NAPLAN results Qld: Top primary, secondary schools revealed

Queensland NAPLAN results have been revealed for the first time in two years, with some surprising results among 300 of the state’s biggest and most popular schools. SEARCH THE INTERACTIVES

Queensland state schools have topped the charts ahead of pricey privates in the first NAPLAN individual school results in two years.

An exclusive Courier-Mail analysis of more than 300 NAPLAN results from the state’s largest and most popular schools can reveal Sunnybank Hills State School was the top-performing primary school, while the selective-entry state school Queensland Academy for Science Mathematics and Technology was the No. 1 senior school.

QASMT’s result put it ahead of the state’s two most expensive and prestigious private schools, Brisbane Girls Grammar School and Brisbane Grammar School, which also recorded strong results with the second and third highest scores in the state.

Queensland Academy for Science, Mathematics and Technology at Toowong

Incredibly, QASMT’s 2021 scores were classed by ACARA as being well above the average when compared to schools with students from a similar background for every subject category – reading, writing, spelling, grammar and numeracy – in both Years 7 and 9.

With the tests cancelled in 2020 due to Covid-19, the 2021 NAPLAN data from the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority’s MySchool also revealed despite the disruptions caused by the pandemic, kids’ literacy and numeracy results were largely unaffected, even in Victoria.

Education Minister Grace Grace said she was “extremely proud” the state had continued to improve its literacy and numeracy results since NAPLAN began in 2018, and that “our results held up well” during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“A big thank you to the teachers, principals, staff, parents and carers, who supported and prepared our students throughout the process,” she said.

“I was especially impressed with students’ writing results, which improved across all year levels with our year 3 students recording their highest results ever.”

Sunnybank Hills State School principal Geoff Mill said the school had high expectations from prep for their students.

“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.

BGGS principal Jacinda Euler said NAPLAN results provided the school with valuable information to guide teaching practice, with the data helping to better understand the students’ learning needs.

But Ms Euler also said they should not be viewed in isolation.

“While we are proud of the girls’ results across external testing such as NAPLAN and ATAR,

Brisbane Girls Grammar School Year 8 students Rishika Vijeyakumar, Millicent Hume, Martha Fomison and Chloe Chau. Picture: Brad Fleet

BGGS is genuinely cautious about placing too much importance on a single testing instrument, or exit results, to assess the quality of the holistic education a school provides,” she said.

“We know that every school is operating in a different context and every cohort is a group of individuals that will hopefully perform at their best, but differently.”

The in-demand Brisbane State High School also performed strongly, along with private girls’ schools Somerville House, All Hallows’ School and St Aidan’s Anglican Girls’ School.

Primary school top achievers included public schools Indooroopilly State School and Ashgrove State School, along with St Peters Lutheran College, Citipointe Christian College and Ipswich Grammar School.

Sunnybank Hills State School principal Geoff Mill