The head of Canberra Grammar School has attributed a slip in the Higher School Certificate rankings to a greater proportion of students participating in the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme.
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The school dropped to 116 in the HSC league tables after placing 98th in 2016 and 53rd the year before.
"Please remember that results for nearly 30 per cent of our students who sat for the IBDP are not included in HSC league tables published in various media outlets," Dr Garrick said.
"The exclusion of such a large portion of the school's candidature means that the school's reported league table position is entirely meaningless and far lower than would be the case if all students' results were included."
Fewer than 20 per cent of students participated in the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme in 2015 and 2016.
Canberra Grammar students, the only ACT year 12s to participate in the Higher School Certificate, were among about 78,000 students who received their marks on Thursday.
Dr Garrick congratulated his year 12 students, 35 per cent of whom received early offers to university prior to receiving their results, and noted the success of the school in subjects including software design and development, history, agriculture, personal development, health and physical education, economics, design and technology, and drama.
Dr Garrick noted the NSW system does not provide ATAR statistics to schools but said: "Nonetheless, 95 per cent of HSC students at the school will gain an ATAR, which compares with 63 per cent across ACT schools generally."
Canberra college students sitting the ACT Senior Secondary Certicate received their marks on Wednesday. Radford College led the pack with an average ATAR of 86.1, followed by Canberra Girls Grammar at 84.75, Brindabella Christian College (84.25), Marist College and Narrabundah College (83.75) and Trinity Christian School (83.05).
Narrabundah College students Deepan Kumar and Claire Yung received the ACT's top marks of 99.95.
Canberra Girls Grammar celebrated a year where almost one-quarter of students received a mark greater than 95 points.
"Our girls have indeed worked hard and strived to be the best that they can be, and we are always encouraging a good school work/life balance to help create stable young women who will head off to the workforce and no doubt become future leaders in their chosen fields," principal Anne Coutts said.
