Bendigo secondary schools supporting students who are disappointed with their ATAR results

Students from Bendigo Senior Secondary College, Catherine McAuley College, Girton Grammar School, Marist College Bendigo, and Victory Christian College will receive their final marks on Thursday.

Girton Grammar School's head of student futures Rod Knowles said the school had been working with students for the past few weeks.

"It will be a big day when the results come," Mr Knowles said. "We will be at the school and will be here for anyone who comes in.

Read more: Unhappy with your ATAR? Meet four people who made it work for them

"We will have a whole range of students who will be happy with their scores and there will be others who don't do as well as they wanted to.

"We'll talk to them about pathways and how we might be able to help and things they can look for."

More than 82,000 students sat a VCE exam in 2019. There were more than 1000 students at BSSC alone.

Mr Knowles said there would be options for students who get an ATAR score lower than they expected, including alternative university courses, TAFE, work, or a gap year.

"While the ATAR is important, it's not the be all and end all," he said. "Some students will be disappointed but the ATAR is only important for a short period of time.

"There are other ways to get to where they want to be. It's not going to define them for life.

Read more: 2018 ATARs, VCE results don't define your future: Bendigo schools

"Once they start university, TAFE or a job, nobody will ask what their ATAR was. It's only a starting point for early next year.

"There are still ways to get to where you want to be."

Marist College Bendigo, like Girton, will have career advisers and the school's wellbeing team on site to speak with students.

"If students are concerned, make sure they contact their career advisers," Mr Knowles said. "We have great advisers in all the schools in Bendigo who all work really hard.

"Students should be contacting them if they have any questions."

Catherine McAuley College will also have career advisers available to students from Thursday.

"Your ATAR is not a reflection of you as a person, or a predictor of your future success," the school's career adviser Meghan Dickson said.

"If you have achieved the requirement for your desired course, excellent. However, it is important for students and parents to know, we now have a very flexible entry system with multiple pathways."

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