Crestwood High in Sydney and Lake Macquarie High lift HSC scores

Crestwood High in Sydney's northwest has become one of NSW's most-improved schools, lifting its average HSC score to 80 through targeted teaching strategies. The school focused on lifting students from band 5 to band 6 by backward-mapping curriculum from year 12 to year 7. Teachers who excelled presented methods to staff. Lake Macquarie High also improved, with average scores rising 10 percentage points between 2023 and 2025. Lake Macquarie's principal, who once faced school closure, invested heavily in professional learning and HSC marking. The analysis used precise average marks from annual reports, unlike the Herald's end-of-year league tables.