NAPLAN results Qld: High achiever schools revealed

A mixture of Queensland’s richest private and superstar state schools have been revealed as the state’s high achievers in the most recent NAPLAN results. SEARCH INTERACTIVE

A mixture of Queensland’s richest private and superstar state schools have been revealed as the state’s high achievers in the most recent NAPLAN results.

The Courier-Mail can reveal the schools named by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority in its latest MySchool update as recording exceptional NAPLAN results.

More than 35 Queensland schools recorded a NAPLAN subject score rating of “well above” the average score, when compared with students with a similar background.

Among them was the Queensland Academy for Science Mathematics and Technology, which incredibly scored the top ranking for all five subjects – reading, writing, spelling, grammar and numeracy – for both Year 7 and 9.

St Margaret’s Anglican Girls School scored a remarkable “well above” ranking in nine out of a possible 10 categories for Year 3 and 5, while Yorkey’s Knob State School scored the ranking in seven categories.

Other high-achieving schools to be named included Citipointe Christian College, A.B. Paterson College, McDowall State School, Corinda State High School and Sunnybank Hills State School.

Sunnybank Hills principal Geoff Mill said high expectations and a strong focus on collaboration had seen the school record stellar NAPLAN results.

“Those expectations are what carry us through,” he said.

“The teachers believe in what they’re doing, they own the program, it’s not something they’ve got to do because it’s being driven down from above.

“We have very strong communication which leads to achieving the best for our kids.”

Mr Mill said the large multicultural school of more than 1500 students also had more than half its students coming from non-English-speaking backgrounds.

“That’s an extra challenge, but our strong focus on learning has great support from our parent body,” he said.

“It’s important to build confidence in children, so that they know they can achieve.”

Mr Mill said while NAPLAN was just one form of assessment, it was a rigorous one which was well-researched and independent, which allowed them to refine their teaching practices.

Sunnybank Hills State School students Hayden Davies, Katie Bourke, Mason Huang and Elijah Robinson. Picture: Nigel Hallett