MP fires shot at Kimberley College principal

A FEDERAL MP has slammed Kimberley College’s troubled principal, claiming he could be closing doors for hundreds of graduating students.

Kimberley College principal Paul Thomson has come under fire for his views on NAPLAN.

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A FEDERAL MP has slammed Kimberley College’s troubled principal, claiming his anti-NAPLAN stance could be closing doors for hundreds of graduating students.

Andrew Laming, who chairs the education standing committee, has crunched the college’s academic performance revealing the average OP last year was 10.8.

“Kimberley is avoiding scrutiny,” he said.

“I’ve said if you don’t want to have a score board up during the game that’s fine but I’m going to report on the final score and the final score is the OP which you can’t hide from.”

Liberal Member for Bowman Andrew Laming claims the Kimberley College principal’s views are limiting graduating students. Picture: AAP/Mick Tsikas

It comes after principal Paul Thomson was suspended from the Carbrook college on Monday with members of his family following a review into its financial management.

In a letter to teachers yesterday, deputies Chris McAlpine and Ystyn Francis said the college had not “reached any finding of misconduct against the individuals concerned” and they remained as employees at the college.

Forty-eight students received an OP from Kimberley College in 2017, with five of those achieving a result between 1 to 5.

Kimberley College principal Paul Thomson.

In 2016, 73 students received an OP with 17 achieving a result between 1 to 5 while in 2015 38 received a score with 10 welcoming an OP 1 to 5.

When asked why he believed an opposition to NAPLAN correlated with lower OP results, the MP said it was a “lack of tracking performance”.

Mr Laming said despite the facility being a “very wealthy school”, it was getting similar results to schools in poorer parts of Queensland.

“This (academic approach) is closing off doors to hundreds and hundreds of Kimberley (College) graduates over time,” he said.

“He’s (Paul Thomson) comparing his, say 10 per cent (OPs), to others’ 40 per cent of kids and saying my 10 per cent got a higher average score than your 40 per cent.

“Excluding the 39 Kimberley College seniors who achieved an OP 15 or better (2017), only nine of the remaining 92 students at the school achieved any form of OP.

“This is the untold story of Kimberley — that a guy who became famous on attacking NAPLAN had lost complete control on academic outcomes.

“I’m completely agnostic to his NAPLAN view but if you’re not achieving academic results that are roughly par to similar schools, expect to be criticised for it.

“When all of the financial irregularities are resolved I want the best academic outcomes for Kimberley students.”

Mr Thomson could not be reached for comment.