NAPLAN results for every school reveal decline in writing skills
The Daily Telegraph has analysed NAPLAN results for more than 2000 primary schools and 800 secondary schools across NSW. See how your child’s school stacks up.
Basic writing skills are in decline among NSW’s primary school students, statewide NAPLAN results have revealed, with current Year 5 students falling behind their peers in the grade above.
The Daily Telegraph has analysed NAPLAN results for more than 2000 primary schools and 800 secondary schools across NSW and found while Year 9 scores are broadly consistent with 2024 figures across the board, Year 5 students have struggled to keep up in the writing assessment.
In 2025, the NSW average score for Year 5 students in writing was 478 points, down from 486 points recorded for last year’s cohort.
Independent schools performed better than systemic Catholic and government schools in writing overall but also saw the sharpest decline since 2024, down nine points in their average scores. Catholic schools retained the most ground, slipping only five points.
Several small independent schools have had a remarkable year however, with John Colet School in Belrose moving into the top 10 primary schools, while Hurstville Adventist School and Greenacre Christian College entered the top 50 – each school recording “well above average” scores in writing.
Gains in Year 5 reading and grammar also saw government-run Sutherland Public School rise into the state’s top 10, and Richmond Public School’s Year 5 students scored well above average results in all five tests, putting their Hawkesbury region school in the top 50 in NSW.
Both schools have selective ‘opportunity classes’ for academically gifted students in Years 5 and 6.
Sacred Heart Central School in Cootamundra was one of few outer regional schools to land in the top quarter of schools for primary results, achieving above average scores across all categories and substantially improving on last year.
Principal Nicky Trinder said those results have been six years in the making, after her school secured a share in government funding designed to boost literacy and numeracy outcomes at the state’s hardest struggling schools.
“We’ve been on a big journey, because we were quite low before, and … now all the hard work that we’ve put into this space has definitely paid off, and our children are reaping the benefits,” she said.
Ms Trinder attributes the incredible turnaround – especially in writing – to a series of teaching programs, including the Catholic Education Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn’s ‘Catalyst’ and the ‘Talk for Writing’ framework devised by English educator Pie Corbett.
“If a child can write, then they can be literate in any KLA (key learning area),” she said.
“A lot of kids can access the reading, but their ability to … structure meaningful sentences, being able to use an expansive vocabulary, to be able to use conventions of grammar so that it has sense and meaning, is pivotal.”
In Sefton in Sydney’s southwest, Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Primary School principal Roslyn Moran said teachers also have to take into account their students’ demographics and home contexts.
More than 90 per cent of her students have a language background other than English but are performing well above their peers in similar circumstances for NAPLAN writing, something Ms Moran attributed to “very explicit” teaching of the basics including structure, audience and purpose – as well as plenty of practice.
“Good readers read regularly, and good writers do the same,” she said.
“Sometimes we get a bit bogged down in our teaching and forget that our students need lots of opportunities to work independently on their writing – and get great feedback.”
It comes after The Telegraph revealed some of Sydney’s previously highest-performing primary schools suffered falling results across multiple categories including spelling and numeracy.
Sydney Grammar School remains the top school in NSW based on Year 5 results, although average scores have slipped more than 15 points since 2024.
Students in Year 9 at James Ruse Agricultural High School in Carlingford cemented their school’s status at the top of the list among secondary schools, making a 20-point gain on their peers who took the same tests last year.
Selective schools like James Ruse and Sydney Grammar dominated the list of best-performing secondary schools, however non-selective public schools including Cherrybrook Technology High School, Carlingford High School and Cheltenham Girls High School remain in the top 100.
Dulwich High School of Visual Arts and Design was one Sydney’s most improved non-selective schools, rising from a Year 9 average score of 588 last year to 610 in 2025.
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Originally published as NAPLAN results for every school reveal decline in writing skills
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