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English and maths often propel the bulk of top VCE scores at Victorian schools, but some are actually producing their best results in specialist elective subjects.
Exclusive analysis of 2025 VCE data shows that outdoor education, business management, food studies and art are among the subjects securing schools their most high-achieving students.
The results are revealed in the Victorian Schools Guide, The Age’s new interactive dashboard that will allow parents and students to examine the performance of the state’s government, Catholic and independent schools.
The dashboard will be updated regularly and feature new sections in the future, to help guide students and their families in school choices.
Search the table above to see the top subject at your school, and check out our interactive below for all you need to know about your school’s VCE performance and search for schools in your area.
At Frankston High School, surfing and kayaking have proved so popular that its outdoor and environmental students have achieved the most top-scoring results in the subject in Victoria.
“It’s a strong program with strong results and a strong team,” says proud principal of five years Andrew Batchelor.
At Frankston High, 15 of the 48 year 12 students who took outdoor and environmental studies last year received a 40+ study score, putting them in the top 10 per cent of Victorian students who completed the subject. Another 11 students scored 37 and above out of 50.
The subject starts as an elective in year 9. The program focuses on land and water conservation, and skills used in the classroom are quickly put into practice outdoors.
“The students form strong relationships with each other, and the staff as well,” Batchelor said.
The subject has become a family affair at the school of more than 1960 students.
The program is run by alumni Georgia Tierney, who took over from her father, Rowan Cameron.
Tierney’s brother, James Cameron, who is also an alumnus, teaches at the school and runs the life-saving program.
“It’s almost like another a family or a subculture that develops within the school, and that has pleasingly translated into results,” Batchelor said.
He said the school’s sporty, outdoors culture meant few graduates were destined for traditional desk jobs, but that many went on to train as teachers.
Frankston High School is among 472 schools offering VCE in Victoria which achieved at least one 40+ study score in 2025, the Victorian Schools Guide shows.
Almost a third of these schools received more 40+ scores in English than any other subject. English also had the most VCE enrolments.
One hundred Victorian schools did likewise in general mathematics, 35 in business management, 27 in health and human development, 25 in biology and 18 in psychology.
All-boys state school Melbourne High stood out by recording the most 40+ scores in a single subject.
The selective-entry school achieved 109 40+ scores in maths methods, equating to almost a third of students who took the subject in 2025.
“It’s pretty stellar; it’s one of our best years,” Melbourne High principal Tony Mordini said.
He said maths methods was clearly one of the school’s strengths, but that the stunning result was also due to the school making sport compulsory through to year 12.
“It takes students away from the books, and when they come back to the books, their mind is clear.”
Eight other Victorian schools achieved more 40+ scores in mathematical methods than in any other subject – including John Monash Science School, Scotch College, Tintern Grammar and Coburg High School.
Schools that performed exceptionally in biology included Methodist Ladies’ College, in Kew. It was one of the 25 schools that got the most 40+ scores in the subject, with 37 students achieving the score.
Other girls’ schools to excel in biology were Camberwell Girls Grammar School, where 18 students received a 40+ score, and Fintona Girls’ School with nine.
Among the chemistry high-achievers was Wellington Secondary College, a co-educational school in Mulgrave. It was among five schools to get the most 40+ scores in chemistry. Eighteen Wellington students received a total of 18 40+ study scores in chemistry last year.
In the creative sphere, nine Victorian College of the Arts students received 40+ scores in art making and exhibiting in 2025, more than at any other school. The college was one of 11 schools to excel in the subject.
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