Religion and table tennis made this school one of the state’s most improved

To get to the carpeted quiet of the chapel at St Mary’s Coptic Orthodox College, you first have to cut across the polished floor of the gymnasium.

Whether by accident or design, the adjacent rooms – one noisy and cavernous, the other hushed and intimate – are symbolic of what this Coolaroo school of 1080 students is all about.

The school’s name tells you where its heritage lies. It opened under the directorship of Father Tadros Sharobeam, who remains the head of college, and had the backing of His Holiness Pope Shenouda in Egypt. It was the first Coptic Orthodox school outside Egypt when it opened in 1991.

But principal Germain Saad is quick to emphasise that the college is much more than a religious school.

“We don’t want to be a good little religious school,” she says. “We want to be a holistic school: spiritually, academically and socially.”

It was in the gymnasium that the girls’ table tennis team practised ahead of winning the interschool competition in August, a victory which will take them to the state finals.

And earlier this month, the school’s upper primary and middle school choirs secured medals (bronze and silver, respectively) at a state competition of 96 schools.

The school is also kicking goals on the academic front. St Mary’s Coptic Orthodox College has just been named The Age’s 2025 Schools that Excel award winner for Melbourne’s northern region, based on improvements in its VCE results over the past decade.

The annual series celebrates schools that achieve outstanding advancement in their VCE results.

The median VCE study score at St Mary’s lifted to 29 last year, up from 27 in 2015.

The percentage of students achieving study scores of 40 and above has risen significantly, climbing from 4.2 per cent in 2015 to 12.8 per cent last year.

Among the 87 students enrolled in VCE subjects last year, there were 23 study scores of 40 or above, with 11 in foundation maths and four in English. These figures are from students who permitted their VCE results to be published, so the school’s true total is likely even higher.

Despite these impressive results, Saad says academic success is not about achieving an ATAR above 90.

“Wherever you start, if you improve 10 per cent, then you have achieved academic success,” she says.

Saad acknowledges the school is strict. The year 12 common room is only open at lunchtime and recess, and there are no free periods for students. Instead, this time is reserved for supervised study periods.

There are wellbeing days for year 12 students, including trips to the city and off-campus activities such as archery, which take place as the pressure of term three mounts.

“I call term three the ‘term of tears’ because that’s when it’s all coming together – exams, SACS, it’s all happening. They are doing so much, and you can see that the stress levels are up,” Saad says.

College co-captains Hiyab Asmelash, 18, and Paul Sulaiman, 18, both use the chapel for quiet reflection during stressful times, and after-school tutoring sessions.

“I think the tutoring definitely holds you more accountable. It’s a way for you to get immediate feedback,” says Asmelash, who hopes to study occupational therapy at either La Trobe University or Monash University.

Sulaiman, who has his eye on a civil engineering degree from RMIT, enjoys the small tutoring groups of no more than five students, and the fact that students can nominate a preferred teacher.

“They all have their times up on a spreadsheet, and you can put your name with whatever teacher you want,” he says.

The school’s Coptic community is scattered, and it runs 22 buses to transport students to and from suburbs as far away as Coburg, Mernda, Bundoora and Truganina.

Despite being on 2.3 hectares, St Mary’s has outgrown its original site, 18 kilometres north of Melbourne.

A second campus is being built across the road for foundation to year 2 students, but is unlikely to satisfy demand – the school has a waiting list in the hundreds.

This month, St Mary’s settled on the purchase of a site double the size of Coolaroo, in Fraser Rise, which will become a third campus catering for foundation to year 12 students when it opens in 2027.

Returning families are among the reasons for growth – graduates send their children to the school. The majority of students, Asmelash and Sulaiman included, joined the school in their early primary years, and Saad has had the pleasure of watching students grow up, as have their former teachers.

She says students’ former primary school teachers often come to year 12 graduation nights.

“We are a community school, everyone knows everyone,” Saad says.

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