Public primary schools outdoing private schools in NAPLAN
An analysis of NAPLAN results over the past five years has revealed the state’s best and worst performing schools. And the findings show a parents’ bank account does not necessarily impact on test results. SEARCH YOUR SCHOOL’S RANKING
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Public primary schools are beating their elite counterparts in the national tests, a five year analysis of NAPLAN data by The Daily Telegraph reveals
The exclusive analysis shows Year 5 students in schools including Hornsby North Public School and North Rocks Public School have outperformed their peers attending Ascham School in the city’s east and Pymble Ladies College on the leafy north shore.
The analysis of results by The Daily Telegraph averages NAPLAN scores in reading, writing, spelling, grammar and numeracy and shows the best performing schools from 2013 to last year.
NAPLAN tests assess a student’s basic skills compared to the Programme for International Assessment (PISA) results released this week which examine the higher order thinking skills of the nation’s 15-year-olds.
Experts credit the impressive test results to NSW Department of Education boss Mark Scott and the performance and reporting guidelines he instituted.
The results show Sydney Grammar topped the list for Year 5, followed by Abbotsleigh and St Aloysius’ College, closely followed by Woollahra and Artarmon public schools.
Demographer Sophie Renton said the analysis showed public schools were performing extremely well.
“It is a really big tick to our government that they are providing an exemplary education alongside independent and Catholic schools,” the research team leader with McCrindle said.
“For primary school, it is a bit more of an even playing field, and they were mainly government schools.”
At Hornsby North Public School, which was the seventh best performing primary school, principal Maree Sumpton said they used their funding to hire a full time physical education teacher because she believed students who exercised regularly did better academically.
She said explicit reading instruction gave students a solid foundational knowledge which allowed them to thrive in the latter years of primary school.
“We have two layers here, explicit teaching and the repetition of the teaching of skills to make sure the children have a strong basis,” Ms Sumpton said.
“If they have that good basis they’re able to use the skills that they have to think critically, hypothesise and predict and do all of these things, that are really important for them in the future.”
The analysis found Lindfield East Public School had better scores in Year 5 than Knox Grammar, while Murray Farm Public School in Carlingford beat the prestigious King’s School.
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Central Coast P and C Federation President Sharryn Brownlee said under Education Secretary
Mark Scott, public schools were now competitive with the private schools.
“It is amazing, parents would be surprised,” Ms Brownlee said.
“Between (former education minister) Rob Stokes and (current education minister) Sarah Mitchell there has been continuity and serious structure to reporting and serious structure to allocation of resources.”
The analysis of Year 9 NAPLAN results showed selective public high schools topped the five year averages.
James Ruse Agricultural High School came first, followed by Sydney Girls and then North Sydney Girls.
The selective Sydney Grammar came in at fifth and after public selective schools, prestigious schools like SCEGGS Darlinghurst, Meriden school dominated the top of the league table with impressive scores.
Meriden Principal Dr Julie Greenhalgh said they “did not teach to the test”.
“The secret is it is not an end goal in itself, what we are aiming for to identifying skills that need to be mastered,” she said.
“For us NAPLAN is just any other day, the girls love it, it is not stressful and they like answering questions and they like the adaptive nature that NAPLAN online has taken.”
“We want the girls to have very deep learning, so we have a very strong sense of skills that need to be acquired and so the numeracy and literacy is appearing authentically in their day to day learning.”