She’s the only HSC student at her school. This is how Cody did it

In a town where the closest traffic light is 280 kilometres away, Cody Gallagher will begin her HSC exams on Thursday in a room for one as Ivanhoe Central School’s lone year 12 student.

The 17-year-old’s situation is not unusual in the small town – her sister Shannen also completed her HSC solo two years earlier.

Learning maths at school, animal care at TAFE and other subjects remotely or via telephone doesn’t make for the easiest HSC path, Cody said.

“It was kind of lonely,” she said. “You didn’t really have anyone, you didn’t have classmates … and there’s not many people at school in general. I’d go a bit crazy when I was in class by myself.”

Deep in the state’s west, Ivanhoe is a town of 162 residents where the petrol station doubles as the only grocery store. The K-12 school has just 34 students.

Ivanhoe Central is part of the Wilvandee Access Program, which is one of five clusters across rural NSW that provides resources for students to complete the HSC at their local school.

Cody used the program for three of her five subjects: doing hospitality over Microsoft Teams, standard English by phone and maths standard at her school.

She did one biology class a week online through Dubbo Distance Education, and has already completed a TAFE traineeship in animal care.

Of all her subjects, Gallagher said that English was her favourite – even though it was over the phone.

“All my teachers were good, but my English teacher, Miss Sarah Rooney … not many teachers will take their time to understand you as a student as well. They’re just there to teach you. But it was really good with her,” she said.

Gallagher is proud of the self-motivation that was required for her to finish her HSC.

“I’m proud that I got through it. That’s all that matters,” she said.

Ivanhoe Central principal Greg Edwards said the school aims to best support students like Cody who complete the rural HSC program mostly online.

“We work with a couple of other schools in the access programs, and that provides the opportunity for very remote students and small cohorts to complete the HSC in their home towns,” Edwards said. “The largest cohort we’ve had here is four students, but it’s mostly three, two and one.

“Someone is checking in with Cody every day. She does some of her online courses at nearby schools in the access programs. The two head teachers co-ordinate with each other to ensure that Cody is attending all her classes.”

As the exams loom, with English starting on Thursday, Cody is excited about finishing school and trying her hand at joining a large cattle farm in Queensland.

“The stations are normally really rural, but I’ll be working all the time, and it’s often a big team of younger people as well,” she said. “I’m just pretty keen to get out, move away, and work on a bigger property and meet new people.”

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