The schools with some of Victoria’s best teachers – and how they’ve improved results

It was 1984 when Mary Zervos first became a teacher.

She taught through the introduction of the internet, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the pandemic, adopting new teaching and learning ideologies along the way.

But how do you shift a student from hating maths to loving it? It’s something Zervos is most proud of.

Before she took over as head of maths and numeracy at Vermont Secondary College in 2013, there was only one advanced maths class at the school, and now there are five. There were just three students achieving perfect ATAR scores in maths. Since she took over, there have been 15. One student even represented Australia in the International Maths Olympiad and won a bronze medal.

“It’s not just my passion for maths and the beauty that I find in maths – if I can make some other students understand that, then I just keep going,” she said.

Zervos is one of 41 finalists in this year’s Victorian Education Excellence Awards, which celebrate inspirational teachers, principals, business managers and education support staff in state schools.

Part of Zervos’ success comes from creating a school-wide data tracking system in maths, so teachers could adjust programs for students from years 7 to 12 based on previous performance and where their learning gaps are.

She also created maths pathways for year 10, co-developed workbooks that explain theories in digestible analogies and increased collaboration between teachers.

Seeing students go on to apply their maths skills at work was particularly fulfilling.

“I am also a lifelong learner. I love change. I love looking for better ways of doing things, and I get a little buzz out of something succeeding.”

Victorian College of the Deaf secondary school leader Robert Harrow is also a champion for change.

When he graduated from high school 12 years ago, his teacher gave him a picture of Nelson Mandela that said: “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”

It’s something that’s resonated with him.

The 30-year-old, a finalist for most outstanding secondary teacher, has been instrumental in shifting accessibility and increasing education standards for deaf students at the College of the Deaf, which is the only bilingual school for the deaf in Australia from foundation to year 12 where students can learn in Auslan and English.

In his seven years at the school, he’s helped introduce explicit direct instruction across age groups.

“Our students are now achieving milestones in English and maths once thought unattainable,” he said.

“Equally central to our success is our deaf-led wellbeing framework, which prioritises deaf identity, belonging and cultural pride.”

In 2025, for the first time in 15 years, students in year 11 enrolled in VCE, representing more than 25 per cent of their year 11 cohort.

He also developed the first deaf-led Auslan translation of the Attitudes to School Survey alongside the Education Department and a deaf-led business.

“Accessibility is more than just providing Auslan interpreters; it is about equity of experience,” Harrow said.

Barton Primary School principal Ben Vevers, finalist for most outstanding primary school principal, led a cultural shift over the past four years at his Cranbourne West school.

“The first step was coming in and saying, ‘What does this community need?’” he said.

Vevers then worked on a lengthy consultation with staff, students and teachers, even “turning ourselves into more multilingual staff” to ensure they gave everyone a voice, then put in processes, policies and teams to do something with that voice.

It led to a complete reset of the school’s vision and values and revamped its approach to leadership, teaching, wellbeing and behaviour management. The school’s recent NAPLAN data showed fewer students needing additional support and more students achieving in reading and writing.

Vevers said staff were educated on the complex needs of the community, working alongside Community Hubs Australia and Wellsprings for Women to develop a youth worker approach, with early intervention beginning from four years old.

“We aren’t saying we’re perfect, but we have proved we can shift outcomes over time for our community. We have high support with high expectations, so everyone can succeed.”

For him, giving more vulnerable people such as refugees a sense of belonging at the school was powerful.

Western Port Secondary College principal Christopher Quinn also focuses on connection, greeting students, families and staff at the school gate by name every morning.

“This daily ritual is not only symbolic, it also strategically sets the tone for every student to set them up for success every day,” he said.

He’s been at the Hastings school for 20 years and has been principal for seven, overseeing an improvement in NAPLAN and ATAR scores from 2022 to 2025 as well as a college reset after a 2022 review showed increasingly disengaged students, behavioural inconsistency and struggling staff post-pandemic.

Quinn unified staff through a positive behaviour support framework, and embedded routine across the school. Teachers reported an improvement in their psychological safety, shooting up to 97 per cent in 2025 from 41 per cent in 2022.

And when it comes to providing good opportunities for high-ability students, Albert Park College is a finalist as one of the best.

Assistant principal Hayley Schirmer said more than half of the students at the school achieved an ATAR above 90, with the average subject score at 35, results as strong as some select-entry schools. The school runs the select-entry accredited learning (SEAL) program.

“We have an emphasis on data-driven differentiation, and that allows for our students to be challenged in every single class,” Schirmer said.

The winners of the 2025 Victorian Education Excellence Awards will be announced on October 25 at the Regent Theatre.

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