South Burnett primary and secondary schools NAPLAN results revealed

The South Burnett’s top academic schools have been named, as the full list of every school’s 2021 NAPLAN results can be revealed for the first time in two years. SEARCH THE INTERACTIVES

The South Burnett’s best and worst-performing schools in NAPLAN testing can be revealed, making it the first time in two years the full results have been released.

St Mary’s Catholic School in Kingaroy was one of the standout achievers in this year’s results, claiming second place overall while also achieving the top score for the Year 7 average, and being among the most improved in the state.

The school achieved a 68 per cent above average progress score in the Year 7-9 reading metric.

St Mary's Catholic College Year 10 students Hannah, Nick, Sidney and Mia celebrate the school’s top NAPLAN results with principal Carmel O'Brien. Picture: Dominic Elsome

Principal Carmel O’Brien said the whole school was ecstatic with the results.

“We’re so proud of our students and that comes down to the dedication of the staff,” Ms O’Brien said

“We have a very dedicated team of staff who work towards building excellence in all of our students.”

She said St Mary’s didn’t “intentionally teach” to NAPLAN and instead focused on the foundations in their curriculum to give their students the skills to succeed.

MOST IMPROVED

The data released was also a vital part of the school’s teaching success, with teachers using the information to guide students.

“We drill down into the data and we don‘t look necessarily at a cohort, we look at individual students,” she said.

“So we can drill right down into seeing which pathway students take in the NAPLAN, and which questions they were stumped with and which questions they excelled in, so that we can tailor their learning based on that data.”

SECONDARY SCHOOL RESULTS

Education Minister Grace Grace announced in parliament that from next year, students would sit their annual NAPLAN tests earlier.

Ms Grace said as a result of the review conducted by Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and the ACT into the annual numeracy and literacy tests, the country’s education ministers had agreed to move the test to Term 1, rather than Term 2.

Ms O’Brien said this would be a major positive.

“I think that’s probably going to be beneficial because we’re getting the data back earlier, so we will impact our students sooner rather than waiting for that data,” she said.

PRIMARY SCHOOL RESULTS

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk also congratulated the state’s top schools, and said after two of the “toughest and most disruptive time for Queensland students in the history of our state”, students had scored an “A+”.

“Despite all of (the challenges) and based on the latest NAPLAN results out this week, I can safely say that this cohort is among the best and brightest we have ever seen in Queensland.”