2024 NAPLAN results for top 50 NSW schools of 2023 revealed

The 2024 NAPLAN results have revealed the top primary and secondary schools, with one selective school getting revenge after losing top spot in HSC results last year.

Academically selective public schools and elite private institutions have once again topped the 2024 NAPLAN rankings, further widening the gap between them and non-selective public schools.

Sydney Grammar School’s Darlinghurst primary campus and secondary powerhouse James Ruse Agricultural High School both easily topped the Year 5 and Year 9 rankings respectively for another year.

Nine out of the top 10 highest performing primary schools had academically selective opportunity classes, while all but two of the top 20 high schools were academically selective public institutions.

The Daily Telegraph has analysed the performance of last year’s highest achieving schools by averaging Year 5 and Year 9 students’ reading, writing, spelling, grammar and numeracy results in the 2024 NAPLAN.

The academically selective James Ruse in Carlingford has retained the top spot in the Year 9 NAPLAN results after being knocked out of the HSC’s number one ranking for the first time in 27 years by North Sydney Boys High School.

With a score of 736.2, James Ruse kept a comfortable margin from their challengers at North Sydney Boys with 703.8, ranking seventh in the group of 2023 top performers.

The school to give the dominant institution a scare was instead North Sydney Girls High School – coming in second with a score of 722.6 aided by a strong reading result.

James Ruse Agricultural High School.

The music-focused Conservatorium High School improved remarkably against other top-ranked schools from last year, jumping from 15th to fifth in 2024.

Sydney Grammar’s Year 5 students achieved an overall average score of 641, which was almost 50 points ahead of north shore private girls school Abbotsleigh.

Abbotsleigh also leapfrogged a number of the 2023 top primary schools to take the second highest average score of the bunch in 2024, after coming fifth last year.

Balmain Public School – which has an academically selective opportunity class – soared from 22nd place in 2023 to seventh in 2024, with an average score of 588.

Abbotsleigh was the second highest performing school in 2024 out of last year’s top ranked cohort. Picture: James Croucher

Woollahra Public School in Sydney’s east – which is also partly academically selective – also recorded a notable improvement, ascending from ninth place last year to third in 2024.

ACARA also issued a list of “schools making a difference”, highlighting schools with consistently strong NAPLAN performance against students with similar socio-educational advantage.

The list includes 20 of the state’s highest achieving schools, and two of the highest achieving schools in rural and remote areas that would not otherwise make the top rankings.

Last year’s top-ranked primary schools Sydney Grammar School, Al-Faisal College Campbelltown, Northcross Christian School Ryde, Abbotsleigh Wahroonga, Murray Farm Public School Carlingford and Meriden School Strathfield made the list.

They were joined by some primary schools with opportunity classes from last year’s top 25, including Artarmon Public School, Matthew Pearce Public School Baulkham Hills and Sutherland Public School.

From the 2023 top 25 list, Sydney Grammar School, Abbotsleigh Wahroonga and Meriden School Strathfield also made the cut for consistently high-achieving high schools this year.

OTHER SCHOOLS MAKING A DIFFERENCE

In the city and inner suburbs, other consistent high performing schools included Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School Matraville, Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Primary School, St Catherine’s School Waverley, and Burwood Public School.

In Sydney’s west and southwest, Al Noori Muslim School Greenacre, Fairfield West Public School, Our Lady of Mt Carmel Mount Pritchard, Fairfield Heights Public School, Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School Cabramatta, John the Baptist Catholic Primary School, Bonnyrigg Heights, Canley Vale High School and St Narsai Assyrian Christian College got the nod.

In the city’s west, the consistent performers were Ambarvale High School, Montgrove College Orchard Hills, Carlingford West Public School, Cranebrook High School, Metella Road Public School in Toongabbie and Auburn North Public School, along with St Raphael’s Catholic Primary School South Hurstville.

Cranebrook High School. Picture: Google

To the north, ACARA acknowledged Kellyville Public School, St Ives North Public School, John Colet School Belrose, and Epping West Public School.

Just beyond the city’s borders in the Illawarra, Central Coast, Newcastle and Hunter regions, Warilla Public School, Corrimal High School, Singleton High School, Hunter Sports High School and Wyoming Public School made the cut.

Do you have a story for The Daily Telegraph? Message 0481 056 618 or email [e-mail]