St Andrew’s Cathedral School’s 2025 HSC NESA nominations and selections.
St Andrew’s Cathedral School has a proud heritage of purposeful creativity and fostering passionate and innovative learners. Alongside celebrating the best HSC results in the School’s history and exceptional IB results, 2025 saw a record number of nominations to NSW Education Standards (NESA) showcase and exhibitions.
The School attained 35 nominations and two selections across the ARTEXPRESS, ENCORE, OnSTAGE and SHAPE showcases. These HSC NESA exhibitions are prestigious platforms that highlight the best work produced by HSC students across various creative disciplines, including Drama, Music, Visual Arts and Design subjects. Being selected for these showcases signifies a student’s work as among the finest in NSW.
Head of School, Dr Julie McGonigle praised the ‘grit’ – passion, perseverance and purpose – that lay behind the nominations, as students juggled major works alongside other academic deadlines.
“We want to celebrate the creativity, critical thinking and the sheer persistence of all students nominated.”
“We want to celebrate the creativity, critical thinking and the sheer persistence of all students nominated. With the support of their teachers, they have undertaken long-term projects over many months, showing sustained effort, problem-solving and emotional resilience alongside flair and great talent,” she said.
ARTEXPRESS: Artistic excellence
ARTEXPRESS celebrates students’ artistic excellence by featuring a selection of exceptional bodies of work created for the artmaking component of the HSC examination in Visual Arts in 2025, providing insight into the issues that are important to them. Congratulations to Alice Eager, Ruby Daley and Harper Scilly on their nominations, and to Ruby and Harper whose work will be exhibited.
Alice Eager’s RENDER, navigated the transition from rural countryside to Sydney’s built environment.
Ruby Daley’s major work, tell me about your nature, maybe I’ve been getting you wrong focuses on the natural world, inviting the audience to reconsider that which we consider insignificant or unfavoured.
Ruby’s major work will be on display at the Art Gallery of NSW from 5 February to 26 April, 2026.
Harper Scilly’s major work, Crone, presents the audience with a creature: a mother, protecting her children, capturing moments of both serenity and protection.
Harper’s work will be exhibited at Western Plains Cultural Centre, Dubbo from 15 August to 4 October, 2026
ENCORE: Outstanding musicianship across performance and composition
The School is known for its comprehensive music programme, reflected in a record-breaking number of ENCORE nominations. Students nominated for performance included Joshua Chin on piano, Amali Cooray on flute, Elijah Gilchrist and Ryan Sim on clarinet, and Liam Sullivan for his vocal performance.
Emily Dries was nominated for her vocal performance and she was also selected as reserve for performance at the Sydney Opera House. Natasha Wai Shan Chun and William Bootes were nominated for both performance and composition, while Riley Dunlop and Amelia Woodyatt were nominated for their music compositions.
OnSTAGE: Gifted drama performances
Given the School’s broad commitment to creativity and excellence in the performing arts, we were delighted with both group and individual nominations for OnSTAGE. The group performance Pandora, featuring Hugo Carrig, Emily Dries, Joshua Rumsby, Erin Winsbury and Lachlan Yap, was nominated, as was The Truth is out there? featuring Kai Buck, Ilia Campbell, Isaac Donlevy, Leroy Mills and Harper Scilly.
Additionally, individual performances by Harper Scilly, Joshua Rumsby and Kai Buck were also nominated.
SHAPE: Outstanding major projects in Design and Technology, Industrial Technology, and Textiles and Design
The number of nominations for SHAPE was equally impressive. The craftmanship and design behind Kiera Munzone and Max Nairn’s sideboards and Joe Foster’s art storage book were recognised with nominations for Industrial Technology. Sofia Stevens, Dennis Cosmetatos, Riley Dunlop and Xinyi Lin were nominated for their Design and Technology projects.
Sofia Stevens designed an inventive wheelchair attachment that allows users to safely and easily access the beach, giving greater freedom and independence to people with mobility challenges. She also created a community-friendly borrow box system, enabling users to borrow attachments when needed. Her project demonstrates compassion, creative problem-solving and a strong understanding of inclusive design.
Dennis Cosmetatos developed a series of innovative peg designs aimed at supporting people with arthritis by making everyday tasks easier and more comfortable. His products feature enlarged, ergonomic grips that reduce strain on the hands while remaining simple and practical to use.
Riley Dunlop was nominated for his innovative trumpet mute, while Xinyi Li was nominated for her convertible children’s sleeping bag.
The final designs showcased thoughtful problem-solving, user-focused thinking and a genuine commitment to improving quality of life for others.
Congratulations to all students nominated and selected. Their work represents not only the culmination of years of hard work but also the beginning of new possibilities for our graduates as they move forward into the future.
