They are two of five students who chose to stay at the school after it extended its offering to college students.

"It offered me that convenience of not having to travel to town all the time," Miss Plapp said.

Without it, students would have needed to travel a significant distance to attend the last two years of their formal education.

"I would have gone to Newstead, and still followed the agricultural path, but of course I know this school and the farm very well and I feel very privileged to be able to do year 11 here," Miss Young said.

"Mornings would have been very hectic I imagine, lots of bus trips or car rides, so we're definitely saving on travel time, and being able to do after school activities has been very good."

The school only saw the small cohort taking up the offering, with only 10 per cent of students statewide taking up years 11 and 12 at their extended high schools according to Education Minister Jeremy Rockliff.

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Exeter High School principal Benjamin Frerk said he was encouraged by the students who remained, and was working to continue to improve the offering for years 11 and 12.

"Around two years ago we realised we had to address the retention and attainment of our students in the North," he said.

"We started working on a number of personalised programs to really individually suit the needs of our students to make sure they have success in their post year 10 education.

"There's been an number of staffing changes we've had to work through, also too getting the facilities ready for the Certificate II in Rural Operations that we offer here, and being able to balance [all the offerings] to ensure the students will succeed.

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"I definitely hope that in the future we have a number of students continuing on past year 10, but we're starting to look beyond that and work with the primary school... so we can work on a pathway for the future."

With 56 high schools across the state extended to years 11 and 12 since 2015, including nine this year, Education Minister Jeremy Rockliff said the extension had led to an increase in student outcomes.

"That apparent retention rate has increased some 10 per cent, but is also above the national average," he said.

"We recognise we were coming from a very low base, we had to act, we just could not be bottom of the class when it comes to educational attainment in Tasmania, we had to lift our game, and we are."

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