Pratham Gupta said his experience at Cammeraygal High was quite unique.

Pratham, along with about 100 others, was one of the first students and the first school captain at the school, which is celebrating its tenth year of operations.

Cammeraygal High started with only a Year 7 cohort, adding new grades as the years progressed.

“It always felt like it was ‘our’ school, as we were always the oldest group in the school,” Pratham said.

“Unlike other schools, we were always quite close with the cohorts below us. As soon as new people came in, we'd become friends with them, and so by the end of Year 12 we were really close with everyone.”

Current school captain Sydney Atkinson said that was still the case at the school. She said friendliness between year groups was a feature of Cammeraygal High’s culture.

“We have focused on connecting with the younger grades coming through and I think that is a big tradition for us,” she said.

Sydney said the age of the school was another key strength.

“Our school is really young. I think that we’ve really used it to our advantage. We’re not so stuck in tradition that we can’t acknowledge that things are changing,” she said.

“We’re very adaptive to the needs and the passions of all students. Our focus on new technology has been really interesting and a focus on student mental health has been great.”

For principal Kathy Melky – who helped established the school in 2015 – accommodating the needs of all students is the essence of public education.

“We’re very proud of the fact that we can meet the individual needs of the students and provided opportunities. Every time there’s a request for a new program, we deliver it,” Ms Melky said.

Ms Melky said she was proud to see the school and its students live up to the motto, ‘empowered to achieve’.

“I’ve always been excited to get students to the best school they could possibly come to, which is their local public school,” she said.

“I couldn’t be more proud, seeing these students over the past 10 years walk out of the school so well-rounded and prepared after the education we’ve given them.”

Pratham, now in the final stages of a law degree at the University of NSW, said the school was instrumental in his academic success.

“It provided me with the opportunity to pursue the subjects I wanted to, and the quality of teaching was absolutely amazing,” he said.

Ms Melky hopes that in another 10 years’ time, Cammeraygal High will be even more entrenched as one of the best schools in the area, providing holistic and academic success for its students.