Most improved Mackay/Whitsundays NAPLAN schools revealed in last 5 years
The biggest NAPLAN improvers for schools in the Mackay and Whitsunday region have been revealed along with the schools that have gone backwards. SEE THE FULL LIST.
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Collinsville State School in Collinsville recorded the biggest improvement for a primary school with the average Year 5 NAPLAN results increasing by 21.49 per cent over the past five years of NAPLAN.
Koumala State School at Koumala was the second best with an increase of 7.31 per cent followed by Bloomsbury State School at Bloomsbury with an increase of 7.12 per cent.
Meanwhile, Whitsunday Christian College in Cannonvale recorded the biggest improvement for a secondary school with average year 9 NAPLAN results increasing by 8.09 per cent over the past five years of NAPLAN.
Carlisle Adventist College at Beaconsfield was the second best with a 7.99 per cent increase followed by St Catherine’s Catholic College the Whitsundays at Proserpine with an increase of 4.66 per cent.
The analysis compared the five year change in NAPLAN results from 2017 and 2021 and revealed the schools which have improved their Year 5 and Year 9 student scores the most.
It was calculated by each school‘s combined results for each NAPLAN subject in 2017 and compared to the same results in 2021.
Collinsville State School principal Matthew Grosskreutz started at the school five years ago and said the improvement had come through implementing a different tenor of teaching.
“Our systematic change that we put in place, we don’t actually talk about NAPLAN within the school,” he said.
“We don’t do NAPLAN preparation, we don’t do NAPLAN practice, but as an ex-head of curriculum, I made sure our curriculum here at the school was exciting, engaging, getting the kids actually wanting to do it.”
Mr Grosskreutz said this meant when his students sat down for the big test, they were excited rather than worried about it.
He also said his school, which scored an average Year 5 NAPLAN result of 2,212, had directed a substantial portion of its funding to embed a teacher aide into every classroom.
“Every single classroom we’ve employed an extra teacher aide in that classroom,” he said.
Whitsunday Christian College principal Kylie Langshore cautioned that while her school welcomed the results, NAPLAN only presented a snapshot in time.
“While we welcome the results, NAPLAN only provides a snapshot of a particular result on a particular day. We do not ‘train’ for NAPLAN, but we do seek to develop the whole child, in a whole range of areas,” she said.
“We focus on the development of the whole child through Christian staff who have a heart commitment to our ethos, and this has a positive academic outcome as a natural consequence of our care for the individual student.”
Meanwhile, Hampden State School in Hampden recorded the lowest improvement for a primary school with the average Year 5 NAPLAN results returning a result of -8.15 per cent over the past five years of NAPLAN.
While, Dysart State High School in Dysart recorded the lowest improvement for a secondary school returning a result of -9.21 per cent over the past five years.
Mackay/Whitsundays top primary school NAPLAN improvers over five years
Collinsville State School: 21.49 per cent
Koumala State School: 7.31 per cent
Bloomsbury State School: 7.12 per cent
MacKillop Catholic Primary School: 6.23 per cent
Bucasia State School: 6.08 per cent
Mackay/Whitsundays top secondary school NAPLAN improvers over five years
Whitsunday Christian College: 8.09 per cent
Carlisle Adventist College: 7.99 per cent
St Catherine‘s Catholic College the Whitsundays: 4.66 per cent
Whitsunday Anglican School: 4.59 per cent
Bowen State High School: 2.33 per cent
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