We say that ‘Every student matters’. It is gratifying when every one of our Year 12 students from 2014 completed an OP course which is intended for university preparation and entrance, and is significantly academically challenging. And they all achieved an OP of between 1 to 14. Yes, that’s right, 100% of CCPS students (and all of whom were OP eligible) performed in the OP 1 to 15 category. It is rare in Queensland schools for all students at a school to take the OP course, and approximately half of the state’s Year 12 students learn in the less demanding Non-OP course, encouraged by their schools to take this easier option. The active motivation in the Qld system is that the media publishes percentages of students achieving in the OP band categories, 1to 5; 1 to 10; and 1 to 15 bands, and it doesn’t seem to want to take notice of the percentages of those schools’ students who opt into a Non-OP course, and half of them do that each year. So many students are encouraged not to try an OP course, and move into being OP ineligible, the easier option, because percentages of OP students in achievement bands are reported by the media. The more lesser academically performing students in a school are OP ineligible, the higher are the school’s remaining OP students’ percentages.