NAPLAN results 2024: How SA’s top school fared in annual literacy, numeracy tests

The highest flying campuses in the state last year have been uncrowned by the new NAPLAN kings. See this list here.

• Quiz: Are you smarter than a Year 9?

Some of Adelaide’s best-performing schools have rocketed more than 10 places up the latest rankings of student literacy and numeracy test results.

Among the biggest movers are Richmond Primary School, which surged from 23rd to eighth place, and Pulteney Grammar School which rose from 25th to 11th.

The Advertiser has analysed the average NAPLAN results of students in years 5 and 9 at 50 high-performing schools, ahead of the release of data today on every South Australian school by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA).

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The analysis focuses on the 25 primary and 25 secondary schools which achieved the highest average scores in 2023, and how they fared in 2024.

Dara School for gifted children, in Morphettville, overtook Walkerville’s St Andrew’s School as the number one primary performer.

On the secondary list Southern Montessori School, in O’Sullivan Beach, leapfrogged long-running number one place holder Glenunga International High School.

Once data is available for all South Australian schools on Wednesday these rankings may change.

At Wilderness School in Medindie, student results shot up 10 rankings to third in the state for average Year 9 scores.

Students, Sarah Cooper, Gabrielle Chisholm and Sarah Mah, all 15, credited a supportive environment for their success.

“Our teachers were really supportive and it was all stuff we’ve done before,” Sarah Cooper said.

Gabrielle said she saw the biggest improvement in maths “because every year the information adds on”.

Sarah Mah said the school “explored a lot of key concepts and ideas” in the writing which helped her improve.

Year 9 students Gabrielle Chisholm, 15, Sarah Mah, 15 and Sarah Cooper, 15 from Wilderness School which ranked third in the state for NAPLAN results. Picture: Russell Millard Photography

Deputy principal Brad Snell, who oversees teaching and learning at the school, said while NAPLAN was just one of the measures Wilderness used to track success, the scores showed it was “on the right track”.

“NAPLAN is one piece of data which is great … but we focus on holistic achievement which leads to these academic results,” Mr Snell said.

“We don’t make sweeping whole school decisions on NAPLAN but it can help with setting individual goals for students.”

The initial analysis of 50 schools shows:

TWO public and two private schools moved 10 or more places up the rankings; Richmond Primary School (15 spots), Adelaide Botanic High School (10), Pulteney Grammar School (14) and Wilderness School (10).

ADELAIDE’S most expensive private campus, Pembroke School, ranked sixth in this year’s list.

SOUTHERN Montessori School recorded the highest average subject score of 658 for grammar.

ALL-boys’ Prince Alfred College achieved the highest numeracy result (641).

PRINCE Alfred College and St Peter’s College achieved the exact same secondary ranking two years running (12th place and 10th place respectively).

TWO of the state’s cheapest private schools feature in the top 25 best-performing high schools; Heritage College, in Oakden, and IQRA College, in O’Halloran Hill.

Education Minister Blair Boyer said the early NAPLAN data confirmed “there is still a link between levels of disadvantage and academic results”.

“Overall, dips and gains occur across every year, so what we’re looking for is a long-term improvement trajectory, which is what we’ve seen in literacy,” he said.

A phonics check was introduced for all Year 1 students in 2018.

From 2026 Year 1 students will also undertake a numeracy check in a bid to improve mathematics outcomes.

Opposition education spokesman, and former education minister, John Gardner said the results of this year’s phonics check had plateaued, with 70 per cent of students meeting the benchmark.

“Up to now we’ve seen improvements every year and we’ve still got plenty of room for further improvement,” he said.

“These results should spur the government to ensure our schools focus on getting the basics right as a strong foundation for academic achievement across the whole curriculum.”

Students sat NAPLAN tests in reading, writing, spelling, grammar and numeracy in March.

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