Kyabram kids have their dux in a row

Among those thousands were the cream of the crop — the highest achievers of 2025 who have been named dux of their respective schools.

One of those students was Lily Garth, named St Augustine’s College dux with an ATAR of 96.40.

She had forgotten it was ATAR day and was woken to the call of her sister asking what her score had been.

“I was still half-asleep when I checked it; I was like, wow, that’s a great start to the morning,” Lily said.

“I was pretty happy with it.”

Next year, Lily will be taking a break from academic life, with her eyes glued to the local job boards, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t thinking about university life.

“I am the most undecided person … but I’ve been looking at their pharmacy or radiology, or I’m looking at law at Monash or Melbourne (University),” Lily said.

She is looking to unwind after her year of study by exploring Melbourne’s music scene, celebrating her achievements surrounded by friends.

At Kyabram P-12 College, school captain Patrick Henderson was the college’s dux with an ATAR of 83.05.

Patrick was relieved to have woken up at 7am to his score, after having a nightmare of getting a lower score just hours before.

“I had this intensely real dream right at 7am ... it felt like a premonition,” he said.

“And then I opened up and clicked through and saw an 83, and I became really relaxed.”

The graduate moved to Australia from Canada at the beginning of last year and has cemented himself as a key individual in the community, becoming a school captain for his senior year and joining the Kyabram SES.

He said he was happy with his score because it meant he had reached the benchmark ATAR for his course.

After school, Patrick has his eyes on journalism — hoping to be the one behind the news instead of making it.

“I feel like I’ve been paying attention to the world a lot more and watching the news all the time ... I just think it’s really interesting reading the news of the world,” he said.

As for advice for the incoming Year 12s, the two high achievers said it came down to being consistent and aiming high.

Patrick said consistency was key for achieving your goal when it came to the ATAR.

“It’s really difficult in Year 12 — it’s a lot of work, and you can start to get burnt out, but you have to remember to stay strong, pace yourself, and you can really reduce the stress for yourself,” he said.

Lily said if students wanted a particular ATAR, they could not become complacent or too comfortable.

“Never settle, and always keep putting in more effort — it’ll get you places,” she said.

“You don’t want to finish the year having regrets — just do it, and by the end of the year you can know you tried your best.”