TOP OF THE CLASS
GOLD COAST schools lead the state based on the latest OP education results – and All Saints Anglican College’s Katie Wainwright is one of the top performers.
The 17-year-old graduate received the highest grade under the university ranking system, earning an OP 1 and intends to study teaching.
She wants to teach to help kids follow in her footsteps: “It is a really noble profession and one that makes it possible to keep learning through my life.”
AS an OP1 student Gold Coast high school graduate Katie Wainwright can do anything.
But instead of becoming a doctor, lawyer, or rocket scientist, she has her heart set on a career closer to home.
Born into a family of educators the All Saints Anglican School graduate hopes to put her brains back into the classroom as a high school teacher specialising in English and History.
About to embark on an education degree at Southern Cross University on a full scholarship, she will be part of its largest ever cohort.
“I think it is a really noble profession, and it is one that makes it possible for me to keep learning throughout my life. I’ve always wanted to help kids navigate one of the most important parts of their life, while they’re learning at school,” Ms Wainwright said.
Ms Wainwright said she chose Southern Cross because it allowed her to complete education double-degrees in the same four years and automatically qualify to teach in NSW and Queensland.
“I’m passionate about teaching English and History, because you need to have strong language skills to succeed at anything in life and History is integral to understanding politics.”
All Saints Anglican School was the third most successful school for OP scores last year, with 40.2 per cent of eligible students achieving a ranking between one and five.
Ms Wainwright was one of only 455 Gold Coast students to achieve the top bracket in their final assessment.
“It wasn’t easy, I had to balance a lot of things and put the time in,” she said.
“Especially when a lot of my subjects were humanities, they were all research based so it took a lot of time but worth it in the end.”
“I’d like Australia to see teaching the way I see it, there is a lot of pressure to do medicine or other things when you get an OP 1 but I don’t think people really understand what goes into the work of teachers and how they can change people’s lives.”