NAPLAN results 2024: How Mackay and Whitsundays’ schools performed

An independent analysis of newly-released 2023 NAPLAN results has revealed which Mackay-Whitsunday schools performed the best. See how your school ranked.

Fergus Gregg

2 min read

December 5, 2024 - 5:00AM

Whitsunday Anglican School new STEAM centre building has won the Australian Institute of Architects National Architecture Building of the Year award. Photo: Scott Burrows

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Whitsunday Anglican School is once again the Mackay-Whitsunday’s top performing NAPLAN school in 2024.

An independent analysis of newly-released 2024 NAPLAN results has revealed the schools which performed the best in the Year 5 and Year 9 tests.

Whitsunday Anglican School, in Beaconsfield, had the best primary and secondary results than any other school in Mackay and Whitsunday, scoring an average of 544.4 for its primary students and 627.6 for its secondary students.

Principal Mr Andrew Wheaton said he believed the School’s outcomes were driven by the teachers.

He said the school invested in specialist teachers, who were experts in their field to “ensure that every student has opportunities to make progress and reach their potential.”

Mr Wheaton said the school also worked diligently to develop partnerships with leading educational institutions to inform evidence based

decision-making.

Mr Wheaton pointed to the school’s new STEAM centre which he said inspired students with critical thinking. Photo: Scott Burrows

“We are truly dedicated to fostering academic growth through a focus on personalised learning that is realised through effort and continuous improvement,” Mr Wheaton said.

Mr Wheaton also pointed to the school’s classroom culture, which he said was developed through partnership with the University of Melbourne’s Graduate School of Education.

“At Whitsunday we are confident that our regional students receive world class educational opportunities, and these NAPLAN results are further evidence of this,” he said.

St Mary’s Catholic Primary School in Mackay South was the second best for the region in primary schools with an average score of 512.8, while Emmanuel Catholic Primary School in Mount Pleasant was the third best with an average score of 496.0.

The second best performing secondary school was St Catherine’s Catholic College the Whitsundays in Proserpine with an average score of 574.2, while Collinsville State High School in Collinsville was the third best with an average score of 572.2.

To determine how each school performed in 2024, the scores for all five test subjects for the student cohort (Yr 5 or Yr 9) were combined and the average found.

Special schools, schools with fewer than 20 students enrolled, and schools that did not report any results for NAPLAN subjects were excluded from the analysis.

The figures were independently compiled from the Federal Government’s MySchool website.