Last Thursday, the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) Board confirmed that the Higher School Certificate (HSC) is going ahead in 2020, along with a commitment to providing clear and regular advice to the community about the HSC as the COVID-19 outbreak continues.
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Despite the current stressful environment for Singleton senior students, a portion of the worry has been lifted off their shoulders after this announcement.
"A lot of thoughts were going through my head regarding what will happen with our HSC," said year Australian Christian College Leader Meg Deaves.
"Questions like will we be held back a year, or will we have to complete this in 2021 or will we even do the HSC have been running through my mind since the outbreak,"
A sigh of relief for all senior students who now know that it will all be over within the current year.
"There are much bigger problems to be worrying about at the moment, and we know that regardless of the HSC there will be ways to get into either university or other career paths post school."
Saint Catherine's College leader Sophie McFarlane claimed she is relieved however saddened that the senior cohorts will be missing out on many of their monumental 'last' events.
"It's such a relief that we will have some sort of normality to the what has happened to peers in the years before us," said Sophie.
"We will most likely miss out on many 'last opportunities' so I'm glad we will still experience the HSC," she added.
"It is still however daunting as the new way of learning has led to myself and many of my peers to lose motivation, especially because for a period of time we had no idea what was going to happen. "
Following the meeting on Thursday last week, Chair of the NESA Board Professor Peter Shergold said he had three important messages for HSC students.
"We know you are worried. While we recognise we are facing an unprecedented situation, we want to assure you that you will be able to get a HSC certificate this year, and that the certificate will facilitate access to university, further education and employment, as it has for students over the past 50 years.
"Keep learning, do your assessments as advised by your school, make progress on your major projects where you can and, most importantly, look after yourself, whether you are at school or at home."
