Revealed: The SA schools making big improvements in NAPLAN 2025 literacy and numeracy results

South Australian schools from the Eyre Peninsula to the South-East are punching above their weight when it comes to literacy and numeracy skills. See the complete list.

Some of the state’s best-performing schools have surged up the latest rankings of student literacy and numeracy test results.

And campuses from the Eyre Peninsula to the South-East are making above-average progress.

The Advertiser has analysed the 20 primary and 20 secondary schools in South Australia which achieved the highest average scores in 2024, and how they fared in 2025.

Among the biggest movers were Wilderness School year 9 students, whose results pushed the all-girls private school from fifth to top spot among the secondary schools.

Year 5 students at public Rose Park Primary School shot from 10th to second place on the primary school list.

These rankings may be adjusted once data is available for all public, Catholic and independent schools later on Wednesday.

The national testing body also released a list of 26 SA schools “making a difference” with their results in 2025, compared with students of similar backgrounds.

These public and private schools had the highest proportions of students making above-average progress in reading, writing and numeracy as they moved up year levels.

They include Wudinna Area School on the Eyre Peninsula, Kingston Community School in the South-East and Angaston Primary School in the Barossa Valley.

The Advertiser examined the average NAPLAN results of students in years 5 and 9 at 40 high-performing schools, ahead of the full release of test results by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA).

The average combined scores for students in reading, writing, spelling, grammar and numeracy showed:

SIX secondary schools and six primary schools each rose four or more places, compared to their ranking last year.

ADELAIDE Botanic High School and Concordia College year 9 students achieved the exact same average score across five subjects (604).

WILDERNESS School and Emmaus Christian College year 5 students also achieved identical average scores (529.4).

FOUR secondary schools and three primary schools remained in the same spot in the rankings for 2024 and 2025.

ONE of the state’s cheapest private schools – Heritage College, in Oakden – features in the top 20 best-performing high schools.

Education Minister Blair Boyer said SA schools recorded their “best performance in the 16-year history of NAPLAN this year”.

“South Australia is leading education reform by being innovative and following evidence-based learning,” he said.

Education Minister Blair Boyer says SA students have achieved record NAPLAN results in 2025. Picture: Keryn Stevens

Among the schools identified by ACARA as “making a difference” was Reynella South Primary School, which introduced changes to teaching instruction – including sounding out individual letter combinations – and saw results soar.

Reynella South Primary School students Camila and Noah with principal Tara Augustin. Picture: Emma Brasier

“What wasn’t happening was the consistency, but now I can walk into any classroom and the same lesson is happening,” said principal Tara Augustin.

“The biggest impact on wellbeing is helping children identify as readers. They feel better about themselves, they belong more at the school and it’s about that cycle of improvement.”

Year 3 student Audrey felt prepared to sit her first NAPLAN tests this year.

“Because I can read, I knew what I was being asked to do,” the eight-year-old said.

Year 2 student Noah, who will sit his first NAPLAN tests next year, felt “very proud” of his progress in reading.

“I can now read really hard words in all lessons and even help others,” the eight-year-old said.

Reynella South Primary School students Camila and Noah enjoy visiting the school library. Picture: Emma Brasier

Students sat NAPLAN tests in March.

They were conducted online and adapted to offer students different questions depending on how they were answering.

Data released at the end of July showed SA students had improved, or maintained, their ranking against peers in the other mainland states in every subject and year level.

The biggest improvement was in year 5 reading, where SA rose from fifth to third when ranked against New South Wales, Western Australia, Victoria, Queensland and Tasmania.