How single-sex schools performed in 2024 NAPLAN

More and more single-sex schools in NSW are becoming co-ed, but who came out on top in NAPLAN this year?

A comprehensive girls school was the highest achieving mainstream high school in this year’s NAPLAN, with other single-sex institutions making up more than half of the top performers despite waning interest in the concept.

Willoughby Girls High School was the best performing mainstream public high school in the entire state, with its Year 9 students recording the highest NAPLAN results of any non-selective, non-private NSW school.

Across the state, more than half of the top performing high schools were single-sex – and three quarters were girls schools.

Principal Adrienne Scalese said she was a “very proud principal” after results came out on Wednesday.

“This year we celebrated 90 years of girls’ education, so we know how to educate our girls and that is very much what we focus on,” Ms Scalese said.

Willoughby Girls High School Year 9 students Lucy Wang, Izzy Flintofft, and Priya Metha with Principal Adrienne Scalese. Picture: John Appleyard

“It comes back to high expectations – teachers really understanding the students and their needs.”

Ms Scalese said the school’s success was more attributable to their strategic approach to educating girls, rather than the mere fact of being a single-sex institution.

L to R: Willoughby Girls students Tara Parker, Izzy Flintofft, Bonnie Lu, Priya Metha, Georgia Meisner and Lucy Wang. Picture: John Appleyard

“We are a local, comprehensive high school, we have a variety of students within our cohort, and we educate for all of those,” Ms Scalese said.

“We have a variety of strategies and differentiation occurs in all of the classrooms by every teacher at the school.”

Willoughby Girls also outclassed multiple elite secondary colleges charging tens of thousands of dollars a year in fees, including Loreto Kirribilli, SCEGGS Redlands, Barker College, Newington, Shore, Kambala, The King’s School and Cranbrook School.

“It really is a privilege to be a public high school principal, and this just speaks to the value of public education in the local community,” Ms Scalese said.

Willoughby Girls High Principal Adrienne Scalese. Picture: John Appleyard

“High expectations are what drive the school, but those high expectations look different for every student that we have as a proud, public, comprehensive high school – we educate for all.”

Willoughby Girls came equal 39th in all NSW secondary schools, leveraging particularly strong numeracy and grammar results.

“A lot of our focus when it comes to literacy and numeracy is not just specific to the faculties of English and maths, it is very much all teachers’ responsibilities and that is really the philosophy that has driven us,” Ms Scalese said.

“Our students also feel incredibly supported by our staff, and it’s not just about academics but also about the extracurricular opportunities and the significant support we get from our parents and carers.”

Willoughby Girls High School Year 9 students Lucy Wang, Izzy Flintofft, and Priya Metha. Picture: John Appleyard

Two thirds of the top 10 mainstream public high schools in the 2024 NAPLAN were single-sex – and half of those were single-sex girls schools.

Willoughby Girls, Northern Beaches Secondary College Mackellar Girls Campus, Riverside Girls in Gladesville, Burwood Girls and Strathfield Girls made the top 10 mainstream high schools, joined by Epping Boys.

Recent Department of Education consultation surveys in suburbs slated for single-sex school mergers into coeducational institutions show primary school parents are calling for more coeducational options for their children.

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