicit teaching strategies across the school. Our teachers are kind and very generous, alongside being highly skilled in their key learning areas. Our teachers have high expectations and their belief in their students is unwavering. Our teachers unleash the potential in their students through high-impact teaching practices, every lesson.
A culture of care, positive energy and fun
Our culture of care, teamwork and inclusivity is built upon the foundations of encouraging students to achieve their personal best in collaboration with teachers. We offer a very broad and enriching curriculum that caters for a wide range of student interests. We celebrate the fact that every student is unique, and that each student has their individual learning needs. Our school celebrates Fun Friday every week, and our student leaders alongside our Head Teacher Wellbeing Mrs Olivey organise games, food, sports equipment and music in our main quad. Every student has a mentor teacher and students are timetabled to meet this teacher every day with their mentor group. Every student is known, valued and cared for.
Academic achievements
Killara High School was the state’s highest-performing comprehensive co-educational public high school in the 2022 and 2023 NSW HSC. Our school’s proud academic heritage is reflective of the dedication of students and their teachers to personal best performances. Killara High School has achieved the following state ranks in terms of performance for a comprehensive co-educational public high school in the NSW HSC: 2007 HSC ranked 1, 2008 HSC ranked 2, 2009 HSC ranked 1, 2011 HSC ranked 1, 2012 HSC ranked 1, 2013 HSC ranked 1, 2014 HSC ranked 1, 2015 HSC ranked 2, 2017 HSC ranked 2, 2018 HSC ranked 1, 2022 HSC ranked 1 and 2023 HSC ranked 1.
Killara High School is regarded as an outstanding school for many reasons. We are one of the best performing schools in the state with strong NAPLAN and HSC scores. We offer comprehensive wellbeing support to all students within a wellbeing framework that is supported by an excellent academic curriculum and expert staff. I would regard Killara High School as the best school nationally and internationally. We support all students, and we celebrate our diversity, indeed, our strength is in our diversity.
Our Student Growth and Attainment Teachers are unique to Killara High School and they are expert in providing learning support. These teachers support students with their learning across the school and make a significant positive impact that is empowering. All teachers differentiate the curriculum to support high potential and gifted students.
In the 2022 HSC we achieved fourteen All Rounders. These are students who have achieved 90 or above in 10 or more units. We had 9 Top Achievers. These are students who earned a high state ranking in a course. Our Top Achievers ranged across several HSC courses, including Personal Development Health and Physical Education, Music Extension, English Standard, English EAL/D, German Beginners, Japanese Beginners, English Advanced and Physics.
In 2022 we also had 347 course entries on the Distinguished Achievers list. Distinguished Achievers are students who obtained a 90 or higher mark or equivalent in a course. These top bands were spread over every teaching department of the school. Killara High School offered a wide range of HSC courses in 2022, 43 in total. In 2022, two students achieved a perfect ATAR of 99.95.
In the 2023 HSC Killara High School was the top ranked co-educational comprehensive public high school for the second consecutive year. We are proud of all students. We are proudly public, totally comprehensive and co-educational. In 2023, we had 5 students with 99 ATAR or higher. Remarkably, 15% of students in Year 12 achieved an ATAR above 95. Almost a quarter of our Year 12 students (23%) achieved an ATAR above 90. We had 279 entries on the Distinguished Achievers List, which is a highly significant achievement. We also achieved extraordinary student placements in NSW with 9th in the state for Mathematics Advanced, 2nd in the state for Aboriginal Studies, 3rd in the state for Chinese Beginners and 5th in the state for Personal Development, Health and Physical Education (PDHPE). Ten students were identified as HSC All-round Achievers. The All-round Achiever list shows the students who achieved a result in the highest band in at least 10 units.
In 2023 Killara High School achieved the significant and special status of Excelling in Value Added growth. Killara High School has achieved Excelling level (highest level available within the NSW DoE School Excellence Framework) for value added growth for students in Years 7-9 and Years 9-12. This is a very significant achievement, and a rarity.
The incredible efforts of our amazing students and teachers have been mentioned through several media articles over the years. Here are links to some of the latest by the Daily Telegraph and The Sydney Morning Herald.
Here is a link to an article published on 29 April 2024 by The Sydney Morning Herald that mentions Killara High School and our Mathematics faculty. Article is titled: How this Sydney school doubled its top scores in HSC maths.
The staff at Killara High School are committed towards the development of the next generation of teachers. We are privileged to have a professional partnership with The University of Technology Sydney which involves Killara High School teachers showcasing explicit teaching practices to university Education students. Here is a link to an article published by The University of Technology Sydney on 9 April 2024 titled The Power of School Partnerships.
The Sydney Morning Herald published an article outlining Killara High School’s outstanding HSC results on 15 December 2022. Here is the link to this article titled The public school that jumped more than 100 places in HSC rankings.
During our German study tour, our students wonderfully represented Killara High School in German media. Here is a link to a media article (from Germany) involving our wonderful students, staff and the excellent teachers at Johannes-Brahmes Schule in Pinneberg.
Explicit teaching forms the foundation of our school’s pedagogical framework. Our teachers are leading with explicit teaching strategies every day across Killara High School. Killara High School was mentioned as a high performing school utilising this style of teaching in the Sydney Morning Herald article titled The teaching style behind the state’s top-performing schools. We are proud as a community for our efforts in utilising this research-based approach. We are now consolidating our explicit teaching approach through our internally developed Killara Explicit Teaching Framework, which is applied across our school. The article states “explicit teaching practices involve breaking down what students need to learn into smaller chunks, with the teacher modelling each step, reviewing learning before classes and constantly checking for understanding.” “The approach has also been embraced by multiple high-performing NSW schools, including Marsden Road Public, Riverbank Public and Killara High, and by a group of schools under the Canberra and Goulburn Catholic Archdiocese.” Here is a link to the article published by the Sydney Morning Herald on 1 March 2024
The Daily Telegraph published an article on 15 December 2023 titled One of Killara’s best years. Here is a (Daily Telegraph) link to the article. We also have a link to this complete article on our school’s Facebook page.
Value Added Data
Value Added measures are typically used by schooling systems to indicate the contribution that a school makes to student learning, over and above the contribution made by the average school. Value Added data measures student progress over a specific time period and adjusts for factors that are outside the control of schools such as students’ socio-economic status. This provides a fair and accurate indication of the effectiveness of schools. Value Added measures help to identify schools that make a larger than average contribution to students’ learning. Killara’s Value Added result across Years 7-9 is Excelling. Our Value Added result across Years 9-12 is also Excelling. This is a very positive result.
The Value Added calculation is performed by the Statistics Unit within CESE (NSW Centre for Educational Statistics and Evaluation) using external assessments. At Killara, we use this data to determine areas for improvement. Across the many datasets that we are provided by the NSW Department of Education, we hold Value Added results in the highest regard because it captures the ideal of student growth from their base performance level in either Year 7 or 9.
Our value-added data captures how our teachers further extend all students. This is not about basic progress, it’s about actual growth above the state referenced growth predictor for each student. Therefore, Killara’s collective efforts and results are outstanding.
We have supported students to truly unleash their full potential and we have helped them achieve their personal best. This is a team effort. To achieve Excelling in Value Added is very significant.
Extra-curricular activities
At Killara High School, students can participate in many extracurricular activities. Our performing arts ensembles are highly regarded and provide an opportunity for students to develop and express their creative talents. Our Duke of Edinburgh program is a key part of our school’s culture with many students progressing through the silver, bronze and gold awards. We also offer an intensive university preparation course called Killara Academy for all students in Years 7- 10. The New South Wales Department of Education selected to write an article highlighting the benefits of our unique Killara Academy program on their website. You can read the article by clicking on this link. The title of this article is Killara Academy awards micro credentials at school. Students at Killara High are getting a taste of university study while still at school. Jim Griffiths reports.
Killara Academy is unique to Killara High School, and it is not offered by any other school in Australia. Within this program students engage with leading professionals from various fields, and engage in important university preparation experiences. A key feature of this program is the completion of university micro credentials. Here is a link to the 2024 Killara Academy program.
Teaching and learning
Quality teaching takes place in every classroom at Killara High School. We proudly use the Killara High School Explicit Teaching Framework in every lesson. Our teachers acknowledge and embrace the fact that they make the difference, and they have a tremendous positive impact on student learning. Research clearly indicates that the greatest in-school factor contributing towards improved student outcomes is the quality of teaching. Explicit teaching is the pedagogical framework used by our teachers, and we have dedicated, caring and expert teachers who are prepared to support all students.
The teachers and students at Killara High School welcome you to a world of opportunity, excitement and fulfillment. Our teachers, with their subject expertise, passion for education and care for students, make a positive impact on the learning experiences of our students daily. Our students are encouraged to learn with a growth mindset of continual improvement.
Killara High School will equip students with an educational foundation to help them make a significant impact in our society, and to collectively shape the world.
As a learner at Killara High School, you will journey through an educational experience that is of the highest calibre, and you will learn alongside caring teachers who aim to unleash your full potential across all domains of learning.
Our school strives towards excellence with a growth mindset. We aim to be the best school for every student, and we will endeavour to do this through excellence in teaching, high-impact student wellbeing programs, and a relentless focus on striving to ensure that all students experience growth and attainment across all curriculum areas.
Our school has a strong partnership with The University of Technology Sydney, and we contribute to their teacher education program. We take this responsibility very seriously, as it represents Killara High School’s privileged position in shaping the next generation of teachers. In 2024 we hosted over 80 Masters of Education UTS students in an immersive practicum experience at Killara High School in a single day. We also support students from other universities. Furthermore, we have hosted delegations of educational leaders from Korea, Vietnam, Japan and China, the most recent being June 2024.
Our Killara High School Facebook page regularly provides updates to our community on the learning experiences on offer at our great school.
We are a team here at Killara High School, and our team upholds the value that our students are known, valued and cared for.
In life we never stop learning, and Killara High School will provide our students with a strong foundation to support future learning that will continue well beyond Year 12.
Killara High School is a large, ambitious, and innovative school with a strong heritage of academic, sporting and leadership excellence. We look forward to you joining our team on this educational journey.
I encourage all students to always strive for your personal best, maintain a growth mindset and keep pushing yourself to greater heights.
Continue learning, to change the world.