At Thomas More College in Adelaide’s northern suburbs, teachers are saving weeks’ worth of work with an AI tool designed to give year 12 students personalised feedback.

The innovative approach at the Salisbury Downs Catholic school led to it being named among six South Australian private campuses in The Educator magazine’s 33 best schools in the country.

All but one of the schools were in the Catholic system, with Our Lady of Sacred Heart College, Kildare College, Loreto College and St Dominic’s Priory College also named.

Thomas More College principal Corey Tavella said the tool provided feedback for 70 year 12 students, “which would otherwise take a teacher three weeks”.

The staff member who built the tool fed the artificial intelligence each subject’s chief assessor report, subject outline, performance standards and exemplar responses ranging from A-plus to C-minus.

The 1200-student campus, expected to grow by 300 enrolments in the next five years, also opened six new classrooms and renovated four more to accommodate growth.

Of its students, 56 per cent learn English as an additional language.

But amid the major change at the Salisbury Downs site, the 2025 graduating cohort achieved the college’s highest ever results with 33 per cent of all grades A or higher.

The Educator, a publication for education professionals, selected the top schools based on six criteria including “innovative extra-curricular programs”, “comprehensive student support” and “technology in learning”.

Schools were awarded five-stars after leaders, administrators and education professionals were invited to complete a detailed online survey about their institutions.

Trinity College, the state’s largest school with about 4400 students across six campuses, was the other site listed as a five-star school by The Educator.

Trinity College principal Nick Hately the “recognition speaks to the skill and dedication of our staff, the caring nature of our culture, our commitment to high standards and the diversity and engagement from our students”.

“Trinity operates on a large scale and we have an emphasis on helping each individual student find their passion,” he said.