Seven students from a Toowong school achieved perfect scores last year, yet none of them appear in Queensland’s official count of 37 top ATARs. It’s not an administrative error—it’s because the Queensland Academy for Science, Mathematics and Technology teaches a different curriculum altogether.
Read: Better Education Rankings: QASMT in Toowong Tops Queensland’s Best Schools for Years 7-10
While QASMT’s academic excellence rarely surprises Brisbane anymore, this statistical quirk highlights something many parents and students still don’t understand about the International Baccalaureate system. The seven students earned perfect scores equivalent to an ATAR of 99.95, but because they weren’t assessed through Queensland’s standard system, their achievements went uncounted in the state’s official tally released by the Queensland Tertiary Admissions Centre.
Principal Kath Kayrooz said 2025 marked the school’s strongest year 12 result to date, with the perfect scorers forming part of a broader cohort of exceptional achievers. But she emphasised that the numbers tell only part of the story.
What makes her most proud, Kayrooz said, is the young people behind the results—students who know themselves, feel supported, and are thoughtful, empathetic individuals who care about the world and those in it.
The 2025 graduating class holds particular significance as only the second cohort to complete the full six-year IB programme since the school expanded in 2019. Previously, QASMT only catered to students in years 10 to 12, but the addition of the IB Middle Years Programme for years 7 to 9 allowed students to develop within the international curriculum from an earlier age.
Kayrooz credited this extended pathway as instrumental to the students’ success, explaining that having completed six years of the IB programme, the students learned in an environment that values both high expectations and wellbeing.
The 2025 school captain, who started at QASMT in year 7 in 2020, said the IB system shaped her into a well-rounded person. She said one of the main reasons she decided to come to QASMT was the people and the environment.
Why IB students don’t appear in ATAR rankings
The International Baccalaureate differs fundamentally from Queensland’s traditional system. Unlike Queensland’s ATAR system, IB students must balance six subjects while completing three core components: Theory of Knowledge (a philosophy-based subject examining how we know what we know), Creativity, Activity, Service (community engagement and personal growth experiences), and an Extended Essay (a 4000-5000 word self-directed research project).
This breadth sometimes means students sacrifice potential ATAR points to pursue genuine interests. One year 12 graduate discovered a passion for Latin through the school’s mandatory foreign language requirement.
One incoming 2026 school captain explained that while students can pursue their passions, the IB requires them to have multiple passions. He added that they have more flexibility in that they can pursue what they are passionate about, but they need to have multiple passions.
A fellow 2026 captain noted that despite QASMT’s reputation as a STEM specialist school, she’d pursued extensive sporting opportunities.
The selective-entry school accepts 224 students into year 7 annually, with capacity for several dozen more in its year 10 intake. Last year’s fees were $2600 for the IB Diploma Programme and approximately $1030 for the Middle Years Programme, though the state revises costs annually.
QASMT has a national Index of Community Socio-Educational Advantage percentile of 99 out of 100, with about 80 per cent of students from the top socioeconomic quarter. Just over half the students are male, and 64 per cent come from a language background other than English. Most students’ families live locally in Toowong and surrounding suburbs.
Kayrooz said the school receives far more applications than it can accept under current student caps managed by the Education Department. Last year, QASMT launched a pathways programme for high-achieving year 7 applicants who would have been accepted if enrolments were higher, guaranteeing them year 10 enrolment while providing access to some school resources and teachers during years 7 to 9.
The principal said it saddened her to turn away highly capable students, and she didn’t want these applicants and their parents to feel they didn’t deserve a position. Thirty-two students registered for the inaugural program.
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The Toowong campus, of the state’s three selective-entry academies teaching the IB programme, is the only one offering education below year 10. Its facilities include a telescope, VR workspaces, STEM and language hubs, and a university-style library housing the robotics makerspace.
For the seven perfect scorers and their classmates, the IB’s broader educational philosophy appears to have paid dividends, even if their achievements won’t show up in Queensland’s official statistics.
Published 30-January-2026