Revealed: Queensland’s overachieving schools

Superstar schools in smaller suburbs and towns are performing above average in NAPLAN, despite families in the area doing it tough.

Yorkeys Knob State School Principal Michelle Erwin with Year 5 students Christal Ayling, Qade Trout and Laya Guedes. Picture: Peter Carruthers

Superstar schools in smaller suburbs and towns are performing above average in NAPLAN despite some families in the area doing it tough.

NAPLAN results from 2024 show schools from disadvantaged areas with less resourcing are performing better than most schools across the state.

Exclusive analysis of results from 2024 shows every overachieving school across Queensland and its “disadvantage” ranking out of 100.

The results were based on 2024 NAPLAN results for each school as well as disadvantage data released by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority.

The data takes into account how remote the campus is, the proportion of Indigenous students attending, the education level achieved by parents (such as if they graduated year 12 or have a diploma or degree) and parents’ occupations and puts it into an Index of Community Socio-educational Advantage scale.

The scale does not consider the income or wealth of parents, or the resources of the school.

Schools who made the list in Queensland were from the Far North down to Brisbane, with high achievers including Aratula State School, Wooroolin State School and the Charters Towers School of Distance Education.

Principal of Yorkeys Knob State School in Cairns Michelle Erwin said the school’s top priority was reading and she was very confident they performed well this year too.

“Of course the flooding where the school is, it was flooded at the beginning of the year and … students that have been traumatised by … their houses being flooded and having to move out,” she said.

Ms Erwin said she felt “very proud” to be leading the school.

“There have been some huge challenges around that (flooding) and everyone chipped in to get the school back up and running,” she said.

Ms Erwin says reading is a priority at the school. Picture: Peter Carruthers

Ms Erwin said another challenge was resourcing.

“Because we’re a smaller school, we don’t get the same resourcing, of course, as the larger schools,” she said.

Ms Erwin said the school had 335 students.

“It’s (results) all about your leadership and bringing your staff on board,” she said.

Queensland Association of State School Principals president Pat Murphy said for schools that had done well in NAPLAN, it was something the community celebrated.

“It’s terrific for staff, when students achieve to their potential and it’s important that this is recognised and celebrated by the students in a school,” Mr Murphy said.

“It’s important in any community that we congratulate a school on what they’ve achieved, it’s a feather in the cap of the teaching and support staff, research indicates that school leadership is also critical to a school’s success.”

Originally published as Revealed: Queensland’s overachieving schools