The decision to change Newcastle's three Catholic high schools to 7-12 cohorts has been met with mixed reaction from former students.
The Herald reported on Thursday that St Pius X and San Clemente high schools were set to grow from year 7-10 schools up to year 12 and senior school St Francis Xavier's will welcome years 7-10 in the next five years.
Max Moser-Finch graduated from SFX in 2020. The school style worked for him, having achieved an ATAR of 98.75.
"Being just year 11 and 12 it was quite HSC-focused," he said. "The teachers can put more effort into the HSC."
On top of that, the now 20-year-old said he felt like the teachers treated the students more like adults.
"It was good having that separation," he said. "It was exciting entering a new environment. Especially since there were people from so many schools. You met so many new people."
The school has hundreds of students in each year group, having reached enrolment of more than 1000 in the past.
Mr Moser-Finch said that had its advantages and disadvantages.
"There was a bigger pool of people, so you could almost do any subject," he said. "But it was possibly too many people."
Likewise, former St Pius X and SFX student Emma Page felt there were pros and cons to the decision. Her daughter is currently in year 1 at St James Primary School Kotara and the change will mean she will likely do her entire high schooling at St Pius X.
But Ms Page said she wasn't too concerned about her daughter not being able to have the SFX experience like she did.
"I'm a bit impartial," she said. "It is what it is.
"Back in the day they discussed this but it hadn't progressed."
When she was at school, Ms Page didn't like the idea of having to change schools for her HSC years. She started year 11 at a boarding school in Sydney, before returning and finishing at SFX.
But Ms Page agreed that it did have its benefits.
"Being separated from the younger school kids was really great," she said. "It also gave you a level of freedom and helped prepare you for university."
