NAPLAN results: Surprising results top list of Australia’s best performing schools

Results for Australia’s best performing schools are available, with impressive public schools in lower socio-economic areas.

The 2022 NAPLAN literacy and numeracy scores for all schools in Australia were uploaded to the My Schools website by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority this week.

A diverse mix of private, Catholic, selective, unscreened, coeducational, and public schools top the list, proving to parents that they don’t live in a fancy suburb or spend thousands each year to ensure their children receive the best education. .

NAPLAN is the annual assessment for Year 3, 5, 7 and 9 students who, until this year, took the exam in May of each year.

The latest data is the first NAPLAN snapshot in several years due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

There were few surprises in the NSW secondary school list dominated by Sydney selective schools, best known for their outstanding success in the HSC year after year.

Selective schools pulled out nine of the top 10 places, with James Ruse Agricultural High School in north-west Sydney topping the list with a Year 9 average of 730.8.

North Sydney Boys High School came in second at 709.4, closely followed by Sydney Girls High School at 709.

Sydney Grammar was the only primary school with an average above 600.

Woollahra Public School in eastern Sydney was the second best performing primary school in the state, followed by Beecroft PS.

Cabramatta High School in South West Sydney was one of several schools identified as high performing.

It means that students showed above average results in literacy and numeracy compared to students from similar socio-educational backgrounds.

Nearby Fairfield Heights Public and Canley Vale High schools were also identified as high performing.

James Ruse Agricultural Secondary School in North West Sydney topped the list of secondary schools in the state with a Year 9 average of 730.8

South of the border, 28 of Victoria’s top 100 were all-girls schools, more than double the number of boys’ schools.

All girls’ schools took four of the top five places on the list of best performing primary schools.

Presbyterian Ladies’ College topped the list, followed by Harkaway Hills College, Fintona Girls’ School, Camberwell Grammar School and Camberwell Girls Grammar School.

Selective School MacRobertson Girls High School topped Victoria’s high schools, followed by Melbourne High School, Nossal and Suzanne Cory High Schools, and Fintona Girls’ School.

Some of Queensland’s best results have come from state public schools.

Sunnybank Hills State School in Brisbane was ranked the best primary school in the state, followed by Rainworth State School and Brisbane Grammar School.

Rounding out the top five were the surprise inclusions of Ormiston College and Coolum Beach Christian College, both outside the top 40 in NAPLAN’s five-year comparisons.

There were few surprises in the top performing secondary schools led by Queensland Academy for Science Mathematics and Technology, Brisbane Grammar School and Brisbane Girls’ Grammar School.

The Whitsunday Anglican School in central Queensland came a surprise fourth after ranking 45th in a five-year comparison.

Girls’ schools were among the best in Victoria, including Fintona Girls’ School (pictured), which was ranked in the top five for both primary and secondary school results.

There were also surprising results in South Australia, where a number of small public schools in regional areas outperformed high-profile, high-fee private schools.

Adelaide’s Linden Park Primary School was ranked the best primary school, followed by Dara School, St Peter’s Collegiate Girls’ School and St Andrew’s School.

Owen Primary School in South Australia’s Mid-North grain-growing district rounds out the top five.

It outperformed the likes of Anglican School for Girls, Pembroke School, Saint Ignatius’ College and St Peter’s College.

Linden Park Primary School’s main secondary school, Glenunga International, was the highest performing secondary school in the state.

Sandy Bay’s Princes Street Primary School topped the Year 5 results table, with its average results being the best among the nearly 200 primary schools whose results were published via the MySchool website on Wednesday morning.

In Tasmania, Hobart’s Princes Street Primary School was rated the best primary school in the state, with a mix of public and private schools in the top five.

The independent Fahan School for girls had the best secondary results, as well as the second best primary results.

In the Northern Territory, remote and online schools were among the best NAPLAN results.

Haileybury Rendall School and Darwin-based The Essington School were the best primary schools, followed by Alice Springs Steiner School in the hinterland.

Essington School also posted the best secondary results, followed by Nhulunbuy Christian College and Haileybury Rendall School.

Starting this year, parents and caregivers will get earlier, simpler and clearer information about their child’s NAPLAN achievement based on new, more rigorous national standards.

The tests are now online and will take place next month, two months before the traditional testing period, with the goal of giving teachers more time to focus on students’ strengths and weaknesses.